Ralph’s Interviews Pt. II: The Covert Approach

“Wow, these bananas are really green. It’s going to take like 3 to 4 days before I can even eat them.” A simple sentence like that was how one lady began talking to Tess and I about her decision to make the transition from buying non-organic produce to organically grown produce.

That ice breaker may seem unusual, so it is important to note that Tess and I strayed from the canonical approach of interviewing people and used a different tactic.

Instead of identifying ourselves as students working on a project, we decided to camouflage ourselves in the landscape of our local Ralph’s on Vermont Ave. Because of this tactic, however, we realized that we would have to sacrifice a few components of the interviewing process: we wouldn’t be able to take pictures of our interviewee nor would we be able to ask for contact information directly.

But in exchange for this, we would be able to get a more unfiltered version of the person we are interviewing.

Our choice to do so, however, was well-balanced with Matt’s more frank and candid approach. I thought this was one of the most wonderful opportunities to come from interviewing as a group of 3 instead of the previous group of 2.

Anyways, as Tess and I, spoke to the lady about her choice of bananas, we were also able to learn to that our kind stranger had a family and a few young kids. She told us that she had started buying organic fairly recently and although it is more expensive, she thinks it’s worth it for the nutritional value. She had also recently acquired a $300 dollar blender from Costco, after upgrading from the Magic Bullet blender that she had initially. The new juicer allowed her to make green juices for her husband and kids. And despite the kids’ distaste in juices thus far, our neighbor was determined to maintain the track of buying organic produce.

After speaking with her, Tess and I concluded that there was in fact a desire, or want for organic produce’s presence in South Los Angeles. And that despite the typically expensive price tag that accompanies buying organic, residents are still seeking it, outside of the stereotyped economic status of South LA.

The next lady we talked to, we met near the nonorganic avocados. We asked her if she had any tips on picking the best avocados to which she unveiled that she didn’t really have a particular strategy and that she was also new to the fruit. This led her to telling us anecdotally that she recently brought a few of these avocados home only to be greeted by her family members saying that she was terrible at picking avocados (they were unripe). Furthermore, the lady was informed us that avocados taste great with just some toast and some pepper. And that eating avocados with either salads or sandwiches are a great substitute for using mayonnaise.

In the conclusion of this “interview,” Tess and I gathered that we now had more concrete evidence of the enthusiasm for more healthy eating options around the South Central neighborhood. The persistence of our second interviewee’s actions (in coming back to the avocados, despite past experiences) really drove us to consider framing our problem to improving the knowledge and access of knowledge of healthy lifestyles to South Central residents.