Googling my Daily Bread

Good Evening Herr Goethe!

               While email is a reminder that “home” is somewhere else – it informs me about the weather in the SF Bay Area, tells me what movies are playing around San Jose , and occasionally brings me a family update – google wants me to fit in here. I often spell German words “the American way” out of habit; google corrects me. For instance, in my search for the history of the local Supermarket REWE I typed in: “rewe lebensmittle”and was asked by google: Meinten Sie: rewe lebensmittel? Yes, my multilingual friend, that’s what I meant. 

Goethe Kaufhaus mit REWE Supermarkt

                Oh, Herr Goethe, you don’t know what a thrill googling is. You might have liked it as parlor game, but I think you would have adored it as research tool. For me it provides the education I never had. With its multitude of information it allows me to pick and chose, to compare, to reject, to build hierarchies and topple misconceptions – in short, it helps me form an opinion. It found 748,000 entries that might (or might not) refer to the place in question: REWE. (Acronym for  REvisionsverband der WEstkauf-Genossenschaften.) Why did I want to know more about my present supermarket of choice? I was intrigued by the slogan on the shopping bag: Jeden Tag ein bisschen besser. (every day a little better).                

                REWE is the second largest grocery chain in Germany; the Edeka-group is number one. There are two REWEs in Weimar, close to 15,000 in Europe. (And how does google know that I am in Weimar? I didn’t enter my zip code. Must be statistics gathered from my questions.)

                The company website gives me the usual, trendy shout-outs: pro planet, global, fair trade, helping hand, fitness, responsible. REWE has Internet presence: downloadable ringtones, games, screen savers, a magazine, online photo service.  You can pay with a credit card in participating stores. Party platters and iTune gift cards are standard fare. Ah, but my Safeway at home delivers. Can REWE do that? Wow, I just saw a news article in which a disgruntled customer  calls REWE a perverted monoculture while another one hissed the word pigsty. Just like home.  Yelp! And…. REWE will start online shopping and home delivery by the end of 2011. Experts are skeptical; logistics and profitability are the greatest concerns; in Germany only .5 percent of groceries are sold online so far. Amazon.de runs the largest virtual supermarket.

                The song behind REWE’s slogan Jeden Tag ein bisschen besser  is in English (of course - all popular music in Germany is in English) A Little Better Every Day. Good old youtube. And the REWE Group expands A Little More Every Day, according to Wikipedia, mostly in Eastern Europe.

                You see, Herr Goethe, totally useless information in the long run, but fun to gather and interesting for the moment. I know, research on the words Mephistopheles, logos,and ginko would be more appropriate in your eyes. What can I say – I am a tourist, trying to find my way through Bauernbrot and Bratwurst and Gemischten Salat. On the cheap side.

Yours in food and poetry,

G. Foster