Commodification of Real Food — The Lexington Line

I often become extremely existential about the capitalist society that we live in. There’s nothing I can do about it, but every time I come back to the city, I become a slave to capitalism. It becomes acutely aware every time I come back. Everything we do is for money. While we find joy and knowledge along the way, things are done for money. We put so much power and value into money that we’re losing human touch; losing good product, losing good food, and losing soul.

I became very aware of this last weekend, when I walked over to the Union Square farmers' market. I strolled through the crowded walkway, as if I were in a place that valued good food and good connection. I finally pushed my way through the crowd to get to one of the tables, where I saw the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in a long time. It was a red strawberry. Not a grocery store strawberry that’s pink and white on the inside— a small, non-GMO, red strawberry. I had to have it. I picked up the carton and pushed my way through another crowd to finally reach the person to pay, when I found a carton of small, dark red raspberries. This was my only opportunity to get real fruit; I had to have it. I checked out the two cartons of fruit; the total was $18.

Eighteen US dollars for two cartons of fruit. Small cartons, too, about half the size of the grocery store containers. Yes, the fruit is good, but my understanding of a farmers' market is that it was supposed to be good food for lower prices.

That's the thing about living in New York City in this economic state. We're broke college kids living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. We come here for college to have New York City experiences, and we can’t even have those experiences because everything is so expensive.

Capitalism affects nearly everything around us. I have gained a new perspective lately through talking with the Gen X community at my internship. They find that our generation has so much pressure put on us. I’ve never realized this. I thought having an immense amount of pressure was a normal feeling for someone in their early twenties. They characterize our generation as having so much pressure within our own circles— within the job market, and within our Gen X parents. Pressure to do extracurriculars in high school to get into a good college, pressure to make friends and party in college, pressure to explore and go to new cities and try new things. I’m starting to realize that the freedom our generation has been given by technology has begun to backfire on us. We try to explore; we move to New York City for college; we see a farmers' market on TikTok, but so does everyone else, so they are allowed to charge $18 for two cartons of fruit.

I just worry about the generations behind us. What pressures are we putting on them? Are they even going to know what freedom is, or is social media and capitalism going to have them all in a chokehold?

Would you pay $18 for fresh fruit? Leave a comment below.