Is Whole Foods Wholesome?
January 6th, 2008I love going to Whole Foods Market. There are two of them in San Diego that I know of, but I only go once-in-a-while when I have to buy some raw food products. Whole Foods is the ONLY grocery store I know of that features a dedicated “raw foods” section, located near the front of the store!
Anyway, I was reading this article about Whole Foods this morning. Supposedly, WalMart is going organic too! Will they successfully compete with Whole Foods by bringing to us organic foods that are cheaper? Who knows….
It’s hard to find fault with Whole Foods, the haute-crunchy supermarket chain that has made a fortune by transforming grocery shopping into a bright and shiny, progressive experience. Indeed, the road to wild profits and cultural cachet has been surprisingly smooth for the supermarket chain.
Local grocery stores may also have a small raw foods section (apart from the usual produce), but Whole Foods has this section that has all the serious, expensive items, like the best Agave Nectar, raw Cacao powder, raw Cacao nibs and various raw crackers. Whole Foods is also the only place where I can by “raw bread”, and I love those raw curry crackers, which no other store seems to carry.
Of course, above and beyond social and environmental ethics, and even taste, people buy organic food because they believe that it’s better for them. All things being equal, food grown without pesticides is healthier for you. But American populism chafes against the notion of good health for those who can afford it. Charges of elitism—media wags, in otherwise flattering profiles, have called Whole Foods “Whole Paycheck” and “wholesome, healthy for the wholesome, wealthy”—are the only criticism of Whole Foods that seems to have stuck.
Whole Foods has a good thing going… they’ve created a super-awesome ambience in which the aisles are fully stocked and items can be found in beautiful, natural wood shelves. They’ve got the awesome deli and food-to-go areas. Their produce seems to be the best and freshest out of all the stores I’ve been to, and socially speaking, it seems to attractive a LOT of the hip, progressive, environmentally conscious folks… as well as the rich.
Organic produce and foods… I am convinced that my family and I should eat organically grown foods free of pesticides and free of genetic engineering (I don’t care for salmon in my apples, thank you). But, the prices at Whole Foods are astronomical…
Granted, I mostly go for those rare raw food products I can’t find anywhere else. So, Whole Foods has that hold over me. But while there I end up buying other things. And though the experience of shopping in Whole Foods is very pleasant, and much hipper than going to other common supermarkets, there is always that big surprise when checking out at the cash register… I may buy what seems like just a few items, and suddenly those few items cost me $150!
I try not to go to Whole Foods too often. It’s expensive. And I really only go when I need things I can’t get anywhere else.
It just makes me wonder if places like Whole Foods is creating this gap between the poor and the rich, those who can afford to eat healthy foods versus those who can’t afford them. But that’s always been the way of the world.
However, I still love shopping at Whole Foods whenever I can. They definitely have made it feel hip and cool to go to the grocery store…
