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On 04/05/05 20:21 +0100, Kake L Pugh wrote: > Apologies for the long URL, but I enjoyed reading this and wanted to > pass it on: > > http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2005/04/15/notes041505.DTL&nl=fix American Supermarkets (as described in that piece) are way, way nastier than anything you'll find in London. Think brighter lights, weirder smells and deader eyes. The vegetable counters all have little spray-jets mounted in them, which sprinkle a sheen of chlorine-scented water over the lettuce and carrots every 5 minutes; really annoying if you're reaching in there just as they go off. And then there's the food. I don't know what they do to it, but *everything* you buy in a supermarket has a half-life longer than Carbon-14. Bread? It lasts a month without going mouldy. Milk? 2 weeks. Hell, even the spinach doesn't wilt until a week after purchase. Actually, I don't know the definitive "lasting power" of most items - I either finish them off too soon, or I throw things out after a while just because it freaks me out. I haven't seen a mould spot since I moved here, but once in a while I think "hey, that loaf's been there for a month. Eww." I can only conclude that eating this stuff regularly will either make you immortal, or at the least a very handsome corpse. Thankfully (for my soul, not my wallet) there are a few alternatives to the large chains. I've heard good things about Trader Joe's (but not been there yet), and then there's Whole Foods (as mentioned in that article), which are wonderful. http://www.wholefoods.com/ Weird synchronicity - I visited one for the first time last night. If you've ever visited the "Sainsbury's Market" in Pimlico, you'll get some idea of the ambience of these places. Except they actually sell different, interesting, quality, healthy food. Whereas the Sainsbury's Market sells the same old crap but places it on "rustic looking" wooden shelves and dims the lights a bit. I am in love with Whole Foods for 2 principle reasons: 1) They sell Belgian Beer. The proper stuff. They have Delerium Tremens, my favourite ever ale. This makes me indescribably happy. 2) They sell proper cheese. In fact, they import stuff from Neal's Yard Dairy amongst others. They have Colston Bassett Stilton. Unfortunately, the smaller branches (like my nearest in Cupertino) don't have a dedicated cheese counter, so they get pre-cling-filmed wedges from other stores, and you need to let the cheese out of the plastic for 30 mins for it to breathe and stop tasting plasticky. But. I can get Colston Bassett here. This makes me grin with uncontrolled glee. 3) They sell really good everything else. Non-sprayed, organic veggies. Proper "european style" bread. Sun-dried tomatoes for the latent Islingtonite in me. If it wasn't so damned expensive, I'd be shopping there exclusively. What I didn't realise is that the same company is behind the UK's "Fresh and Wild" stores. What a small and wonderful world this is. This has been your irregular ex-Londoner dispatch from the wilds of California.
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