It’s becoming more and more difficult for me to shop in big name grocery stores. Aisles and aisles of flavorless produce, brightly-colored packages of food-like substances are commonplace. These items have been my drug of choice for many years. Living unconciously – for a variety of reasons – I have eaten these items without thought. Why not? It’s easy – accessible, cheap AND with an unconcious palette, it tastes good (or so we have been told).
Stores like Walmart have long contributed to our unconscious ways – forcing people like me, over time, to completely steer clear of cheap, accessible quantity-focused shopping experience. Unfortunately, they have a huge following. The criteria for most Americans when it comes to food is: Quantity, Price, Convenience, when it should be Nutrition, Sustainability, Flavor. Walmart has been the poster-child-company of retail political in-correct-ness for years, offering cheap un-sustainable products AND destroying local economies.
In Atlantic Monthly’s March 2010 article, The Great Grocery Smackdown, Will Walmart, not Whole Foods, save the small farm and make America healthy? they discuss Wal-Mart’s initiatives to support local farmers and products, and compare their products (in flavor) to those from Whole Foods. While Whole Foods wins – the Walmart goods do hold their own. And while flavor is important, I think we need to focus on the big a few other things.
Apparently Walmart is working with the EPA on this initiative – trying to figure out how to make the local food supplier system work. There could (seemingly) be a lot of pluses to this, but I am sure it’s more complicated than that.
Let’s be realistic. There are a lot of Walmart-haters out there, and for good reason. I have been one for a long, long time. It would be hard (and very uncool) for me to trust them. But I have to ask the question, if stores like WalMart are trying to find ways to support local farmers finding suppliers within 100 miles of their stores, and help to solve some of the challenges that small farms face – is it a good thing? Do we need big retailers like WalMart to help fix the problem and to help the general population be more conscious?
What about the responsibility of the general public of ‘regular people’ to demand local products (as opposed to letting the big retailers lead)? Where does that fit in?
And another question: Would it be a good thing if McDonald’s only served free-range, grass-fed beef? Would it be OK to like McDonald’s then? (yes, I am a McDonald’s-hater too but I know I am in the minority.)
All this is truly food for thought. What do you think?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
While I don’t shop at Walmart for the same reasons that you don’t, I think that bringing in the big stores will help create change.
Hopefully, consumers’ thinking about what to eat and where to shop will change.
And hopefully the the government’s policies regarding food will change for the better.
I agree with Jen. I think we’re all so entrenched in the idea that “big box is bad” that when a big retailer like Wal-Mart decides to support the local food movement in a big way, we just want to stick our fingers in our ears and pretend we don’t hear them. I’m not a Wal-Mart shopper either, but their efforts can only be a good thing. Other grocery store chains should follow the example of both Whole Foods and Wal-Mart.
Offering organic produce is never a bad idea, whether it is Wal-mart or Whole Foods. The intention behind Wal-Mart offering organics is clearly driven by demographics and economic interests, but in the end, more and more people will familiarize themselves with the idea and hopefully things will begin to change. Having said that, when I see Wal-Mart stop selling poisonous food at ridiculously low prices , then I will know that real change is afoot. Also, when Whole Foods decides to offer their goods at prices affordable to more families, I will ,again, feel encouraged about positve change. It is not enough to stock your shelves with healthier choices without moving towards refusing to sell products that that contribute to ill-health, environmental destruction, and inhumane treatment of workers and animals, nor is it sufficient change to have a store full of wonderful products that only a small portion of people can actually afford. Big box stores are also energy gluttons (where are the green practices there?), and the economic and environmental cost of shipping all the products everywhere is immense. They are antithetical to the idea of local. Local food builds community, fosters a sense of ownership, inspires healthy living, respects traditional practices, and causes us to pause and rethink the way we spend our time, our money, our resources. Local markets are beautiful, develop conversation, and keep us in touch with the seasons. People take pride in their offerings, and often have stories to tell about how they learned their bread or cheese-making from their families. A local markets we buy less and interact more with our neighbors and our environment. Our senses are alive with the smells and colors of the natural world, as opposed to being manipulated and bombarded by advertising, bad lighting, and packaging. So, to sum it up, kudos to big box stores in a small way for the organic celery, but I would love to see a farmers market in every neighborhood instead of a big box store.