Just Jake Notes:

The People v. Whole Foods
January 27, 2007 at 3:10 am · Filed under Blog Post
This was inspired by Jess Lynd’s entry on Whole Foods.
I’ve had beef with Whole Foods for a while now. I don’t like them, I don’t believe in paying big bucks for organic fruits and vegetables…my regular food at regular prices is just fine and it tastes just as good, thank you. Organic Milk? 6 bucks a gallon? Even more bizarre. I can find whole wheat products and low-fat/fat-free substitutes for the food I eat at regular supermarkets these days without having to go to Whole Foods to spend a fortune. Food is a basic need for survival for the people of any race or creed. There is something pretentious about Whole Foods that says “I’m a cut above the rest,” my body deserves to be more nourished than yours because I’m a commercial litigator or a high-powered lobbyist, and you…you live an abysmal existence as my daughter’s day care provider or as my bank teller. Go ahead, indulge yourself on “strange preservatives and hormones.”
Okay, so my view may be a bit extreme here.
I think some will love this though…the transition, in my opinion, between the Beer/Wine/Lotto convenience stores in underprivileged areas and Whole Foods in wealthier neighborhoods.
In Cleveland I live just two blocks down from a place called the “Food Co-Op.” It is located in some sort of a warehouse and at first glance will look like a government-subsidized low-income food pantry.
A closer look will reveal, however that the Food Co-Op is actually a community-run initiative to bring natural and organic products to the working class East Cleveland area. It is essentially an organic market run by community volunteers, white men in dreadlocks will ring you up and African-American women in hair wraps will be seen helping customers. The prices are higher than a regular supermarket, of course, organic is organic. But, if you volunteer there a couple hours a week, ring people up, stock the shelves, mop the floor—you get a discount. Pay the $30 a year membership fee to help run the place—get a discount.
No fruit mountains here or any visual epitomes (sp?) of abundance. No sliding glass doors, no food samples and no boughs of evergreen even at Christmastime. Yet, they probably carry almost everything Whole Foods does, even fresh seafood, but in moderation. (No Diet Coke, in case you were wondering). It’s kind of small and dirty looking actually—dark cement floors, sticky railings, sometimes they may be low on volunteers and the lettuce they sell will be getting brown; but, I always have to wait in line whenever I go there. Something about the place makes it so real (aside from the guilt free shopping it provides for me) that it emanates hope for communities nationwide.
I bet the Food Co-Op was the kind of project Margaret Meade was talking about when she said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”