Popular Culture Review Vol. 8, No. 2, August 1997 | Page 83

Supermarket Ethnidty

79

aromas of tomatoes and garlic evoke warm Roman nights in this
satisfying dish. Cooked with plenty of amorel" Such a claim tends
to imagine that, say, a lonely, overworked administrative assistant
with only ten minutes to spare for lunch might eat 2.2 ounces of
rehydrated rice and beans and be transported to the dark, love-filled
climes of Italy's ancient city. And despite the fact that the beans
will launch one to Rome, the label also tells us that this dish is
"Northern Italian." Apparently, the makers of Fantastic Foods want
its consumers to know that their rice and beans is not the stuff of crass,
mass-marketed "southern" Italian food.
Fantastic Foods' notion of ethnicity is wholly transferable.
The company also markets, for example, "Cajun" rice and beans. The
ingredients, including the vegetables, are very similar, and of course
so is the product's claim that "Ethnic cuisines around the world
combine rice and beans for a hearty, nutritious lunch." This "Cajun"
variation, however, "served in a creole-style sauce turns every bite
into Mardi Gras." Fantastic Foods is marketing a fantasy of course, a
fantasy that draws on perceptions of ethnic zest and bounty; both the
"Cajun" and "Northern Italian" styles' packages depict the same rich
harvest of garden vegetables.
Supermarket ethnicity banks on a universalized sense of
ethnicity, one that exists outside of time and geography. Like the
Fantastic Foods products, Sahara Natural Foods' "Couscous Pilaf"
offers a low-fat item that embodies a very slippery notion of
"Morocco"—the couscous is "an authentic Moroccan pilaf." The
product's logo is a drooping palm tree with two vague peasant forms
crouching over a fire, their camel next to them. This image evokes
simplicity, nature, and serenity — the antithesis to the hurried'
quality of American eating. The package invites us to "Discover the
delicious pilafs of the Mediterranean world with Casbah. We use
only the finest ingredients to re-create the flavor of our Timeless
Cuisine. Couscous Pilaf is ready in minutes and makes even ordinary
meals special." The rest of the "Casbah" series includes "Falafel,"
"Spanish Pilaf," "Gyro," and "Basmati Rice" (the Mediterranean
apparently extends to India). Furthermore, the Casbah series takes
some liberties with time as well as geography; the box informs us
that couscous is a "timeless cuisine" and—miraculously—it is also
ready to eat in ndnutes.