Food which is worth eating is worth and because of this popularity, it constitutes a discussing. worth "object" of analysis. As we will hopefully see, the explosion of PC products onto the Canadian H. Marcel Boulestin (quoted in 7lte marketplace has all the necessary ingredients of Dave NIChol Cookbook, 1993, p. any social, cultural, and political text. Still. there 23) are any number of ways to approach such a text. First, I must account for the fact that the "President's Choice" line is not only unbelievably popular but is also big business; second, I will tum In our weight conscious and health crazed more directly to the person of Dave Nichol, showing culture, we often think of food as a form of how his "private memories" invade the public sustenance required by the human body. To a great imagination as both the source and confirmation of extent, conversations about food tend to focus on a mutual mass delirium; and lastly, I will explore issues of price, taste, caloric value or nutritional the ways in which depiction's of the "Other" utilized composition. Rarely do we think of food in its in Loblaw's marketing campaign is fraught with historical, political and/or cultural contexts. Yet, political and ideological significance. food, like many other things that touch our daily However, before beginning for yet a second lives, has a sordid and unpleasant history of its time, it is necessary to discuss some of the own. To wit, food has been one of the driving forces theoretical perspectives that inform my analysis. behind the expansion of. mercant1l1sm, various In following this trajectory, I hope LO establish and capitalistic endeavors and neo-colonial activities, in some way legitimize the semiotic practice of including, for example, the quest for sugar, spices thinking about the most mundane or innocuous and other luxury foodstuffs (cf. Mintz; Dumont & objects as texts to be "read". Cohen). Apart froni the historical and political dimensions, how we conceive of food is always filtered through our own cultural lenses: the way we "think" of food or what we "think" constitutes food The idea that objects can or should be is always culturally specific. Hence, it is no accident treated as text is far from an original suggestion. In that the famous French anthropologist, Claude Myth Today, Roland Barthes argues that objects Levi-Strauss, claims that food must be good to acquire their status in society because they are. in think with before it is I!ood to eat. In following this the first instance, culturally significant. In particular train of thought, "reading" or addition, he claims that the task of the interpreting the most mundane cultural objects (I.e. semiologist-or what he renames mythologist-is to food) must also be a good way to think. Moreover, if uncover, reveal and expose the underlying we've learnt anything from the current ideological and cultural meanings inherent in proliferation of cultural studies, it is that various everyday objects. This project of everything means or signifies something, that even un-concealing is critical in a consumer society the most obvious objects reek with meaning; in enmeshed in a plethora of advertising technologies short, that the popular world around us is a text just and mediums. In this sense, cultural meanings are waiting to be read. deliberately constructed by the advertising It should be no surprise, then, that I have industry. More particularly, manufacturers no chosen to talk about a particular Canadian cultural longer merely produce goods to sell but actively phenomena that deals with food. More to the point, create consumer desire for their commodities. And I have in mind here the food product line retailed by the way desire is 'manufactured' has itself become a Loblaw Coso under its private label brand entitled type of commodity fetish-but not in the exact way "President's Choice" (PC).The PC group offoodstuffs originally formulated by Marx. has become an enormously successful product line In his famous thesis on commodity fetishism and reification. Marx suggests that the they are meaningful: like writing. they call social relations embedded in capitalistic modes of for a lexis ...We shall therefore take production become mystified. Furthermore. he language. discourse. speech etc.. to mean any claims thCl.tthe products created through human significant unit of syntheses. where verbal labour are conceived as "having a life of their own" or visual: a photograph will be a kind of and possessing "natural" value. Hence. the social speech for us in the same way as a newspaper basis of production is not readily apparent. leading article... (p.95) Marx to claim that "a commodity is a very queer thing abounding in metaphysical subtleties and Thus we ought to consider the seriousness of images theological niceties." Related to the magical aspect used or evoked in the advertising of commodities. of commodities. Marx also claims that the More particularly. the images employed, capitalistic system uses value production to stereotypical perceptions invoked. and meanings exchange value production. As society produces created in the publicity strategies in promoting the primarily for exchange value. commodities become "President's Choice" product line. abstract objects. items or things created for sale and To his credit. the father of the PC product consequent profit. line. Dave Nichol. understands that food can have That social relations of production are meaning. and meaning can be developed. marketed, disgUised through an obsession with exchange value packaged. and sold: and for Loblaw Coso Ltd.. this (vs. use value) is an important consideration of any kind of meaning is and has been incredibly economic-political-cultural analysis. Still. I want profitable. Yet. the way in which food acquires its to argue for an increased emphasis on consumption meaning through the marketing strategies rather than production or distribution. In saying employed by Loblaw CosoLtd. is representative of a this. I don't mean to de-emphasize the latter aspects second order fetishism: food becomes not of capitalism nor imply that these factors are something we simply eat but something we consume somehow mutually exclusive. On the contrary. on a conceptual level. Food. a la the PC product line. these connections and interrelationships are becomes an exciting and unforgettable adventure serious factors that warrant close and critical into the mysterious. the gourmet. the exotic and the attention. However. for the purposes of this essay. decadent. Nonetheless. however we choose to talk the ways in which the advertising industry serves to about it. food - especially the "PC" product line - is promote exchange value adds perhaps another admittedly big business for Loblaw Coso Ltd. "Let's dimension to Marx's original proposition. Indeed. be honest." Nichol writes. "in the great capitalist the power of current marketing techniques and tradition. one of our primary reasons for technologies is a crucial force in constituting assembling these reports (referring to a advertising consumer desire (Berger. 1977).We may even suggest supplement called the Insider's Report) is to that the creation of this type of consumerism is a encourage you to shop at our stores." Needless to sort of hyper exchange value wherein we no longer say. the phenomenal success of Nichol's President's simply purchase the commodity but the "idea" Choice product line is certainly food for further surrounding the product. Thus. it may be more thought and further contemplation. accurate to consider Marx's initial formulation as a first-order fetishism while calling the kind of abstract "magic" manufactured by the advertising industry a second-order fetish one that attaches itself to the concept of the product and not simply the thing-in-itself. In creating this second-order fetishism. various advertising strategies are utilized to fix ideas. concepts and desires in a visual format. Moreover. the idea of a commodity-or what can alternatively be called its glamour -is also promoted through the evocation of images and the associated meanings attached to those images. As such. there is an affinity between these visual effects and the types of meanings or myths produced within society. These visual significations are so widely disseminated through photographs. films and television that Barthes claims they have become another system of communication. In this spirit. Barthes writes: so on; a whole array of environmental and "Body clearly an important factor in creating a market for Friendly" products (the "G-R-E-E-N" line); an entire private label brands. Prior to the Loblaw initiative selection of low sugar. low fat and all natural 'Too to develop store brands. they were usually viewed by Good To Be True" products for the avid health the public as low status goods; the ugly yellow and enthusiast; a newly introduced line of specialty black labels. combined with inconsistent quality, wines ("Memories of Napa"); and finally. the conjured hard times and product rationing. In recently distributed "PC. Premium Draft Beer" short. store brand products were usually considered produced by Hamilton's Lakeport Brewery Corp. a sort of lumpenproletartate food falling short on In the spirit of hyper-consumerism. Loblaw style. quality and image. As a result. the sale of CosoLtd. "does" more because it offers more than the store brands increased dUring economic downtums. average grocer. To this end. Loblaw has but decreased dUring subsequent uptums. Usually "revolutionized" North American grocery retailing considered food for the poor and disenfranchised, by successfully manufacturing and marketing what consumers generally kept their distance. is variously called in-house. store brand. or private However. Loblawand Nichol has changed label products. In many cases. these products North America's view of store brand products compete directly with national brands and win. as forever, if not their food habits. Rather than simply with 'The Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie" which copy national brand products, Nichol's PC line Loblaw claims is the most popular cookie in distingUished itself by introducing new and Canada. This is a fairly remarkable claim. since innovative products. As columnist Jeffery Miller the cookie is sold in only 17% of all Canadian notes. Nichol and PC have taken ..the grocery grocery outlets while "Chips Ahoy'''. the leading business straight from "Leave it to Beaver" to national brand. is sold in 98% of Canadian food 'Thirty Something"... [W]hat we have here is a outlets. Other products contribute to the high renovation of not just our bellies, but of our minds." earnings of the PC product line. including an As such, PC in-house products became highly assortment of breakfast cereals. PC cola. and the PC credible purchases for the "upwardly mobile and in Szechwan Peanut Sauce. On occasion. the PC Cola the know," in other words, the yuppie baby-boom and Peanut sauce outsell their national brand generation. As some suggest, Dave Nichol has kept counterparts in some stores: namely. Coke. Pepsi. "his finger on the pulse of baby boomers' and the various ketchups. gastronomic desire" lTS, Jan. 23, 1993). It helps, no Unlike national brands that spend millions 10 doubt, that store products have long been popular on celebrity advertising. marketing costs for store in Europe, especially in the hypermarche. brands are minimal. As such. private label products The "yuppification" of private label products have the distinct advantage of sparing the has made Loblaw a huge, corporate success. consumer the extraordinary costs associated with Although this usually goes unnoticed among those most recognized brands. As Dave Nichol puts it: of us who are neither customers, fans. nor 'When a person looks at Ray Charles talking about stock-holders, product development. profits, and Pepsi-Cola they're probably paying a couple of corporate expansions have been massive. In 1984 dollars of the eight dollars they pay for a case of Loblaw launched the PC label with just under 20 Pepsi to cover this sort of advertising. [...] I think items. Between 1984 and 1994, the PC label there is going to be a consumer rebellion to all the increased from 20 to over 1100 items. During this advertising expenses of the major North American same period. dollar sales for these products in retailers and it could be the downfall of the great North America grew from $20 million to a branded companies" (BJ. March 1993. p. 20). As a staggering $1.2 billion. These figures are even more result. not oniy do consumers get "better" products impressive if we compare L'1em to the dismal for less money, but retailers are still able to sell performance of Loblaw prior to the introduction of some PC products for a 3()OAJ mark up-double what their private label. Until the first generation of they make on national brands. As one observer puts in-house products called "No-Name" appeared in it: "They've created premium brands at value 1978, Loblaw suffered annual losses of up to $50 pricing with higher margins. It's like the old million. But with help from the new PC products, alchemist making gold. It's quite a feat" (CH. Dec. gross sales increased to $7.9 billion in 1988 and 18, 1993). It is not surprising. then, that Loblaw $9.2 billion in 1992. The net income for this same angered many manufactures with their aggressive time period illustrates an incredible earning record new approach. As Doug Tough from Cadbury with figures ranging between $40 and $104 million Schweppes Canada complained, 'We draw the (cf. Financial Post Historical Reports). traffic and generate lots of profit for them ... [and] The popularity of the PC line is also then they prey on that traffic" (FP, May 25, 1988). evidenced by its wide distribution. Within Canada, Nichol's response is typical: "My advice for them PC products are available from coast-to-coast. For would be to make better products" (FP, May 26. example, in the Maritimes Canadian consumers 1988). find PC products in markets such as Capital. Save-Easy, The Real Atlantic Superstore, and No-Frills. In Central Canada they are found at then put in charge of the newly created Loblaw Loblaw. SuperCenter. Zehrs. No-Frills. Mr. Grocer. International Merchants where he developed the Valu-Mart. Fortinos. and Hasty Market. In the successful PC product line. the Dave Nichol Prairies. stores such as The Real Canadian Insider's Report and his own very public pronk. Superstore. O.R. Economy. Economart and Without question. Nichol is a great Supervalue cany the line. And finally. PC products entrepreneurial success, a regular Canadian Donald are found in British Columbia at The Real Trump: he drives a $110 000 BMW850i, lives on Canadian Superstore. Extra Foods. and Clarendon Road in Toronto's prestigious Forest Super-Value. As you can see. the line really travels. Hill. lounges after-hours in his Hawaiian "Dome in Loblaw has even established free-standing the home" with his wifeTerri and their four French ''boutiques.'' the fIrst prototype being a 2000 square bulldogs. owns a vineyard in the Stag's Leap District foot outlet in Terminal 3 at Toronto's Pearson of Napa Valley, California. and in his semi- International Airport. Presumably. PC products are retirement continues to consult for Loblaw while now a convenient cany-on export. producing his own popular wine. This past The success of the PC product line is not February 9 he turned 54 years old. confined to Canada alone. Indeed. since the 1985 Among his fans. Nichol has been called a launch of the PC line in the United States. this "business visionary." "superstar grocer." home-grown concept has become the most popular "marketing guru." gregarious gourmand." and less private label south of our border. As a deliberate believably. "heartthrob of the shopping-cart set." strategy to capture part of the enormous U.S. food More critically he is known as "Mr. Ego," market. Loblaw has exported their private label to "arrogant." "control freak." "erratic," "hyperbolic." at least one major supermarket chain in each of the one of the toughest bosses to work for in Canada. 10 largest U.S. cities. As such. PC products can be According to Weston. the young Nichol was "Brash. found in stores in Manhattan (D'Agostino). arrogant. opinionated-he hasn't changed a bit." But Pennsylvania (Acme). Northem Ohio (Sparkle one thing everyone agrees upon is Nichol's Markets). Virginia (Harris Teeter). Louisiana (Real consuming passion for food; he is sometimes Superstores). Michigan (Kroger).Illinois (Jewel) and referred to as a food "cultist." Thus it is perhaps not in NewEngland (BigD). In total. PC products can be surprising that the 6 foot 3 inch. 230 pounds Nichol purchased in 34 states across the U.S. It is worth is also known by waiters at Les Frere Troisgros adding that PC products are also distributed outside restaurant in the Rhone Valley. France. as "Ie North America to New Zealand (Woolworth·s). monsieur avec deux estomach." Bermuda (The Marketplace). Singapore (Cold As Nichol puts it. his vocation is also his Storage Retail). and soon to Hong Kong. avocation. It is probably no accident. then. that Projected to hit the S100 million mark in Loblaw's PC product line reflects Nichol's personal U.S. sales alone this year. Loblaw's entrepreneurial autobiography. It is not just that he is everywhere expansion into the U.S. is described by some as a plastered on posters. life-size cut-outs. "Napoleonic" thrust into America. But such commercials. late-night infomerCials. videos, language merely repeats Loblaw's own rhetoric Insider's Reports. a cookbook. and so on. Though from the Insider's Report. where one fmds copious this is certainly true. his autobiography is literally references to the great men of history. From these written into such mediums in the form of anecdotes citations we are reminded that Dave Nichol. leader and personal asides. For example. Nichol often of the glorious PC line. is perhaps not so different waxes nostalgic about the moment 'Where It All from Michelangelo, Da Vinci. Napoleon. Lincoln. Began" apparently. on his grandmother McGuigan's and so on. In the next section we thus tum more farm in Cedar Sprjngs, Ontario. In a typically directly to Nichol's personality and the overstated gesture. Nichol commemorates the consumption of what may be called "specular occasion with his PC "Memories of Cedar Springs" autobiography." 3. sauce. On the recipe card he writes: "It took only a spoonful to evoke a flood of images. I closed my eyes Spectacular Autobiography And and I was sitting in my grandmother's kitchen with Consuming Dave Nicol Boyd and the other hired hands ... See if you don't agree that this sauce is an elixir of fond memories." After a degree in business administration at As if this wasn't enough. Nichol commemorates yet Western. a law degree at U.B.C.. graduate studies in another begirming. a second 'Where It All Began law at Harvard. and a three year stint at the with his PC "Memories of San Francisco" sauce: business consulting firm of McRinsey & Co. in 'When I was in Law School in Boston..." Moreover. Toronto. Nichol was recruited in 1972 by Western in his new cookbook we are exposed to a pal Galen Weston to help save the family business. "Miscellany of Passion"-a full listing of Nichol's Loblaw Coso Ltd. Mter saving the company from favourite markets. restaurants. fantasy dinner certain bankruptcy. Nichol stepped down as guests. dishes. and creature comforts (I.e.. "a great President of Loblaw Coso Ltd. in 1985 and he was shower." "a featherbed, etc.). So pervasive is http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/totem/vol1/iss1/2 Nichol's personality in the cookbook that one Dave Nichol as Indian Jones has previous appeared almost forgets he is selling products and yet. in one in the Insider's Report. Echoing this sentiment recipe he actually calls for nine PC saucesl Marketscan recently wrote: "A world traveler. Nichol's identity operates at the Nichol plasters exotic labels on President's Choice gravitational centre of the marketing strategy for sauces as if they were steamer trunks" (Jan. 27, the PC line. Like the "Memoriesof.....sauces and the 1994). Consequently. if Loblaw really is a cookbook, the Insider's Report is what he calls "a "deliberately designed fantasy-land." as Eye very personal statement of mine about food" (cf. Magazine suggests (Feb. 20. 1993). it is one built G&M. Nov 18. 1993). Still. despite its around Nichol's own self-absorb.edimage; these are. autobiographical nature. or perhaps because of it. after all. the President's choices. As Nichol says: "I the Insider's Report has been an extremely effective rely on taste-my taste. Nobody chooses the and cheap marketing tool for Loblaw's in-house President's Choice products except me. And we don't products. It even enjoys a certain cult following do market research either. I just know what I like. among educated urbanites with an eye for pulp and I think. I know what other people like. too." joumalism. absurdity, and cheap gourmet dishes. Indeed, as the Globe & Mail suggests. 'This is not Repeatedly referred to as a cross between Mad exactly a democracy: the President's taste buds rank Magazine and the Consumer Report. the second higher than anyone else's. and he has line-item issue (April 1984) was already declared "A Great veto power"(Nov.25. 1993). Canadian Tradition Since November 1983." Whether Nichol knows what people really In fact. the Insider's Report is a smashing like. or is someone able to market his own desires success at every level. as Nicholnotes in his equally as our own (cf. CB. Oct. 1987. p. 46). is a good successful The Dave Nichol Cookbook (selling 100 question. For although he eschews brand label 000 copies in 6 weeks): "image." Loblaw has been successful to the extent that Nichol's image has been closely identified with My Insider's Report has been a culinary their products: to be sure. like any good salesman. phenomenon. Famous for its comic-book Nichol doesn't just sell products; he sells himself. appearance. it's published four times a year In other words. when we purchase and is read by about 6 out of 10 Ontario "Memories of Lyon." "FUji.or "Ancient Damascus." households. (And they spend about four we are also consuming Dave Nichol-a sort of hours browsing through itl) Every year we ritualistic totem feast. More to the point. our mass print more than 10 million copies. (1993. p. consumption of the President's personal choice 24) validates his personal taste as public. his autobiography as-public mythology. his delusion as In case you're not counting. that's about 24 million collective consciousness. Consequently. while hi~ hours annually spent reading not just pulp might be "the bite. chew. swallow that's heard joumalism. but pulp advertising-an absolutely around the world" (G&M.Nov.25. 1993). ours is the mind boggling. even surreal statistic. As cartoon consumption which makes him possible. Or again figures exclaim on the back of an Insider's Report: although he might be King of food. we're th{ "Youmean we invented the printing press for thisl" collection of No-Name subjects who authorize hi~ Needless to say. the Insider's Report is reported to reign. his specular autobiography. as our reall~ have the largest circulation of any food publication real. the true gourmet. in the world. In a similar vein. people have gobbled Finally. things get "curiouser and curiouser up his promotional videos for PC products. until history itself becomes just another in-hous. Although they cost about $20 000 to produce. one label. the exotic just another PC trademark. If sc video sold 50 000 copies at $5 each. In a reversal of it's a very shortaistance from the exotic to th the usual order. customers are directly financing quixotic. And in fact. through various marketin the costs of advertising at Loblaw. methods brought together to promote PC productf As President of Loblaw International images of the exotic. the mysterious and th Merchants. Nichol has been free to indulge his romantic are evoked and represented on labeh fancy. traveling around the world in search of photos. and captions. With this in mind. I will tur exotic foods: a veritable Indiana Jones of "culinary to a closer discussion of the images used or evoke archaeology". Hence. it is not surprising that the by Loblaw in creating and maintaining the opening pages of The Dave Nichol's Cookbook has a popular private label product line. two page colour photograph depicting a wom out leather suitcase plastered with pictures of exotic locales (these same images are used in the "Memories of..... product line). Furthermore this Though we usually don't give it a second.( ---photo is "topped off' with a brown felt hat similar to even. first thought. consumption is always a matt one made famous by the character of Indian Jones. of social and political import~specially when 01 Nor is it too shocking to leam that a reference to feasting rituals are so deeply influenced by tl advertising industry. Let's, then, take a closer look Japan, China, Jamaica. India. Africa, Syria, and so at how the marketing campaign for some of the PC forth. In short. we too can become seasoned products appropriate certain images in order to travelers. As Nichol suggests, "cooking at home... publicize products. This kind of image can transport you to any place in the world" (1993, appropriation is most clearly found with the p. 20). All we require is the appropriate "memory" "Memories of.. ... product line. These products and a virtual-reality trip is ours for the taking, with consist of a wide assortment of marinade sauces Nichol as our nostalgic tour guide. and glazes characterized by fabulously enticing In fact. Nichol rounds off the trip with titles: "Memories of Robe," "Memories of Montego various fragments of cultural and historical Bay, Memories Of FUji." "Memories of Hawaii." information about food. a sort of "thin" deSCription "Memories of Hong Kong. "Memories of Thailand," characteristic of some ethnography. This type of "Memories of San Francisco." "Memories of Gilroy," histortco-anthropological knowledge is provided "Memories of Sonoma," "Memories of Cheddar," "free"to the Loblawconsumer through the Insider's "Memories of Asiago," "Memories of Reggiano." Report and PC recipe cards. Through these various "Memories of Szechwan." "Memories of Bangkok." advertising devices. we too can become amateur "Memories of Singapore." "Memories of Canton." ethnographers and historians; like Nichol, we too "Memories of Kyoto." Memories of Cedar Springs." can become cross-culturally educated. For instance. "Memories of Lyon," "Memories of Jaipur." in one Insider's Report we leam about the "Memories of Dijon." "Memories of Ancient Hungarian and Viennese origins of the French Damascus." Memories ad nauseam. baguette; discover that the favourite mushroom of Working in tandem with their enticing Japanese and Chinese cuisine is the shiitake titles. the packaging also contributes to the exotic mushroom; and find that couscous is a traditional and mysterious aura of these products. Take. for ingredient in many North African dishes. In instance. the packaging attached to a pomegranate another. we find that "Ching Chun Bao" is a Chinese sauce introduced in 1992 entitled "Memories of beverage originating from the Ming Dynasty in the Ancient Damascus." The marketing of this item 15th century (developed for the Emperor Cheung employs a portrait of a Muslim woman whose face Zu). and leam about BrillatSavarin. a 19th century is covered by a blue veil. Under our curtous and French gastronome. whose celebrated cheese is an insistent gaze. the woman evokes mystery and essential part of any "Epicurean epiphany." In yet illicit seduction. Perhaps impressions of the another edition we are familiarized with Middle-East run through our minds. an exotic "Gravalax." a Swedish dish of marinated salmon locale that. following Malek Alloula (1986). strikes traditionally served with sweet and sour mustard; the Westem imagination as cruel and barbaric. leam the location of the "best" olive oil in the world Hence our fascination and disgust. what Edward (in Spain from the Nunez de Prado family estate Said calls "ortentalism." But above all. the sauce near Cordoba); and are advised of the reasons for promises to transport us to a remote and distant England's reputation for producing the best sweet setting. peas in the world. including factors such as English Ironically enough. though. this sauce was variety. English soil and harvesting processes. By found in Seattle. Washington. Thus behind the the 24th volume of the Insider's Report (of which facade of Nichol's "memory" lies not Ancient there are currently 29). we hear about an Italian Damascus but modem Seattle. So much. then. for flatbread found at the Splendido Hotel in Portofmo "authentic" exotical Moreover. this very same image (Italian Riviera); are informed of a soy and ginger is also used to promote an altogether different glaze discovered in KyotoJapan; and leam that the product-"Memories of-Marrakech." Instead of best salmon in the-woFlElisin the Bay of Fundy. To evoking images of the Middle-East we now venture round off this most liberal education, Nichol with Nichol to North Africa. to places like Morocco, throws in scattered references to Freud, Einstein, Algeria and Tunisia. The same image. the same McLuhan. Newton. Kant. etc. veiled woman, for two different products In addition. through recipe cards attached representing two different geographical locations. to the "Memories of...n product. we leam about four countries. In Canada. it seems difference is Japan's famous Kobe beef which is fed sake-soaked washed away in the assumption that all Islamic' grain and "massaged daily like a Sumo wrestler"; countries are alike. that any "serious pursuit of gastronomy" should These ad-ventures, operating as a kind of include trips to Lyon. France. which is a "mecca for culinary travel, have become a defining feature of food lovers and widely regarded as the gastronome the "Memories of..... product line. Through the very capital of France"; that Mt. FUji. situated outside of act of consuming these products we are left with the Tokyo and dormant for three centuries. still serves sense that we can re-capture and re-invent. if not as a sacred site and "reminder that life is driven by exploit. the authentic flavour of diverse and the unexpected and enhanced by the exotic." far-away places. We too can experience. in the Moreover. we are familiarized with how a comfort of our homes, wondrous voyages to France, caribbean marinade-"jerk"-got its name, that it is "chili peppers and pungent seasonings that reveal I have tried in this paper to demonstrate the its African. Indian and Calypso origins"; that cultural significance of President's Choice products Hawaii is a "rich kaleidoscope of cultural and at Canada's Loblawsupermarket. To this end. I have culinary influences" (America gave it pineapples briefly focused on profit. development. expansion. and sugar. Asians contributed beans and noodles. personality. consumption. and cultural and the Portuguese furnished spices). appropriation. Though parts of the paper may have As you can see. these products not only add been. alas. hard to swallow. our exploration has the savory delicacies to our everyday diet. but they merit of framing and analyzing issues that are part bring the Other to our homes. Consider. for of everyday culture. Of course. the frame itself is example. the ceremonially painted white. red. and contentious and open to the reader's revision. For I black face from a Japanese opera on the "Memories no doubt, have engaged in a kind of production. and of Kobe" marinade; the Caribbean island scene this inevitable closure marks both the beginning complete with sand. palm tress. resort hotels and and end of our delirium and mass consumption. two "local" men on the "Memories of Montego Bay" And maybe even a case of indigestion. sauce; the "native" Polynesian woman. draped with a garland of whitish-yellow tropical flowers. who stares out from the "Memories of Hawaii" label; or .References Cited the oriental dragon on the "Memories of Singapore" glaze. Alloula. Malek. 1986. The Colonial Harem. At last. through all this excessively thin Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. description. we consume less the product than its specular image. less the contents than the Barthes. Roland. 1973. "Myth Today." in A Barthes advertising on the bottle or box. Consumption is Reader. Edited by Susan Sontag. New York: Hill always conceptual-consumption that tells us more & Wang.pp 93 - 149. about ourselves than any "other" culture; more about mass delirium than fond memories. Finally. Berges. John. 1977. Ways of Seeing. London: British then. let's be clear about this rich textual scene. Broadcasting Corporation. These gross stereotypical conceptions work to both sensationalize and domesticate Othemess. For Cohen, Donald. 1980. 1he Growth of Htmger. U.S.A.: although these images invoke notions of the Mauon Boyars Publishers Ltd. authentic Orient, the real Caribbean. the true Africa. and so on. they in fact betray themselves as Nichol, Dave. 1993. The Dave Nichol Cookbook nostalgic "Memories" of our own invention. As Canada: LoblawCOSoLtd. Nichol once said: 'We're not happy with today's world. We want to go back. We want something Mintz. Sidney. 1985. Sweetness and Power. Nev traditional to hold on to. something that doesn't York: Viking University Press. last for just Andy Warhol's 15 minutes." The Other. then. is really a tasty morsel of our own imaginings which we consume and master. Or again. we eat. digest. and excrete the Other in order to validate our own self-image as stable. secure. eminently unified. BJ - Business Journal Nichol services this need by making the CB - Canadian Business indigestible digestible for our all-too sensitive CH - Calgary Herald North American palates. In this sense, PC products FP - Financial Post are just placebos masquerading as the real thing. As IT -Financial Times for the elusive "real" thing. well. it always slips FW - Financial Weekly away. evading all capture and consumption. G&M- Globe & Mail