Food

Supermarkets' trading on 'charade of intimacy'

KNKX Public Radio | By Dick Stein,

Published January 19, 2011 at 4:52 AM PST

Supermarkets are pretty familiar with what we buy. Nancy and Dick say they're getting a little too familiar overall

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kplu/local-kplu-946514.mp3

Have you noticed your local grocery clerk asking you more personal questions of late? "Plastic or paper?" is giving way to "What are your weekend plans?"

This wicked turn toward what they call a 'charade of intimacy' doesn't sit well with Dick and Nancy. They've had it up to their squeaky shopping carts with faux familiarity!

And what about those frequent shopper cards that populate your wallet? Are they really 'saving' you money, as you're told at check out?

They've got a thing or two to say about those so called 'rewards.' And Dick and Nancy hope you do too, and you'll leave your comments here.

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Dick Stein

Dick Stein joined KNKX in January 1992. He retired in 2020 after three decades on air. During his storied radio career, he hosted the morning jazz show, co-hosted and produced "Food for Thought" with Nancy Leson and wrote and directed the Jimmy Jazzoid live radio musical comedies and 100 episodes of Jazz Kitchen.

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Nancy Leson

Nancy Leson is an award-winning food writer, radio personality, cooking instructor and public speaker who learned much of what she knows about food during her first career: waiting tables. Seattle readers know her as the mouth that scored — for the better part of two decades — as restaurant critic and food columnist for the Seattle Times. These days, when she’s not chatting about recipes or interviewing makers and shakers in the food world for KNKX, she helps end hunger, one loaf at a time, as the Edmonds hub coordinator for the Community Loaves project. Find her @nancyleson and at nancyleson.com.

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