A pink taxi

A pink taxi

January 2, 2011

Groceries



During this vacation, my husband and I have been partaking in suburban activities such as long mall hang outs , which we never do in Dubai and our stops at Whole Foods became daily.

Enter the green overprivileged world of Whole Foods. Everything organic under the skies is shelved here. I walked in the first morning I arrived in California and I was blown away. It wasn't my first time but each year seems like it is. The fruit and veggies, all perfectly assembled. I got all my range of berries and kept returning from more.


Visualize the aisles. I wanted some granola. There were 100 different types in boxes and another 50 to pack. I went to the protein bar section and found every flavor I liked and more. I am importing so many Think Thins!

The dairy has milk, goat, soy and all the works, in all the percents of fat. The cheese section has a larger selection than a whole French town. We came in the mornings, bought our fruit, sat for coffee, had our muffins and scones. I sat and watched people treat themselves. Whole foods is a treat: it isn't cheap and people come, hand-picking their favorite healthy foods. We even came back one night and bought the yummiest home made soups from their salad bar. 



Right about that time I was reading David Foster Wallace and I found a quote to end my happy thoughts:

"Anyway, you finally get to the checkout line's front, and pay for your food, and wait to get your cheque or card authenticated by a machine, and then get told to "Have a nice day" in a voice that is the absolute voice of death, and then you have to take your creepy flimsy plastic bags of groceries in your cart through the crowded, bumpy, littery parking lot, and try to load the bags in your car in such a way that everything doesn't fall out of the bags and roll around in the trunk on the way home, and then you have to drive all the way home through slow, heavy, SUV-intensive rush-hour traffic."


David Foster Wallace from "What the hell is Water?"




3 comments:

  1. Call it Land of the Plenty or the Us of A.My first experience was at the Safeway stores in Washington DC and Salt Lake City in the 80's.Since I am the grocery purchaser in our family,a shore I enjoy since my early days in Beirut and presently in Dubai.
    My source of supply in Dubai is an alternation between Choithram and Union Coop at Safa Park junction.The experience is totally different than the pleasure of shopping at the above mentioned grocery stores in the US.In Dubai you have to have the patience of venturing into the chaos of local shopping at Coop.It is worse than driving on Sheik Zayed Rd,especially with the local ladies followed by their Filipinas and drivers.Coop has the freshest fish and vegetables because of the turnover.But no shopping pleasure like that at Whole Foods!

    ReplyDelete
  2. When I moved to heart of Austin, Tx. in 1982 from the suburbs of Houston (where I spent most of my youth) to attend the University of Texas, I fell in love with Austin and the laid back slightly hippy/healthnut/granola lifestyle it offered. I had never seen or been in a "health food store" before and there was a little place called Whole Foods Market that all the granola types frequented. It had a great smoothie bar and was no bigger than some of the little Indian markets here in Dubai but it was where all the really serious health nuts did their shopping. I liked it because it was quirky and different and introduced me to foods I'd never even seen before and it became my grocery of choice for buying all natural, organic, locally grown. Three years later in my final year in Austin the little store that had become an Austin institution opened their first full size Grocery Store and Whole Foods as we now know it was born. I can still remember making trips to the amazing new store on Sunday mornings after partying hard the night before and feeling somehow cleansed and renewed and energized just walking through the aisles surrounded by all those healthy food choices!! Whole Foods was one of the things I missed the most when i left Austin for Salt Lake City but now they can be found all over the US. Every January when I have to travel to Boulder, Co for faculty meetings at The Pilates Center my first stop is almost always at Whole Foods where I load up on healthy snacks and amazing prepared foods for the week. Without fail, every time I step into a Whole Foods store I am flooded with great memories of that little store in Austin where it all started and I feel almost 19 again!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Visualize the aisles. I wanted some granola. There were 100 different types in boxes and another 50 to pack. I went to the protein bar section and found every flavor I liked and more. I am importing so many Think Thins!
    cotton salwar suits wholesale ,
    wholesale ladies suits online ,

    ReplyDelete