Yesterday I went to the new flagship store of Whole Foods in Austin, a place I was excited to visit since I consider myself an enthusiastic foodie. Though I don't have a place to garden right now, I like to feel close to the planting of seeds and to the harvest, and I like to make interesting food from scratch. Every place I travel, I look for "essentials" to pack in the cooler in the back of my car for the drive home because things like leeks and fresh figs and spectacular salad greens are impossible to get in Van Horn. And coffee, yeah, I like a good rich coffee, and I'm not satisfied if it comes from a can.
Pulling into the complex I got my first clue this was going to be an interesting experience. There was an escalator up to the store, but what really caught my eye was the down escalator for shoppers and their carts, a moving walkway angling from the store to the parking garage below. The place was so HUGE. The produce section alone was the size of the Coralville New Pi, and the seafood section was the size of the Iowa City store, I kid you not.
This place was the Disneyland of food. I thoroughly enjoy picking out just the right blue cheese (Maytag!) and deciding which freshly made loaf of bread to bring home, but when you can buy cinnamon vanilla macademia nuts from the hot nut bar, you've gone too far for my sensibilities.
I don't want to buy from a Disneyland of food any more than I do from a Super Walmart. Smaller is better, even if the choices are more limited. How far have we come from the harvest?
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