The fine art of food shopping is a real skill that must be highly developed by anyone wishing to eat healthily and well. As in any department of our society, mediocre and substandard offerings are everywhere, serenading us with their reasonable prices and ease of access. Don't be fooled.
I myself discovered the ins and outs of shopping as a young boy, accompanying my mother on her rounds to the "greengrocer" and other bespoke "purveyors" of all things epicurean in London. I learned first hand how vegetables and fruits had to look and feel before they passed my mother's rigorous inspection and were put in little brown bags and finally into a cardboard box. This was then carried out by an apprentice to the waiting car. Then it was off to the "fishmonger" to seek out the freshest fish, from the then largely unpolluted North Sea, caught the previous night. Shopping was fun! Why can't that still be the case?
Meanwhile, back in the USA, foraging for fresh comestibles should be performed daily if possible. Failing that, then at least every other day. If you live in or near a major metropolitan area, there is almost certainly a nearby source for fresh, often organic fruits and vegetables, fresh fish, and other sundries such as fresh herbs and ethnic spices and produce.
Many local restaurant patrons have received an education from the chef regarding baby vegetables and lettuce, wild mushrooms and exotic ingredients. Now they want to be able to purchase these delicacies themselves. Here's where your local "gourmet" market comes in . This is usually an emporium specializing in prepared foods of finer quality, foreign
and domestic condiments of varying interest, and the best available produce. Unfortunately, most of the merchandise on display at these gourmet stores is non-organic. This, to my mind, is absurd. After all, these establishments are charging premium prices for their goods, and therefore should offer more choice.The accent often tends to be on prettiness of produce and ease of access for the produce manager, and many organic suppliers aren't properly integrated into this food chain. There is plenty of room for improvement, certainly, and we should be seeing some soon.
JOIN THE FLORIDA FOOD DUDE'S ONLINE RECIPE CLUB
Would you like more of like these fantastic recipes? Just click here for more information on how to join the Florida Food Dude's Online Recipe Club. Each month, we will e-mail you more delicious recipes for only $1.00 each. Click here for more information
Hopefully the produce on display is realistically priced. This includes "wild" mushrooms, which are almost entirely grown domestically nowadays, and baby vegetables. If you feel that anything is ridiculously expensive, after comparison elsewhere, then go right ahead and ask the produce manager for an explanation. Interaction with merchants, a daily occurrence in Europe and elsewhere, is not so common in the passive, automated world of consumerism in the U.S..Why? These people need feedback from customers, and they are there to hear complaints as well as compliments If the salad greens are a little bit tired, they should be marked down, if not given away entirely (they often are).Be nice and reasonable about it, but stand up for your rights! You'll be surprised at the results. Consult the chart of fruits and vegetables, and use it as a guide to ensure that you only buy the best of everything available. The rule should always be; if you can't find fresh ingredients for a given recipe for that day, then adapt it or choose another recipe. Flexibility is important in the planning of menus.
The other places of interest are health food stores, or rather, health food emporiums. I say emporiums because the old-fashioned little health food store selling brown rice and often ridiculously overpriced vitamin supplements are of little or no interest to the conscious shopper. The larger emporiums, however, which thankfully are springing up almost everywhere,offer organic produce (hooray!) that is often superbly fresh and reasonably priced. It has taken suppliers and retailers many, many years to learn, but finally they've got it-you cannot charge an arm and a leg for organic perishables they just won't sell. Add to this equation the growing number of farmers jumping on the organic bandwagon and you have ample supply to meet growing demand. In Europe, fresh organic produce is available in nearly all the large supermarket chains, and I think this is a trend you'll see increasing here over the next few years.
Farmer's markets offer a good selection of comestibles, but they vary widely,and seldom carry organic produce. Freshness can also be a problem.They are always worth investigation, however, so check them out on your travels.