Back to reality

I had my first sociology of food tutorial yesterday and the level of my ignorance pretty much hit me in the face.
My lecturer made an example of how some of us might have night cravings and eat luxury food items like HAAGEN DAZS ICE CREAM.

hah, i wonder if she did read my blog.

Afterwhich, my tutorial teacher, bubbles ( her real name), mentioned how she tries to abstain from eating haagen dazs because of all the poor children, etc, etc.
I felt a little guilty, but sometimes my cravings tend to be more overwhelming.
Bubbles also talked about important it was to know the origins of our food, and the worst news she broke was that she wanted our blog posts to be more in depth. GAH.

I do have a lot of convictions about my food but i've never taken that perspective of food origins or assembly.
But ill try today?

TUESDAY:
Here is what i had,


and an apple, plus, instant noodles and sorry to say, haagen dazs again at night.

Did i mention that my family normally buy our fruits from the wholesaler at bukit panjang (near school). i just realized that in the contemporary food system starting from
food producers -> raw foods -> food processors -> wholesalers -> markets/retailers -> commercial food outlets/households -> food consumers , we had pretty much skipper that last 2 steps (which are in bold).

So what happens to my apples in between the 2 steps? i dare say it wouldnt be as fresh, it wouldnt be as cheap, and as a consumer at cold storage, im faced with a more limited variety.
But my question is, yes my apples have travelled lesser miles to the consumer, but what real difference is there?

WEDNESDAY
I tried to look at labels and find out where my food came from. Its quite startling and surprisingly interesting to think of how many hands it has passed through before mine.

Looking at mixed nut bar, i see "Australian peanuts and almonds"
Chocolate from "Malaysia F&N Dairies"
Distributor "GETZ BROS & CO HONGKONG
Manufactured for F&N Singapore

and then i see,

A product of NEW ZEALAND?

honestly, im lost here, really lost. So does this mean the bar has been manufactured in new zealand, shipped to hongkong, for the manufacturer in singapore?
So may questions: so dont they shipped directly to singapore from new zealand instead?

Im looking in the lines of specialized labour in the whole food production. (i.e packaging, actual food production, distributorship) Someone help clear my doubts?

Ah, starbucks. i really think there should a new term "starbucks-alization" too.
Bubbles talked about starbucks as well and she mentioned how it is status quo in the phillipines.
Whereas in the US, everyone is carrying around starbucks simply because it is their daily caffeine necessity, not a status quo.


But i really think otherwise about the starbucks in Singapore, when i go to raffles place or working districts in singapore, the number of people actually spotted with starbucks in their hands are mostly expatriates. I mostly see Singaporeans with their coffee from the local hawker centres. Sometimes with that nostalgic metal tins, but mostly in that plastic bag. hah.

Look at it this way, if you drink coffee just for your caffeine needs, and you are not a coffee connoisseur, what is the difference between a 60 cents "kopi" from the hawker centre and a $5 "coffee" from starbucks?
My dad always says, " it taste the same la, but this is starbucks what."

Very evidently, to me: status quo.
Not that whatever my dad said can represent the entire population but i simply cant think of any other reason otherwise.