Goodies Mediterranean Market

I stumbled across a wonderful new store the other day. Goodies Mediterranean Market is located on Lake City Way just north of 135th St., on the west side of the street. When I drove by it struck me as such an incongruous place for a little grocery that I had to stop and check it out.

I was impressed by the selection of spices and Middle Eastern products, and the produce prices were extremely reasonable. And there was some interesting stuff I'd never seen anywhere else before, like freekeh--a cereal made from young wheat--and green almonds. And I picked up half a gallon of Lebanese olive oil (I love Lebanese olive oil) for under $20.

Organic Violations

I was disappointed this week to read that Madison Market, one of my favorite places to shop, has been disciplined by the National Organic Program for inadequate record keeping and insufficient documentation about their suppliers' production practices. I wasn't disappointed that they had betrayed my trust by not adequately vetting their products. I'm already convinced of their integrity. I was disappointed because it's a shame to see them struggling to meet standards that may not involve the best use of their time and resources.

I owned a wholesale company many years ago selling prepared food to natural foods stores and university cafeterias. When I first approached the other coop chain in town, their buyer told me that they didn't like to deal with small companies because it created too much work for the bookkeeping department. But when I brought my products to Central Coop, the previous incarnation of Madison Market, they were downright eager to work with a fledgeling local company. When the other coop chain features local farmers, they always work with the biggest regional growers. When Madison Market features local farmers, they also showcase small-scale operations.

I've been shopping at Madison Market fairly often the past few months because it's so close to my new kitchen. I love going in there, and I feel like they really walk the walk. They've got great products, including plenty of unusual stuff, and their organic produce prices are wonderfully fair. It actually feels like a coop.

I'm not troubled by their difficulty keeping up with their paperwork for the same reasons that I choose to shop at farmers' markets. Personally, I'd rather buy an item that hasn't been certified organic directly from the person who grew it, than an organic item from a chain store. I often don't keep up on my paperwork, either.

(By the way, the info about their noncompliance came from the Sustainable Food News. I'm linking to it, even though you can't actually read the article without a subscription. You can get a free 2 week trial subscription, though. It's a great resource, but pricey. Not pricey in the sense that it's not worth what they charge, but pricey in the sense that it's more than most people are going to spend for this kind of information.)

La Mexicana

I buy tortillas from a company in White Center that presses them themselves. I used to have them delivered, but my new kitchen is on a residential street which is too narrow for their truck, so now I have to pick them up.

I don't entirely mind. The place has a great feeling and it smells really good. They also have some lovely old equipment on display, like this maize grinder.

Sunset Hill Grocery

I swung by the Sunset Hill Greenmarket for a bottle of wine the other day and was reminded, once again, of what an incredibly cool place it is. A tiny neighborhood spot with plenty of local, organic stuff, as well as a wonderful selection of beer, wine, cheese, and snacks.

I know it hasn't always been easy for the various folks who've owned the place over time, but all in all they've managed the buck the trend that's moving the grocery industry towards big chains and destination supermarkets supplemented by depressing, overpriced neighborhood convenience stores.

The world would be a better place if there were more stores like this one.

Good Neighbors?

I was struck by these two storefronts right next to each other: the vegan pizza place and the variety shop named after the quintessentially politically correct spotted owl burger. I hope they're kind to each other.

Whole Foods' Woes

It's been a rough couple of months for Whole Foods. Their sales are slumping, their stock has lost 80% of its value, and the FTC has reopened its case trying to block their acquisition of the Wild Oats chain, even though the merger process is already well underway.

I know it's fashionable to bash Whole Foods for their focus on "industrial organic" products, their high prices and their boutiquey atmosphere, but I really like shopping there. I happen to like their stores more than some of the local coops, where I often can't find items I want. I even appreciate the upscale feel on some level: for better or for worse I think that kind of ambiance has gone a long way towards bringing natural foods mainstream.

I suspect that their recent woes will ultimately make them a better company, perhaps helping them adapt to an economic climate where there's more of a demand for everyday products than luxury items. They do seem to be pretty savvy overall.

Manna Mills

Whenever I'm in Edmunds I always find some excuse to stop by Manna Mills. Many years ago, when I first moved to the Seattle area, I was thrilled to discover this store, which had more of the feel of an east coast food coop than any store in the area, even the ones that are actually coops.

It's evolved over the years, keeping the same feeling but also developing different emphases. They now specialize in gluten free products, and all of their produce is certified organic. Their products include many obscure gems: you get the feeling they're more willing than most places to take risks on items that are consistent with their mission. (I once found horseradish flavored soy cheese there! I'm no fan of soy cheese, but even I couldn't resist that one.)

But the best thing about Manna Mills is in a jar by the counter: honey flavored candies called Pecan Pearls.

A Trip to Chocolopolis

Yesterday I visited Chocolopolis, the new chocolate shop on Queen Anne. As I expected, it felt rather boutiquey, but you probably have to go for that feel if you're opening a shop in that neighborhood. It did feel like a shrine and, as someone who experiences awe in the face of the magical cacao bean, I felt appropriately reverent.

The chocolates are arranged by region. I told the salesperson that my all time favorite chocolate bar is Michel Cluizel's Mangaro, and she pointed out that, because it's from Madagascar, I should try other varieties from the same area. It was a good suggestion, and I'll probably take her up on it next time around.

This time I bought a bar made from beans grown in Northeastern Brazil. My sweetie is Brazilian, and I'd never run into a Brazilian chocolate bar before, so I couldn't resist. I also picked up a bar from a company called Askenosie, which had a photo on the front of the farmers who grew the beans. I loved the packaging, which was deeply rustic and had a piece of twine at the top.

I checked out the company's website, which explained that the proprietor personally meets each of the growers who supplies his beans, pays them more than they would receive with a fair trade arrangement, and even offers them profit sharing. The chocolate was good (although for flavor alone, I'd still choose Mangaro,) but I'm really glad to have discovered this company. I'm partial to approaches that creatively circumvent programs like organic certification and Fair Trade, especially when they exceed the certification program's standards, and rely on their own outreach to communicate about the integrity of their practices.

Fire at the Putney General Store

On Saturday night a fire destroyed the general store in Putney, Vermont. The top floor burned completely, and the lower floors were destroyed by water damage. The building was more than two hundred and fifty years old, and it had been a store for nearly a hundred and fifty years.

I was staying up the road at my sister's house, in fact, I must have been one of the last people in there. The fire department got the call at eight minutes to ten. I'd stopped in a little before nine and they hurried me out because they were closing. I'd gone in ostensibly to buy a chocolate bar, but really I was just looking for an excuse to browse.

I'm fascinated by food stores of all kinds. I love to see the different permutations, the product mixes and the ways items are organized in different regions, different countries, and even different neighborhoods.

The Putney General Store had a wonderful mix of mainstream food products, along with organic and locally produced foods, not to mention the toothpaste, video rentals, and fishing tackle. It was one of two groceries in town, the other being the food coop, which has its own charm, although you sometimes have to endure a very long wait for a very simple transaction.

Every time I passed the store on Sunday there were people milling around, looking stunned. My sister said she saw a police car out front. Having grown up in New York City, she assumed they were there to deter looters. (Nobody loots stores in Putney, Vermont.) Then she looked over and saw the police officer sitting motionless taking it all in, as stunned as anyone else.

A Trip to Costco

My Costco membership is going to expire this month. I joined mainly because they have great prices on a lot of the equipment I need for my farmers' market booth. I probably won't be renewing.

I'm proud to say that, in the entire year that I've had the membership, I haven't bought a single food item.

I headed up there today to buy a few pieces of equipment while I still can. I figured that, while I was there, I should take a closer look at the food, to see if it defied any of my preconceptions. As far as quality, there were quite a few "industrial organic" items. I was glad to see them, but I wasn't tempted to buy any.

I was mainly interested in comparing prices with some of the other places I shop. The meat seemed really inexpensive, but I rarely buy meat, and when I do it's usually at the farmers' market and I'm more interested in quality than I am in price. (Buying it only occasionally gives you that luxury.)

I do look at a lot of produce prices in a lot of different places, so I figured that would be a good section to use for comparison. I found a 10 lb. bag of red potatoes for $5.29, pineapple for $2.99, a couple of small watermelons for $6.79 (they looked like they were about 5 lb. each,) and 5 avocadoes for $6.99.

After having my receipt scrutinized by the guard at the door, I headed up to one of my favorite produce stands, Country Farms, in Edmunds. They had 10 lb. bags of potatoes for $2.49, a 3 lb. pineapple for 98 cents a pound, and 10 lb. watermelons for 39 cents a pound. They had baby avocadoes at 5 for a dollar, so I couldn't compare that price precisely, but I do know that the last time I checked, Trader Joe was selling 4 avocadoes for $3.

I'm not denying that Costco has great prices on many of their items. But I do think that people who shop at big box warehouse stores often assume that any price they see there is cheaper than what you'll get elsewhere, and it isn't necessarily so.

And I'm left with the perennial question, if you spend less money on stuff you don't really need, are you actually saving money?

HT Market

I love the HT Market. I love it in spite of the fact that it carries virtually no local or organic food.

I've never seen a place with such a wide range of ethnic foods, from the vast array of Asian staples which are their specialty, to the Eastern European, Hispanic, and African products that fill their shelves.

Wierd as it may be, considering my mostly-vegetarian orientation, I prefer to see entire pig carcasses hanging than antiseptic styrofoam trays of meat. They have the styrofoam trays as well, with specialties you don't find at Safeway, like pig kidneys and goat skins.