An irreverent, inclusive, alternative parenting community
What is it About Whole Foods?
Driving by Whole Foods the other day, I was suddenly overcome with two strange, near simultaneous pangs of longing: 1) Wishing I could go in and shop, and 2) Missing my son’s baby days.
Those two thoughts aren’t as unrelated as they seem. Whole Foods and, to a greater extent, Seattle’s PCC were a huge part of the baby days. I was in the earliest weeks of my pregnancy with The Boy when our neighborhood PCC moved from its cozy, old school crunchy-granola space to this grocery store paradise:
. . . Which was all a bit disorienting for my little first-trimester self, wandering up and down the fancy new aisles in a queasy haze, trying to find the kale. I didn’t even like kale, but I’d feel instantly vibrant whenever I could manage to choke some down. Besides, all food was equally nauseating during those early weeks, so I figured I might as well go the nutritious route.
Second trimester was more fun. My appetite returned with a vengeance and by then I knew where to find everything in the new store. But the real fun began after the baby came. I loved shopping at the PCC with my baby. When he was tiny, I’d meander through the store with him in the Bjorn as he kicked his legs delightedly at the lovely shapes and colors. When he was a toddler, I’d bring him in the stroller and use it to haul all his favorite organic pastas, fruits, and snacks back home.
I’d branched out to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s by then, too. Those stores weren’t in walking distance, but if we happened to be in the neighborhood I’d be sure to stop by and stock up on staples: Fresh ground almond butter. Wild salmon. Rice crackers. Rainbow tortellini. Organic broccoli, yams, cherries, or plums. Fair trade shade-grown coffee. Horizon string cheese and baby yogurt (which no longer exists, but was so much better than Yo Baby in its day).
I know, I know. Regular grocery stores have these same items, if not the brands, at much more reasonable prices. Eventually I had to face that fact, be merciful to our budget, and scale our fancy grocery adventures way, way back. But for some reason, procuring these items at Fred Meyer just wasn’t the same. I wonder why not? What was it about Whole Foods et al that made shopping for food feel like an experience?
Is it really as simple as store design? Do sage-and-pumpkin-colored walls and ambient lighting make that much of a difference? Well, that’s part of it, yes. The prettier the space, the more time you want to spend there. But I think there’s more to it than that.
On a visceral level, those stores can make you feel like you’re being taken care of. Especially if you’re new to the whole “organic” thing and have no idea where to start. Like trying to feed your newly-pregnant self or transitioning that first baby to solid foods. If you’ve never given much thought before to the quality of food we put in our bodies, it can be a bit overwhelming. How tempting to just put yourself in a store filled with All Things Healthy. You figure you can’t miss, right?
And there’s some validity there. These companies do claim commitments to local, organic produce; sustainable farming; trans-fat and HFCS-free treats; and equitable treatment of their workers. (And you can read all about that on PCC and Whole Foods’ Web sites.) There’s sure to be some disagreement about how well the companies live up to these values, but the very fact that they tout them in the first place instills a sense of virtue in the consumer that you’re just not going to get from an ordinary grocery store.
These stores speak to a lifestyle. You’re not just buying food; you’re buying an identity of sorts. “This is me, gathering the healthiest of foods for my baby.” Maybe you just came in to buy a few pears, but the very fact that you’re buying your pears from a store that also sells Natural Organic Everything from dog food to diapers to toilet bowl cleansers makes you feel like you’re part of something bigger. Those vibrant-but-neutral colors on the walls, those mountains of impossibly gorgeous fruits and vegetables, even the arty signage all send the message that we shoppers are Of the Earth.
One could argue that what they’re really selling is elitism . . . whatever that means anymore. I get that it’s a little silly to find meaning in a bag of pears, but I don’t get what’s so deplorable about simply loving delicious food or shopping according to one’s principles. Although there certainly can be an air of sanctimony in the shopping experience sometimes.
Like the time I asked the guy at the PCC deli counter if a certain item had dairy in it. He went on at length about the general awfulness of dairy and assured me that what I was buying was vegan. Great. Except that I’m not vegan and I love dairy. I was giving it up temporarily for a health issue, but as soon as it was done I had every intention to put cheese back in my life. And besides, there were several other customers within earshot who would have probably loved some delicious dairy in their deli purchases. Why alienate them?
But that experience certainly isn’t typical. And believe me, those stores were a godsend during my reluctant dairy-free months. Giving up a food you’ve always loved can be downright heartbreaking. At least they had plenty of vegan choices that were genuinely delicious to tide me over. I could stomach a little attitude in exchange for that.
But, the bottom line is, we simply can’t afford to shop at those stores on a regular basis. I expect that’s the case for most people, and I expect that’s where most of the public resentment and charges of “elitism” come from. And I agree, it can be infuriating to stand in the “15 Items or Less” lane and still have your purchase suck up the contents of your wallet.
But in the end, I don’t begrudge these stores their costliness. That’s their business plan, and if they weren’t making a profit they wouldn’t be here at all. I appreciate how they’ve raised public awareness about healthy eating. I appreciate how they’ve raised the bar for mainstream grocery stores, many of which now feature “organic” sections. And I’m glad they’re here when I’ve got a few extra bucks to spend on the good bagels. Just like anything else, we enjoy it in moderation.
-
Comment by Mamawho on January 11, 2010 at 5:34am
-
I was shocked to find that Whole Foods is about the same price, occasionally even less, than the regular grocery stores near here, at least on what I buy. And the produce is so much better - at one store, the onions are consistently rotten. So I've consigned myself to elitist shopping. :) We occasionally hit the small natural market - DaddyWho calls it the Hippie Mart. I've also found that we buy way more packaged snacks at the conventional grocery store, so we end up spending more on things we don't really need and that probably aren't very good for us.
I like Trader Joe's, but I have to read the labels more closely there. I've gotten spoiled at WF, because they don't carry things with HFCS, but TJ's does. But I load up on cheese there - I'd go broke if I supplied my cheese habit at WF.
-
Comment by wookie on January 11, 2010 at 5:57am -
So Canada doesn't have stores like this (at least not in my neck of the woods). We just have to rely on farmers markets and seasonal produce stands for local and organic foods. These are usually concrete floored, fluorescent lighting affairs, but they're what's available.
There is a chain grocery store that has an organic section, but I usually find that it's more expensive than I am willing to pay... I would rather spend my, say, $50 budget on 2 large bins of produce (farmers market FTW!) than one small bag.
I dunno, I think for me my goals are simpler. I want more vegetables on my table and in my body. Wether they come from the organic aisle, Farmer John down the road or the local farmers Market. By that calculation, I do better at the local market.
Does the US not have a lot of farmers markets, that you have these specialty grocery stores? Is there something not good about farmers markets that I haven't considered yet?
-
-
The US has plenty of farmers' markets and also CSAs. I used to go to the farmers' market in my hometown, but I haven't been to one in years. They just aren't convenient for us at all. The one closest to me is on Tuesday afternoons. It's not near close enough to walk, and it would take me quite a while to take the bus, do my shopping, and take the bus home. The ones on Saturday morning start very early, and we usually don't make it out of the house in time.
I have also noticed that at some farmers' market, a good amount of what some vendors sell is actually resale - not from their farm at all. At the market in my hometown, all produce is required to be labeled whether it's from their farm or resale. I don't know about elsewhere.
-
Comment by Ylimemagic on January 11, 2010 at 6:44am -
Wookie, where I've lived in the States, our farmer's markets are outside affairs that are held on a Saturday morning from June until October. But once the growing season is over, they close up shop for the winter and all the produce goes away for the majority of the year and there's no access to locally grown produce. I've never lived in a temperate enough place to offer roadside stands or other such access.
CSA's are another great option, but still only last the length of the growing season. Again, you pay a membership fee and then get a weekly box a produce from a group of growers. It's great, but can be expensive. And CPF and I found that we had a great deal of waste because we got overwhelmed by the amount of produce in our box. And that was even with us splitting a membership. We wanted more of some things and dramatically less of others. But if it weren't for the expensive membership tag, I'd take again. I loved our CSA experience.
I just wish there was something that rounded out a year.
-
-
I just bought a ton of stuff from the bulk bins yesterday. Oh, I hope she doesn't bring Fifi to the Alexandria store. Ewwww.
-
Comment by Andromeda on January 11, 2010 at 9:35am -
who was it that posted on FB that the owner of WF doesn't believe in climate change? i've never shopped there, but that's enough to make me not want to.
i find that i can often find healthier options at whatever store i shop at as long as i read the labels. but there is something about the feel of walking into a place like trader joes that makes you feel better about your purchases. but then again, when do bright florescent lights make anyone feel good?
-
Comment by kommishoner on January 11, 2010 at 9:37am -
Intra-Seattle analysis here: I think of Whole Foods and PCC as somewhat different animals - PCC, I've found, is much more reasonable price wise and much less likely to have "sneaker" brands (stuff that looks organic/local/sustainable but really isn't) than WF and Trader Joe's (though, to be fair, TJ's doesn't really market itself as good for you, just as sort of unusual). And they do a lot of work/fundraising for WA farms, which is awesome. The life duet does all of our grocery calculations and has found that, for the type of buying we do (all-organic meat and dairy is our dealbreaker) we might as well stick with PCC and Ballard Market because the "conventional" stores mark those items up so much that we'd be paying more, all told, by going there instead of PCC, etc. But in comparing WF to PCC, we've found PCC is a much better deal, especially with member discounts. And PCC's marketing is much less gourmet - it just seems to be about local organic stuff, not "artisanal" what have you. The life duet has done the same calculations for our local farmers' markets, and found that we're paying the same amount for the same stuff at PCC because they contract with the same farmers that go to the markets.
There's some good argument (Michael Pollan, I think?) that we've got sort of a deflated sense of what food costs should be in the US, since our government so heavily subsidizes certain foods and types of farming in order to sustain agribusiness. I'll buy that. Honestly, I'm okay with paying what we do for our groceries, especially considering the alternatives of increasing crop monoculture, pesticide use, farmworker chemical exposures, genetic modification, and corporate monopoly over farming. We like to cook/eat more than we like to do other recreational stuff, so that's how we budget.
Now, if you want to talk labor issues, the breakdown for in-store workers tends to be that TJ's and WF are pretty big union-busters, whereas Safeway workers have one of the most powerful unions, and best contracts, I've seen anywhere in the labor movement. Two of my best friends work at WF and report that WF policies tend to be fairly worker-friendly, though if Safeway workers were to lose their union, I bet WF would reduce a lot of those benefits because they wouldn't have so much labor market competition. I don't know about PCC. Farm workers, on the other hand, have much tougher going. The United Farm Workers union is not as strong as it once was, and for all the attention that small farmers are getting, the people who actually pick their crops are still pretty much ignored, and organic farms are not necessarily more likely to extend their progressive values to labor rights for their workers. That's a much tougher issue, and there seems to be a lot less discussion about it.
-
Comment by kommishoner on January 11, 2010 at 9:41am
-
Also, Floor Pie, I had to laugh about the cranky deli counter guy. Have you ever read the PCC newsletter? The letters to the editor are pretty priceless: "I noticed your corn-based plasticware. Did you know that stuff is made from genetically modified corn? Boyyyyycotttttt!!!!"
-
Comment by kommishoner on January 11, 2010 at 9:47am
-
We like to cook/eat more than we like to do other recreational stuff, so that's how we budget.
I didn't mean for this to sound like food isn't a necessity, or that people who can't afford food should just, like, go to the movies less often or something. We all have to feed ourselves, and I think that people who care about organic farming, myself included, have a responsibility to shift the way farming legislation happens so that organic and sustainable food is affordable, and that food gets its rightful consideration as a human right. We're fortunate enough to have the option to choose between organic food and recreational stuff in our house, and maybe that makes us the ideal demographic for whatever experience it is that WF and PCC is selling.
-
-
Andromeda - he recently stepped down as chair, but I think he's still CEO. He is the founder. In Austin, home of WF, it's been long mentioned that he is different from many of his customers. Most WF customers are fairly liberal, believe in climate change, etc., but I know from experience that there are Creationist, climate change denying, right-wing folks who only eat local and organic.
kommish - It's absolutely true that most of us have little knowledge of the true cost of food and how it gets to our stores and tables. I come from an agricultural family and took Ag science classes. Farm work is largely invisible, which is bad for the workers and ultimately bad for our food as well. I just don't have any good suggestions to remedy that - we can't all eat at Chez Panisse or grow our own food.
© 2012 Created by Offsprunger.
Powered by 
.
You need to be a member of Offsprung to add comments!
Join Offsprung