Go shopping, Prepare Meals and Take Care of her Spouse. Retired Women’s Postures in Front of the Closure of Food Proximity Trades
Food shopping occupies a central role in elderly everyday life. For elderly people living in city centres, it is the main motive for leaving the house. Most of them go about their daily lives within a perimeter of less and 500 metres; and this perimeter keeps narrowing as they advance in age. This shows how proximity of food shops can play a powerful role in their integration—and how the diversity of food shopping options in their vicinity guarantees more food diversity and freshness for retired people’s households. This article studies, from the monograph of two retired couples living in a mid-sized suburb, the impact of the rarefaction of food shops on food quality and lifestyle, particularly in the context of spouses having to care for husbands affected by serious illness. Between caring for their spouses, managing the domestic activities, and coping with the disappearance of food shops, women are trying to reconcile their personal and conjugal identities. Two postures of bypassing of the disappearance of food shops emerge, each modifying differently food households. The way one reacts the closing of shops is bound to the lifestyle and social background of the household, and it shows in the way spouses negotiate their personal and conjugal identities.