Is Whole Foods Sustainable or Just a High-Priced Hoax? I Took a Job There to Find Out

It'll taste better...trust me!

I just go to the food town. I live on 20 bucks a week and it's a block from my apartment. I simply can't beat that and I'm not going out of my way to drive to a co-op just for produce.

Note: I'm actually helping by not driving 10 miles to a farm. What if everyone who shopped at foodtown decided to drive out of their way to farms to get food...you'd be hurting more than helping because 1 diesel truck carrying tons of food will pollute less than 1000s of cars driving the extra mileage.

Just saying. If one was close, sure. There's not for me.

nicey - grow some of your own then. You can grow a tomato plant in a bucket on a porch...and trust me...home grown tomatoes taste much better than anything you get in a store.

I agree about driving far and didn't mean to suggest that. Where I live farmers co-ops set up in parking lots on the weekends and are very convenient. Also...produce stands in parking lots.

Heck in atlanta you can find a produce stand downtown!Of course I live on 3 acres right outside the city and have a huge garden...so that helps!

nicey - grow some of your own then. You can grow a tomato plant in a bucket on a porch...and trust me...home grown tomatoes taste much better than anything you get in a store.

I agree about driving far and didn't mean to suggest that. Where I live farmers co-ops set up in parking lots on the weekends and are very convenient. Also...produce stands in parking lots.

Heck in atlanta you can find a produce stand downtown!Of course I live on 3 acres right outside the city and have a huge garden...so that helps!

30 something % of households don't have houses. Not including condos, and houses that don't have land. I'm one of them...I don't have a porch.

Somehow I'm doubting that one bucketed tomato plant will be that good, and able to match my consumption. I'd waste more pollution/money going to buy some seeds than it's worth.

I say this as the son of a farmer (full fledged farmer, non-machine farming in the 40s and 50s). We always had gardens. But you can't get very large amounts of tomatoes from bucket planting, or the bigger tomatoes. That was dads specialty too.

I've had summers upon summers of corn, carrots, green beans, lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, etc. really...it's not THAT much better than the produce at the stores.

I'm sure Houston, where I live has co-ops. But most of our areas are highly urbanized. You'd have to drive out. I'm not against it. I just don't have any land. I might take a look around since you're making me feel guilty.

No No..I'm not trying to make you feel guilty at all!

:-(

I'm just so into fresh...much better than anything at the store. (But you already know that as evidenced by your farmer experiences!).

I'm just so into fresh...much better than anything at the store. (But you already know that as evidenced by your farmer experiences!).

Maybe my palette isn't as refined.

Or it could be that I've lived on my own for about 5 years now away from home and I forget how good the home grown stuff tastes.

They actually do like little educational seminars on how to grow your own food in your apartment...I don't know anything about it but I've heard its actually quite simple and pretty clever.

They actually do like little educational seminars on how to grow your own food in your apartment...I don't know anything about it but I've heard its actually quite simple and pretty clever.

I can imagine bugs.

Due to the Humidity in Houston bugs get into food very quickly if you leave it unsealed in an Apartment.

I find myself asking how they get in, but they always do. I try to keep things very clean, but if I leave anything out for too long, like apples, bannanas, even bread items that are in plastic, they come. I've had exterminators come thru.

Anyone else notice this in a humid climate?

Maybe I will look this up on the seminars.

I visited San Antonio once in June. Being from Oregon I thought I could handle it. But a few years living in the desert I guess took it out of me. Oh my humid and hot thought I was going to die. I tried container gardewing of tomatoes they are almost dead and did not produce much.

Whole Foods is just another pricey label. Much like wearing Armani, or Prada,

Whole Foods does sell foods that are not available at everyday super markets, especially vegetarian foods, exotic grains, gluten-free items, etc.

Same for me. When I'm on the road it is very nice to be able to get a hot meal to take back to the hotel and at prices that are less than restaurant prices for the same type of food, not to mention not having to leave a tip.

not having to leave a tip.

Good call, there. I forgot about that. Several times I've had to dip into my own pocket to leave a tip at a restaurant because I hit my per diem.

I don't know if all of them do it, but I've been able to get some really good Indian food at one of the stores in Boca. They actually put spice in it, too.

I like there sushi it always fresh.

Their quality of food is marginally better but they charge luxury prices...

Ultimately, that was my impression. I suppose they can charge those prices based on being trendy, but this op-ed piece just un-trendied them.

We had a local grocery store that was the same way. Sure, the store was a lot cleaner, the fixtures were topnotch, and the employees were friendly, but paying significantly more for the same food you could get from the Wal-Mart Supercenter just wasn't worth it. Not to mention that they always seemed to have a problem with staffing the front end of the store. They had 14 cash register lanes but even at the busiest part of the day they would only have 4-6 lanes open. It certainly wasn't worth it to have to stand in line longer and pay more.