I have a dream#03

I was borne in the early 70s and I still clearly remember when in 4th grade our teacher brought us to a supermarket. The aim of the “trip” was to analyse the food labels and while I was reading them carefully, I realized that a real change was taking place. The food industry was undergoing a transformation concerning different aspects, such as the exposition, the variety, the quantity, the quality and the type of food but also the origin of the products sold, the reasons why consumers bought them as well as the purchase methods used. Until than I was used to go with my grandmother to the small neighbourhood store near her house, where the few products exposed on rusted shelves were sold in bulk. Just a few years later the first malls opened, which had supermarkets in them – an epochal change if not a real revolution in terms of eating and consumption habits. Only now, remembering those days, I understand the importance of those changes of which I had just a glimpse back then. As soon as I became a consumer myself, I started to analyse all the products I bought, collecting receipts and invoices since 1898. The data and results I have obtained encompass different aspects of this issue. Nowadays, the need to reconsider the influence that money and consumption models exert on people’ lives and the environment should push us to pursue new paths. A return to the origins or maybe forward the future, a return to the barter.