Anyone who is nutritionally aware makes organically grown food the foundation of their diet. It has greater nutritional value than conventional food and is relatively free of preservatives, pesticides, herbicides, and other bad stuff you don’t want to consciously ingest.
Smart people know that eating organic food is practicing preventative medicine. This easily justifies the extra cost. You stay healthier if you eat right, thus avoiding doctor bills, not to mention all the other grief associated with illness.
The other aspect of organic food that is important is that it is kindest to the environment. Conventional food is a product that is produced for a profit, with environmental concerns only addressed for their marketing value.
If you do eat organic food you are already aware of Whole Foods. They are now the dominant player in the arena of Healthy food supermarkets. Their primary competitor is Wild Oats which Whole Foods is currently trying to acquire. The FTC has blocked this process and it is currently in the courts. It remains to be seen how this will turn out.
Trader Joe’s is the only other national chain that I know of that features a lot of organic food. These guys are doing a pretty good job also; their stores are charming and fun to shop at with competitive prices, often beating Whole Foods. Their specialty is convenience foods for the singles market. They don’t have much bulk produce.
There are some supermarket sized stores specializing in healthy foods in some local markets that are not part of these big chains, but most of them do not carry organic produce, which is a very specialized and somewhat difficult product to market because of its highly perishable nature.
People who are aware enough to eat organic food want fresh produce! The whole point of organic food is greater taste and nutritional value, and although packaged organic food is still superior, live organic produce is still the most valued food. There is even a culture of live foodists who only eat live organic food but that is another subject.
Whole Foods is a big company. They currently have 196 stores in the USA and the UK, 39,000 employees. One of the advantages to the consumer of shopping at a store in a chain of this size is buying power.
Whole Foods has the ability to buy huge quantities of any given item which allows them to negotiate cheaper prices which ideally get passed on to the consumer.
Anyone who has shopped in any big supermarket knows that each one usually has its own house brand. Jewel, Safeway, Kroger, all the big chains have their own house brand. Whole Food has grown to sufficient size to have its own house brand also, which they began promoting a few years ago: 365 Organic.
The full trademark is: 365 Organic everyday value. Whole Foods has 9 trademarks for their house brands. The other relevant one is: Whole Kids Organic.
The concept is simple: these are the staple foods that you use everyday. On their website they list a series of quality standards which anyone who cares about what they are eating will appreciate. For instance, “We feature foods that are free from artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners, and hydrogenated fats.
Anyone who has done any research at all into the ingredients mentioned knows that it is a very good thing to know that you can buy products that are relatively pure and good for you. Thus it becomes almost a no brainer to buy the 365 Organic brand.
Unfortunately there are some significant compromises in the brand, most notably the presence of too much refined sugar and flour. This is a concession to American tastes that tends to perpetuate the very bad habits conscientious eaters should be working to overcome.
Whole Foods has created foods that are arguably sensible compromises. They know that the average consumer is still going to want convenience foods that the real purist shuns. So they have created relatively healthy versions of all the snack foods we like to eat: Chips, cookies, etc. I say relatively since the presence of refined sugar and flour makes these products not truly healthy, although still better than the typical supermarket brands. They also have a good selection of frozen items in the 365 Organic brand. I love their frozen berries which are usually cheaper than Cascadian Farms, and just as good.
They also have very good pasta sauce, crackers, salsa and a lot of other staples. Their prices for the 365 Organic brand are usually cheaper than the other products on the shelf, without necessarily being lesser quality. Careful shoppers will still want to read labels though, and some foods may be unacceptable depending on how much of a purist you are.
One of the best features of Whole Foods is the availability of a large selection of bulk items, including lots of organics. Because packaging costs are almost completely eliminated, this makes bulk foods very economical. You can economize even more by preparing your own foods from scratch. For instance, most granolas are in the $3 -$4 a lb. range, but bulk oats are less than $1 a lb. This is the place that Whole Foods which is normally considered an expensive place to shop can in fact be just the opposite.
Whole Foods is also a great place to work. They were rated number 5 on Fortune magazine’s top 100 companies to work for in 2007! They do things like pay 100% of their employee’s health insurance.
People like to complain about Whole Foods higher prices but there is a philosophy behind their food and their employee practices that makes enormous sense to me. It does have a cost but I think it is worth it.
We vote with our dollars and I daresay this vote is as important if not more so than our vote in the ballot box. Whole Foods sense of integrity about their products and their humane treatment and fair pay for their employees is a model that more America companies should emulate.
The alternative model is Wal-Mart that pays their employees poorly with no benefits, buys cheap goods from China where they employ cheap labor in substandard conditions that no American would work in. I don’t shop at Wal-Mart for this reason even though I could save a few bucks. I believe in voting with my dollars and I suggest you do also.
Other big chains like Target are now selling organic produce and other packaged organic products. Most any supermarket has some organic produce. Target even has its own house brand, Archer but they are only partially organic.
I like supporting Whole Foods because I like what they are doing and their food is as good as it gets. Well almost! If you can find locally grown organic produce or grow your own that’s the best. Whole Foods does carry some locally grown produce and I encourage them to sell more.
In the meantime, using 365 Organic as your foundation food, along with lots of fresh organic produce is not a bad way to go. See you in the aisles!
