Items

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  2022-08-22

  Sensory Roadblock: Unexpected Detriments and Benefits of Mask-wearing in Gathering Food and Information

  During the pandemic, I opted to order all of my groceries online to be delivered. I have never been much of a take-out person and mostly cook at home, so I really love to pick my ingredients when grocery shopping. Missing the in-store grocery shopping experience over the past few years, I sometimes go out to gather my fresh foods, especially after the normalizing of social distancing and mask regulations. Though I still prefer to wear a mask, even when regulations are occasionally loosened, a sensory occurrence that I did not expect to miss or lack as a consequence of mask-wearing is the importance of smell in my food-gathering habits. Being able to check the ingredients for both flavor and freshness qualities by smelling them is such a natural instinct that most lifeforms use to find their food. I never considered myself someone who actively smells things very often, so this sensory roadblock surprised me, as I initially chose to go to the store to get better foods than those that had been delivered to me. I have often come home and found that the asparagus or meat that I had just bought had that unpleasant odor of food past its prime, even though its appearance and texture seemed just perfect. I also miss being able to smell the full intensity of the fresh-cut flower bouquets that proclaim the seasons when going out grocery shopping. This temporary lessening of sense-of-smell from wearing a mask has been a bit of a hinderance in such ways, but it has been beneficial in many others. For example, I have dust allergies and used to become very stuffy after visiting my library due to the book dust—especially since, as a history and art history graduate student, all the books that I want or need to check out are usually the oldest or dustiest ones! Not being able to smell or breathe-in these things has helped me dramatically in my experience of information gathering. I can now spend hours looking over books that I wouldn’t have thought of opening before and have found some wonderful sources for my research. Though of course many historical texts are fully available in online formats and an invaluable resource, I often feel the same way about visiting my library as I do visiting my grocery store—I hope to find something myself that might work even better for my own project, either culinarily or academically.
• 
  2020-04

  How Stuffed Peppers Kept Me From Killing My Roommates

  In March of 2020, I had just turned 22. I was prepping to graduate from Loyola University Chicago and searching for a job in journalism — a notoriously tough field to start out in, pandemic or not. The virus started spreading, and the jobs started disappearing. Chicago, my once-vibrant home where people scattered like ants as the CTA trains screeched into the station, was deserted. It was eerie. The internet was swarming with newly viral recipes: banana bread, sourdough starters, homemade pizzas. I wasn't interested in those, they didn't strike my fancy. In a time of severe isolation for most, I was stuck with roommates. Don't get me wrong, we had our issues. The dishes were almost never done, and we disagreed on whose responsibility they were. But in my boredom, I took up cooking, and for once I didn't mind cooking for them as well. I was one of many COVID-induced chefs who began as amateurs and blossomed into connoisseurs that rivaled the best of takeout menus. The only problem was, I'm a vegetarian, and my roommates are born-and-bred Midwesterners, set in their ways of eating and enjoying meat at nearly every meal. But by April, I had sprung head-first into a phase of cooking stuffed peppers several times a week, and they had followed me down the rabbit hole. There were no disagreements about whether to put meat in the filling or not — we didn't need it, there was enough flavor and protein regardless. And the dishes were always done, somehow without a single argument or passive-aggressive slam of a door. The peppers were fun and colorful, Instagram-worthy in a time that lacked almost anything visually intriguing. They became a source of collaboration instead of the division that had seeped in through our 100-year-old Chicago apartment's walls, a result of being trapped with no one but each other for weeks on end. It's superstitious, maybe, but I think these peppers may have saved us from severing our relationship forever. We mended our fracturing friendships and became a family once again, eating dinner together and making sure the kitchen was clean.
• 2021-01-12

  What I think about who or what is the cause of this virus.

  I believe that this started through the dirty meat markets in China. Somebody bought bat soup from the meat market that had all kinds of bacteria and viruses in it. This could have happened because of how crowded, contaminated and unsanitary they are at the meat markets. I am not completely sure if this is the reason but this is what I heard from the news.
• 
  2020-11-21

  Essential Jobs

  This image represents essential businesses like meat packaging plants that fed america during the pandemic. Essential Jobs like these were hotspots during the pandemic but were critical to feeding americans.
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  2020-04-17

  Life In Isolation: The Coronavirus... Joseph Ole Mpoe 4

  A virtual exhibition by the Evansville Museum of Art, History and Science
• 
  2020-06-21

  Thousands of workers at Tyson meat plants around the US test positive for Covid-19 as China suspends some Tyson imports

  This tweet from the New York Times to one of its articles tells how poultry imports had been suspended by China. It explores how the US has handled the virus in comparison to China has begun to have significant effects on the meat industry. Thousands of meat plant workers have gotten sick, and many have died, and considering the importance of the meat industry this could lead to significant issues in the meat supply chain or overall US meat production. This tweet not only highlights this issue, but also puts the negative spotlight on a household name brand that nearly everyone is familiar with. I chose this tweet for the archive because it exemplifies the various global domino effects that the virus has caused. This tweet originated from a search of twitter using Tags 6.1.9.1 and using the hashtag #virus the week of June 21, 2020.
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  2020-03-24

  Sending pictures to my parents that I am good

  This was the initial time of the self-quarantine. My parents wanted to know if we had sufficient supply to live. I had taken this photo in the supermarket nearby.
• 
  2020-05-31

  Food prices skyrocket over coronavirus problems

  Starting in March when the pandemic started food prices began to go up. From issues with transportation to outbreaks of Covid-19 among slaughterhouse employees food costs are showing no sign of going down. Everyone will feel the pinch in time whether your a customer or a restaurant owner. According to the article, produce is the latest food item to see price increases. With so many people already stretching every penny, the rise in food costs will just add to the stress of many. Some prices will come down as demand returns to normal, but some items may not go down in price due to issues with supply chain or other factors. Submitted by Stephanie Berry, curatorial intern for Arizona State University, HST 580. #ASU #HST580
• 
  05/18/2020

  Meat Shortages and Buying Restrictions in Grocery Stores During COVID-19

  For the last few weeks the grocery store in Blanchard, Oklahoma has had a restriction on the purchase of meat products due to shortages during the COVID-19 quarantine. The sign alerts potential purchasers with, "ATTENTION CUSTOMERS!!!" describing restrictions to meat purchase quantities and portions for certain items. This is one of the first "food category" restrictions within the store. Clinton P. Roberts, curatorial intern for Arizona State University, HST 580
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  2020-03-17

  F*** the Corona, Gotty Boi Chris, New Orleans, LA

  New Orleans bounce artist Gotty Boi Chris released the song "F*** the Corona" in March 2020. Lyrics describe shortages in stores resulting from panic buying due to the stay-at-home order.
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  2020-03-27

  Coronavirus changes Lent Bishops permit Catholics to eat meat on Fridays

  In this article it shows how an observance is affected for Catholics. Bishops around the nation are given special permission for parishioners to eat meat on Fridays during Lent. Their reasoning is that people have giving up so much already, i.e. gatherings, mass and other activities. In addition to social distancing food stores have sparse if not empty shelves in terms what is available for the special dietary rules for Lent. They want to ease the difficulties in finding food as well as making sure they are not endangering their health in order to fulfill their requirements for Lent.
• 
  2020-04-18

  Some people don't care about grocery store rules

  A small story about my tales of working at a grocery store during our pandemic. As of the last couple of weeks, my grocery store has had a limit on certain items like meat, water, eggs, toilet paper, etc. I was working in at customer service this day and I was making sure things were in order, wasn't really busy anyway. We had this couple come up to me and ask if I was ready to check them out and I directed them to a register, but before they walked away I realized they had 2 cases of water and 5 things of chicken. I informed them of our limit on those specific items right now, even though we had signed by each of these items explaining the same thing. The husband told me " What if I just come back in and buy the rest, are you going to stop me?". That really caught me off guard because it was such a disregard for basic rules. I told him still, he has to put some of it back, he kept joking around he was gonna put it back or come back in. He played it off like I wasn't paying attention by just putting the water back. He put it on some random shelf right behind him too. He still got into line with all the chicken. I told another cashier to tell them the same thing. So as they checked out they had 2 more cashiers tell them. I was told the guy said him and his wife would split the order so they could get all the chicken. I can't imagine just wanting something so bad you gotta just bend around the rules to get it, especially when those rules are in place to make things fair to other people. In the end, he had to put the 3 extra chickens back because of a manager getting involved. I don't know why people can't respect simple rules.
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  2020-03-24

  "How Fear Can Spread like a Virus"

  This image shows how crazy the hysteria has become, people are hoarding items for this "apocalypse" leaving store shelves empty. When they are fully restocked again, it's only a matter or hours until they completely sell out. However, not many are thinking about those in serious need of those supplies. The elderly have a higher risk of dying and need certain supplies, and families are finding it hard to find meat and other foods to feed their families because of all the hoarding.