I was out at the grocery store today. I shop for others, so I have to go down aisles that have things I would never buy for myself; candy and cookie and potato chip and meat sections. There I often see people different than me, and it pains me to see how many sick and obviously economically distressed people exercise the most foolish of the consumerist impulses with what little money they have. But in the produce section, I saw a thing I’ve not seen in a while. Two aspects of it made my hamsters frollick.

You know the ’day old’ displays or racks? Those foodstuffs that are on the verge of being tossed away (or, donated to shelters, if it’s a better store) by the seller? I mean deeply discounted food that doesn’t look so good, and you probably shouldn’t eat unless you eat it that day, cooked thoroughly, perhaps masked with a little heavy spice or other strongly flavored foods. Normally, those racks are pushed off to the side, they don’t compete with “top shelf” displays of more expensive, fresher/better/prettier food. Today, it was out, not exactly in the center of the produce area, but Right There in your face. Not next to the loading dock walk-out door, like I’ve seen before.

Further, the food on the rack looked…really gnarly.  Read more