You can listen to the entire piece that inspired this thread here:
Whole Foods Marks 30th Anniversary : NPR
Essentially, the question I have is this: how do you decide what food to buy? In the piece above, the CEO of Whole Foods mentions how food buying has changed in the last 10-20 years. Not all people choose the food they purchase based on price alone anymore. Some make decisions based on information such as where the food was raised, how it was raised, how the workers who raised it were treated, how the animal involved in the process was treated, etc.
What kind of criteria do you use to choose what food to purchase when you're at the grocery store? Do you go out of your way to acquire food that meets your criteria?
I purchase food based on where the food was raised, primarily. Price is very low on the list of criteria, which is funny to me because I often hear my husband's relatives complain about how expensive this or that grocery store is (primarily the grocery stores that sell local and/or organic produce). I shop at the farmer's market when it's in season to buy the freshest, most local produce I can. I buy eggs where the chicken has been humanely treated, given vegetarian feed, and raised in my region, not in some giant egg farm in Iowa. There are some things, like pasta, where I do go for the best price possible--and this is true of a lot of pantry items. However, when it comes to fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, milk, etc., I don't mind paying a bit more for the fresher choice whose provenance I'm familiar with. I love the idea that I can go visit the cows that make my milk, cream, half and half, and buttermilk. The local dairy has prices comparable to most other local dairies--they can't beat the store brand on price, but they win when it comes to quality. I suppose that is my greatest criterion: what is the quality of this item?