Americans get riled up about creationists and climate change deniers, but lap up the quasi-religious snake oil at Whole Foods. It’s all pseudoscience—so why are some kinds of pseudoscience more equal than others?
There is nothing the author attacks in this article that is not available at my local Kroger. - Ezekiel 4:9 bread? check. - probiotics? check. - homeopathic remedies? check. - what doctors don't tell you? check. "Processed at a facility that also processes nuts." There's plenty of things to criticize Whole Foods for, but carrying the same shit as Safeway is a piss-poor place to start.Synagogue kitchens are the only other places in which I’ve seen signs implying that level of food-separation purity.
Cross-contamination is actually a legitimate thing for people allergic to nuts to worry about, though the warnings are so ubiquitous that they're probably not good for anything but a laugh when they show up on containers of nuts."Processed at a facility that also processes nuts."
That does not make the statement correct or true. As far as "legitimate" it's "legitimate" for someone wanting the extra processing of kosher-certified food to benefit from kosher processing. It's "legitimate" for someone wanting their meat to be halal to buy halal meat. And if someone wants the extra stringency of organic certification and is willing to pay for it, there is a reasonable expectation for such a label. For the record - I rarely shop at Whole Foods. I buy organic when it's one of a dozen or so different things. But fuck-a-doodle-do - you can buy oscocillococcinum fuckin' everywhere. Singling out Whole Foods simply for also having Tibetan salt crystals is clickbait bullshit.
That's exactly correct. Many people have many reasons to believe what they believe and feel how they feel. Strict idealism seems to give a lot of people a sense of purpose and belonging, and I fail to see anything wrong with that. I have no idea what is written in a book like What Doctors Don't Tell You, but even if it's full of bullshit, that doesn't mean your local GP is always correct. People eat that shit up, because doctors are wrong so often. The bad news for people is that doctors aren't typically wrong out of malevolence and greed; they're typically wrong because biology is complex and know how patient A is going to react to this or that medicine compared to patient B is impossible. Weird shit happens in medicine, and doctors can only prescribe you what has been "proven" to work (often by arbitrary standards). Whole Foods can't really be blamed for capitalizing on people's fears about health, as that's the American Way. Personally, I like Whole Foods. A lot. And I shop there probably 3-4 times per week. They have really good quality food for the most part, and I don't mind paying for it. It's the only place in Detroit I can go and get a half gallon of locally produced, small production milk (sure it's double the price of a gallon of shit at Kroger, but let's be honest--that translates to what, an extra $6/month, considering one bottle per week). If I lived in an area with many quality food options, I might shop elsewhere, but where I live, WF feels like a godsend. The liquor store on the corner doesn't, for example, sell imported gouda. Who knew? I'm not going to argue that WF is the answer to the world's problems, but if more people shopped at WF-like stores, I think we'd have fewer health problems, and I can get behind that any day, no matter what BS they're also peddling.That does not make the statement correct or true.
I think that is what is wrong with Whole Foods nothing different for a 50% moron surcharge.
Then again, it's the easiest place to get Lake Champlain chocolate in Los Angeles. My in-laws used to live five blocks from the factory in Burlington and I miss getting the only discount they had -- factory seconds. For all their health concerns, they don't keep the milk cold at the coffee stand. Would you like some agita with your evening decaf?
I sometimes get cheese there because they have a upscale selection. I think that is really what it is a low rent Dean and Deluca with a Health theme.
Whole foods is all and all a bad thing. Even the name is a linguistic swindle.
My shopping philosophy: Step 1. What season is it? If winter/out of season --> purchase from local grocery store (Market Basket, Wegmans, etc.) or anything that isn't Walmart. If summer/in-season --> find Farmer's Market, talk to people, buy things. Step 2. Ignore the hype of certain products and grocery stores and maybe eventually read The End of Food and others to get a better understanding of how all this works.
I guess it's because Whole Foods markets themselves as being a "better" and "healthier" supermarket alternative. They're like the Vitamin Water of food stores.
I almost always have a good experience at WF though. The staff is knowledgable and the place is easy to navigate and is well presented. Grocery shopping is something most people do on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. Why shouldn't people want to do it in a nice environment. For me, when I pay an extra 20% for the groceries there, it's for this as much as it is for the "quality" of the food. One thing that is really annoying though is that when I check out I will often get asked if I would like to donate to the "whole earth foundation". The answer is always "no". I go there to get food, not to be pressured in to donating money. -I find it very annoying.They're like the Vitamin Water of food stores.
Good analogy.
Except that at WF you can buy high quality food, whereas Vitamin Water is soda without the carbonation. WF is a corporate machine with a good marketing operation, but in the end it's still a place where you can buy locally sourced products, minimally processed foods, and very high quality produce. Vitamin Water is none of those things. I don't get the analogy at all, save for the fact they both advertise, which puts them in company with 100% of other businesses.
Why is it so difficult for Americans to just buy fruits, vegetables, grains? Just buy the damn ingredients from a green grocer and make your food. Eating good food is not complicated, but leave it to the American machine to make it appear that way.
Unfortunately, people don't know much about the food we eat anymore, and these types of products are found in every grocery store. But seriously, Dr. Bronner's soap is actually a good product, why is it being attacked in this article? I understand the founder was a pretty out there kind of guy, but there is nothing pseudo about the science of sanitation. Early soap makers in Europe did not have easy access to laurel oil and thereby substituted it with olive oil creating what we now call castile soap.
Icelandic lamb. It's worth it to go to Whole Paycheck in the fall one time for Icelandic lamb.