February 10, 2011
I love shopping for food here. I love the weird things on offer (like chocolate with bacon bits) and I love the multitude of options (even bacon chocolate comes in milk or dark). If you want to buy something as boring as rice cakes, you can buy them made with white rice, brown rice or wild rice. And they can all be organic or non-organic.
I love the obsession with peanut butter and cinnamon.
And I love the different vegetables that are available, that I’ve never ever seen in a British supermarket. Look at these beautiful cauliflowers. I bought the purple one in the local farmers’ market, just because of its colour. It’s positively regal.
Someone asked my son if he’d found any foods here that he liked, that he’s never had in Britain. His obvious answer was chicken and apple sausages (they’re not quite as weird as they sound).
But what I love most about food shopping here is the celebration of food. I suspect it’s just California, and admittedly I do shop at WholeFoods, which sells predominantly organic and eco-friendly foods, but food here is something to take pride in. This is a picture of the view that confronts you as you walk into WholeFoods. It’s a celebration of vegetables, and it’s art.
It lifts my spirit just to see it.
Planting an Oar 