The Capital Politics of Strawberry Wafers

Just getting it out of the way at the start, this blog is named in reference to the Sexual Politics of Meat, a book I have not yet read and the jury is out on if it is a book that I ever will read. This blog post is not even thematically related to the book, because I haven’t read it. I just think it’s a funny naming scheme.

Past that, this blog is not a thesis by any means. Instead it is a description of a parallel that I have noticed and find interesting. This parallel has offered very little insight to me, but it might serve as a window through which you may understand my own personal relationship with systems of capital.

That said, this is a bag of strawberry wafer cookies.

I love strawberry wafers. Every part of the process of consuming a strawberry wafer is heavenly. Before eating the wafer, the walk to the cabinet where my yummy wafers are stored is already a pleasant experience. I know the taste of a strawberry wafer and even thinking about eating them brings a sense of anticipation for a delicate crunchy crispy strawberry treat. Taking a bite, that sense of anticipation is validated by the incredible flavor and texture of the wafer. The crisp outer wafer gives way to the chewy filling, to an incredible combination of strawberry and vanilla. The aftertaste is, of course, nothing in comparison to the complete flavor of consumption, but it is nonetheless delightful in its own right. And thanks to that aftertaste, even a single wafer can be satiating, as you are left feeling fulfilled. In their totality, strawberry wafers or an invention of mankind so delightful that they could cause you to doubt the very existence of evil. I love them.

And this is a bag of store brand strawberry wafer cookies.

The key difference between a nice strawberry wafer versus the knock off imitations is that a strawberry wafer seeks to imitate the flavor of a strawberry, where a cheap strawberry wafer seeks to imitate the flavor of a premium strawberry wafer. This difference, while seeming quite small, is with the leak through which a torrent of artificiality poisons our sweet snack. Because the imitation strawberry wafer only imitates the premium strawberry wafer, rather than the true flavor of a strawberry, its taste can only be described as being two steps away from that of a strawberry and this approximation of an approximation is dulled further because it is designed to be manufactured as cheaply as possible. I cannot fathom in my mind the taste of an off brand strawberry wafer. It is too artificial to imagine. The immediate consequence of this fact is that I cannot anticipate the process of eating a cheap strawberry wafer. I know it has a sweet, and admittedly good flavor, but I can not recreate it from memory. And even though the taste of the imitation strawberry wafer can be described as pleasant, the aftertaste is lacking any character other than an air of artificial sweetness. Where a premium strawberry wafer can satisfy with only one cookie, the imitation strawberry wafer can only be satisfactory while you consume endlessly. On top of that, imitation strawberry wafers go stale within hours of being opened. It’s almost as if they were designed with the expectation that you would eat them all at once, an expectation almost as cynical (if not as grim) as the Russian vodka bottles which cannot be sealed once opened.

Why then, if an imitation strawberry wafer is such a poor excuse for what it seeks to imitate, do I buy them instead of the premium offering? Because it’s cheap. Two bags of store brand strawberry wafers can be had for only three dollars. In the moment, it always seems like a steal. Sure, the shitty wafer isn’t as good as the name brand, but it’s close enough, or at least that’s what I tell myself. And that’s the kicker, right? Even though I understand what the better choice is and have spent more time thinking about strawberry wafers than anyone has a reasonable right to, about half the time I choose poorly. If that’s not the story of this moment in history, then I don’t know what is. Nor do I know who is at fault. Am I to blame for being unwilling or unable to sacrifice a few more dollars for something I know is the better outcome? Or is the system of capital at play so coercive that the idea I ever had the ability to make choices of my own accord is a joke? I don’t know. I like to think that capitalism is good, or at least can be good, because I find the alternative much more grim, but sometimes I fear that we will never be strong enough collectively to overcome the worst aspects of systems of capital. I truly hope that we are not beyond making better choices, and to that end I will be treating myself to nicer strawberry wafers.