ABSTRACT
Food retailing is central to most economies, whether the retailing is undertaken through a producers’ market in Kenya or via a food court in a consumption ‘palace’ such as West Edmonton Mall, Alberta, Canada. The requirement to eat to live is a fundamental one recognized throughout the world. The ways in which food retailing and marketing are organized are therefore important pointers to the fabric of any society and indeed, the effectiveness and efficiency of mass food retailing has been taken as a measure of governmental ability. The consumer, retailer and producer relationships involved in a Chinese wet market in Singapore, or a bazaar in Tunis, or a drive-in McDonalds anywhere in the United States, say much about the respective economies and societies, as well as their consumers’ beliefs, actions, motivations and desires (see, for example, McClelland 1962; Fanselow 1990). The central role of food retailing and production provides a critical ‘mirror’ on society itself. In practice, however, this is a two-way mirror, with retailers and consumers being inextricably linked and changed in this symbiotic relationship.
