Despite the title of Is Whole Foods Wholesome?, the Slate
article is not about Whole Foods as much as it is about the organic movement. Essentially, the article treats the
increased demand for organic goods as an overly cynical teenager would treat their once favorite band after it
"sells out." The band, having joined up with a major record label and making more money, reaching a wider
audience and popularizing their brand of music, is no longer appealing to the teen who feels that if it isn't small and
under-recognized, it isn't worth his or her recognition.
Organic foods have had a following for a long time, though their potential value was largely unappreciated by the mainstream population of grocery shoppers. As Whole Foods picked up and popularized the organic foods market, neatly filling a growing consumer demand with smart store layouts and good timing, they had to look further to find the organic foods to fit the demand. The question that posed by the Slate is whether it is appropriate to purchase these goods when they are not grown locally. In California, this is not a problem because most of the organic produce in the country comes from the state, but New York has a more limited production of those types of goods.
What the Slate is missing here is that fact that organic versus conventional is the choice, and though Whole Foods promotes supporting small, local farmers - who are not excluded from their supply chain, by the way - it is the organic label that is their key marketing element. The source of the organic products is not as important as the fact that it is organic. Shoppers who want organic foods because they want to avoid pesticides and genetically modified foods will continue to buy them for those reasons. They should continue to buy them no matter where they come from, if those reasons are their priorities. Shoppers who want locally grown should look for local labels and not condemn a market that specializes in organics for failing to carry an equal or greater amount locally grown food. They might have to accept that some locally grown foods that are easily available are also conventionally grown. Shoppers who want only local, sustainably grown, organic foods should seek out their local farmers market.
Expecting a large supermarket chain to operate exactly as a farmer's market does is unrealistic, but fortunately there are enough shopping options in this country to fill any and all consumer demands. It just might not all take place at Whole Foods.
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