We Need Slow Shopping

I heard on NPR yesterday that people shopping in farmers’ markets have many more ( I forgot how many more) conversations than those shopping in supermarkets, and once again I am reminded how lonely we are.
Just imagine: every day you go to the market. You can walk there easily. You know the fish man and the vegetable man and the butcher and the baker as people – and they know you. You know the names of each other’s children. You know the fish man is planning a vacation to Aruba and the butcher is planning to retire.
Besides knowing you, they know their business. Every now and then you see a fish you’ve never heard of or a vegetable new to you – or you get a new recipe for hamburger. You eat well, with the only “junk food” being cookies from the bakery. There are no racks of potato chips here. Everything here is real food – not processed until it is no longer recognizable.
You see other shoppers. You probably see someone you know. You have conversations about this and that. You walk home and see lots of neighbors on the way. You have conversations with them.
Americans are fat and getting fatter, but if we shopped like eighty percent of the world still does, we’d probably not have an obesity problem – or a loneliness problem.
Yes, you’d spend more time shopping, but you would be a happier person. You would be fit (all that walking); you would eat a wider variety of foods, and you wouldn’t have to watch reality TV because you’d have a community of real people to talk about – not some strangers who agree to bare their lives to the cameras.