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Health food has a bad reputation.

We know that sounds strange, but you know it’s true. Picture a health food store. What does the cashier look like? What do the people shopping look like? If you’re imagining some combination of middle-aged hippie and stuck-up but self-professed “health nut” parent, you’re on the right track.

This picture appeared with the rise of modern food cooperatives, or co-ops, in the 1970’s. Lashing back against the decadent fondue and mysterious Jell-O of the 1960’s, young people around the country started thinking more seriously about where their food comes from and how it’s produced. There’s nothing wrong with that mindset; in fact, that’s the guiding ideology for this site. The problem is that the health foodies of the 1970’s have been reduced to caricatures, and we see them everywhere.

Similarly, health food is deemed “off-limits” to a huge portion of the American population. Why? Foods with advertised special benefits are often several times more expensive than generic items. If the grubby hippie image didn’t turn you off, the $15 jar of peanut butter likely did the trick.

Growers and Grocers is a site dedicated to changing this narrative. Health food should be for everyone, and there shouldn’t be a stigma around it. The health benefits of eating locally sourced, organic food are nearly limitless, and we want to help readers figure out how to make the lifestyle fit with their budget and values. Our content is designed to eschew some of the stigma around health food and point you in the direction of finding sustainable and healthy food sources. That’s what we’re all about.