Not quite there

My friend Robyn who reluctantly moved to Brooklyn eight years ago and has come to like it (right, Robyn?) suggested to me that I’m not a true urbanite if I still shop for groceries in the suburbs.  That’ s sort of an ironic thing for her to say to me because the whole time she’s been reluctantly living in Brooklyn, Eric and I have been loving urban life more and more and always trying to convince Robyn to love it as much as we did.  But it is true that we have always lived in easier places in some ways.  Food acquisition has always been my biggest city-living conundrum.  I’m just so used to Trader Joe’s and I love Costco.   Even here in North Jersey where I’d pretty much rather eat tacks than try to drive to the next town I found out pretty quick how to get to those two stores.  Last night Eric found our “local” Whole Foods and I dragged all the kids there first thing this morning and then hit up the Target next door.  Target!  I hadn’t been to one in about four months.

It was interesting, actually, to visit Target after a long break.  I found it pretty bland and uninteresting.  I didn’t want to browse anything.  I efficiently made it through my shopping list:  shirt for Joseph, socks for William, diapers all around, and got out of there.  Whole Foods was another story.  I began to feel as if there are many parallel food worlds.  There is one where an entire aisle is dedicated to Coke and Doritos and the baking aisle contains only chocolate made by Hershey’s.  Then there is our neighborhood where it’s like the international foods aisle greatly expanded, plus the Hershey’s chocolate but way overpriced.  Then there is the world where there is no chocolate on offer containing less than 60% cocoa and the sodas are made from hibiscus and evaporated cane juice.  Snobby as it sounds I have mainly inhabited that third world and it was really good to be back there today.  And this Whole Foods was huge.  Amazing.  I probably would have spent hours there–and a lot more money–if I hadn’t had all the kids with me.  But I didn’t even realize the best part about going there until I got home.  I’d picked up a free copy of Edible New Jersey at the checkout and just now paged through it.  The articles didn’t really grab me but the ads!  Farmer’s Markets!  Food Co-ops!  CSAs!

See, food acquisition shouldn’t be a big problem for urbanites.  In fact, at the height of our time in DC we were acquiring almost all of our food from co-ops and a local produce delivery service.  But it took a long time to find all those things–or for the right combination of people to meet each other and start it up.  But when you live within walking distance of 50,00 people (or more–or even a little less) it is not hard to find enough people who want local farm food to make it worth some farmer’s while to deliver to you.  And once you’ve got that it doesn’t take long for it to explode into a co-op large enough to entirely sustain a single farmer.  We saw this happen first hand in DC where we got fifteen families together and got an Amish farmer to truck stuff in for us each week.  Within one year he was so busy that he helped two of his neighbor famers begin off-shoot co-ops.

It’s a beautiful model, isn’t it?  Feels so anti-capitalist and all.  But what to do if you’re new to the area?  Or if you’re a farm just getting into the co-op model?  Where are you going to find like-minded people who want good food?  Whole Foods.  I’ve never really shopped regularly at Whole Foods (which Eric calls Whole Paycheck) because I’ve always had similar, cheaper options.  But this morning I wanted two things:  bulk foods, and something comforting and familiar.  I got both and also a whole slew of co-op ads.  Off to do some research . . .