Think about going out of town and needing to buy something. Maybe food, maybe something else. You look for the name of a store or restaurant chain that you know. Say you don't find one you recognize, but you go into a place that looks like they'll have what you need. Do you find yourself looking first for a familiar brand or dish before you'll start evaluating the alternatives?
An excess of choice actually being paralyzing, it's useful to have symbolic shortcuts that let us wade quickly through our options. Having once taken the time to find out what we like, or can at least tolerate, why redo that process every time?
Where it comes from, who grows it and how, who harvests it, who buys it, who processes it, who it's sold to, who gets the profits. These are the political issues surrounding food, and they need to be branded that way.
