Growers and Grocers

I stepped out of my normal shopping routine last week and went to my local Whole Foods to pick up some badly needed fruits and vegetables.  I had managed to make a total mockery of healthy eating over the weekend and wanted to get back on track with some clean, fresh produce.

I grabbed pretty standard fare: celery, carrots, peaches, pluots, and tomatoes.  Then I happened to walk by the prepared food section.  Apparently August was Chinese month as the hot trays were laden with broccoli tofu, stir fried veggies, and white rice.  I managed to keep my lunch under a pound, but just barely.  To that I added one bottle of organic guava kombucha and I was all set.

When I got to the checkout counter, I dutifully handed over my basket, reached for my wallet, and prepared myself for the worst.  See, Whole Foods and I have an agreement.  They continue to offer quality produce and I do not complain loudly about their prices.

Beep… beep… beep.  On and on the cashier mercilessly scanned my items.  Had the woman in line behind me not asked about the guava flavored kombucha, I am sure I would have been debating internally about the need for those pluots and cursing the powers that be that they only had the more expensive celery hearts.  Then I heard it.  “That will be thirty dollars.”

I was shocked.  Absolutely shocked.  I have never gotten out of Whole Foods for thirty dollars and certainly not with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack for a week plus lunch from the hot food section.  I was elated, ecstatic even.

But as I walked away, I started thinking.  The celery and carrots were shipped in from California.  The tomatoes were from a farm about thirty miles, so they were okay, but the peaches were conventional.  Suddenly, I realized I had basically violated the reason I go to Whole Foods: to get seasonal, organic, local produce.  Had I made a conscious decision to buy cheaper items, then shame on me, but I realized I was just buying what was there.

I’ve since been back to Whole Foods and I’ve noticed the pattern continues.  Organic and local selections have dwindled.  The angel on my shoulder tells me this is because Fall is fast approaching and the growing season is over for many of the staples of my diet.  The devil on the outer shoulder has a more sinister thought.  Maybe rising food prices have finally caught up with Whole Foods.  Maybe the economic climate is so bad that a bastion of food quality has relaxed its ideals.

I refuse to draw conclusions.  Whole Foods and its employees have been good to me, but that does not mean I am not going to be watching closely next season to see what produce ends up on store shelves.  If it is not the good local, organic stuff that is Whole Foods’ claim to fame, then something is very, very wrong.