Whole Foods in Austin, Texas
 

I live in Austin. Austin is home to many things: University of Texas, State Capital, largest urban bat colony in the world, and Whole Foods. Whole Foods just opened its new flagship store and headquarters here. It's located at 6th and Lamar. It is, I promise you, the greatest grocery store on the planet.

If you ever get this way, you should really check it out.

what makes the store so great?

I'm sorry, I only shop at Pieces of Food.

hahahaha.. oh man..

There is a Whole Foods in Seattle. We call it Whole Paycheck, because that's what you need to take if you shop there. If you insist on organically grown EVERYTHING, including the wheat your crackers are made from, then this is your store.

Ah yes...don't a lot of vegans shop at such stores like to get the ingredients for their raw vegetable foods? Not my thing..I like my stuff cooked. And with the occaisional piece of meat in there.

Asta!!

Whole Foods is a great store! Personally, I like to buy organic foods (vote with my money). I try to eat only organic meats too, 'cause man, factory farming is nasty! The store is clean, put together well and designed so attractively that you could definitely spend a Whole Paycheck in there!! There's a good one in Northhampton, MA that I'll go to if I get out that way...I love it! It's sooo dangerous to my wallet!!

I'll bet the one at Co. HQ's is awesome!!

we have them here too..way to expensive when you aren't gung-ho about it

Yeah I'd imagine the veggies must taste better. I'm not much for veggies but they do taste damn good in certain foods.

Asta!!

Asta, organic veggies do taste better! They are also more nutritious and better for the environment overall. Whole Foods sells much more than veggies though, you should check it out...go on a field trip, I'd bet anything you'd think it was a pretty cool grocery store.

Whole Foods isn't always expensive. You kind of have to shop around a bit to look for deals. I'm divided: I like the quality, but don't always like the prices but hey, that's cool, it's my choice. And I like having a choice.

They never made here in Santa Cruz, the organic food capital of the West Coast. We've already got two high-quality natural-foods supermarkets inside the city limits, more outside the city limit, numerous farmer's markets with organic product, plus a couple of high-end groceries that carry all sort of organic foods. Whole Foods tried to put a story in mid-county, to soak up business from the whole metro area, but the deal fell through and they never tried again. I've been to the ones in Silicon Valley and Palo Alto, and they're nothing special compared to what we've got. The prices are better here, too.

In any case, the greatest supermarket on the planet is here. It's so good I send tourists there, just to look.

Exactly! There's one here in Ann Arbor, and I went there once, it's crazy how expensive some of that stuff is. I'll stick to a normal grocery store, thanks.

Whole Foods/Fresh Fields aren't that expensive veggie wise, they usually have a great assortment. They have a really cool pre-made food deli department that is overpriced but for those nights where you don't want to cook and don't want processed foods, it's great.

Their basic groceries are expensive though. But they are one of the few places I've found that carries the full line of Burts Bees products. :D

Hmm Austin is a few hours away from me...been a while since I've been there...well not that long. I was there during October of last year for a Do Make Say Think concert. We just went to the concert and left though..heh.

Asta!!

We have one in Dallas and I'd rather shop at Farmer's market for produce just as good quality wise in my book. I wish more places carried more specialty and ethnic foods though. Pain in the butt to find places that carry all these special little ingrediants without driving all over town to get it.

Whole Foods has good food but it's way overpriced. I prefer Trader Joes. Awesome organic food and it's cheap! They need more of them in the cities especially NYC.

*Raises hand* I used to work there, and live on the hill in the neighborhood right behind there!

I worked at the one in Dallas too... (Not lower Greenville, Coit...):rolleyes:

I guess I can agree that organically grown food is better (and probably tastes better)... but its just so much more expensive... I cant really afford it.

I have toyed with the idea of eating kosher every now and again... but to be honest I cant even be bothered with that.... and I wouldnt be doing it for religious reasons, but just for "so people could tell I was" reasons... so... it just doesnt seem worth it.

I love whole foods!

I think the idea of organic foods makes people think they're better for the enviroment and that they taste better. The human body isn't so fragile as to require an organic diet. In fact, some organic pestisides (yes, they still do use pest control sprays) like rotenone have been linked to increased Parkison's disease rates.

Also, organic farmers like to use copper sulfate as a fungicide, which threatens farm workers' safety, renders soil infertile and can contaminate groundwater (oopps!)

Anyways, that's just my two cents

of course, if you want real organic food, grow it in your garden. When I was growing up we used to grow all sorts of vegtables and fruit... its seasonal,,, but I guarantee nothing you can buy in any shop tastes as good as something you grow yourself.

It depends on what you mean by "organic" - anybody have the definition legislated a couple of years ago?

Also, I don't "need" an organic diet, but when I eat raw fruits, veggies and nuts that have been conventionally grown, my throat swells shut if the pesticides have not been thoroughly washed off them. Scary enough to make me pay the extra 45 cents for an organic apple.

Whole Foods is a bit of a ripoff, though. Many of our other grocery stores - Kroger, for example - have started carrying some of the same products like 7th Generation cleaning supplies, Optimum cereals, Knudsens juices, and at lower prices than you find at Whole Foods. An Earth Fare is also opening up in the area, which should spur some competition.

If you really want to support small scale organic farming, check out your local food co-op (you often get 20% off your groceries if you work one 4 hour shift per week) or look into local "agricultural subscriptions." You pay $X/month and you get a certain amount of in-season produce every week. Pound of tomatoes, 6 peppers, whatever. Around here you can even sign up for fresh buffalo meat, chicken, eggs, goat cheese, whatever. Most if not all of it is organically produced and the meat is "free range" and free of pesticides and unnecessary antibiotics. The subscriptions really help the farmers keep going, and it's good, fresh food.

Certified organic farmers must comply to standards set by the National Organic Program (NOP). They may also rely upon the Organic Material Review Institute (OMRI)to let them know which manufacturers of fertilizers and natural pesticides have complied with standards set by the NOP. Basic copper sulfate is not approved by either board. While it is safer than comercial fungicides for careful and controlled use in the smaller garden, it is not used in commercial production that will bear the label of "organic". While it is true that the adult human can withstand certain amounts of chemical additions found in non-organic food, studies have not been done, at least not very extensively, regarding their effect on children. Also, commercial pesticides mimic hormones in the body and can cause a myriad of problems by attaching to hormone receptor sites. Usually this manifests as cancers of the breast and reproductive organs.
To me it's worth the extra money to shop carefully for organics. I get what's on sale and freeze it, don't buy more than I need and avoid prepackaged foods which have more additives and tend to cost more in the long run. Buying in bulk is often a less expensive way to shop as well.

For some people the cost is an issue though. I mean, I buy free range aggs, cos I can afford too, even though Im not well off... but there are low income families that really can only afford the cheapest "value" products... and sadly they are most often the processed crap, the battery farmed produce, the mass produced GM crops....

If anyone wants the link:
www.omri.org