Buying Food

Berkeley Bowl is my favorite supermarket in Berkeley.They are a locally-owned business that responds to the changing food requirements of Berzerkeleyans. They have a large organic section, and they label their produce by name, state (or country) of origin, and price. They will also tell you whether it's a fair trade produce or not. They have a sensitivity about Berkeley's evolving relationships with food and consumables, and try to follow the trend by stocking its shelves with several kinds of "green" toilet paper, for example. And they have organic beef from New Zealand, which is great if you want organic, regardless of where its' sourced. [August 2011 update: They seem to have more local organic beef now.] I can walk to Berkeley Bowl, which is the best part about the place.

Compare that to Trader Joe's, for example. TJ's is a national chain that also caters to Yuppies (young urban professionals) like me, and has sufficient amounts of organic produce. I liked TJ's because they have a variety of edibles that are prepared for cooking for you. For example, they have a lot of pre-marinated and packaged meats that only take 10 minutes to cook up for dinner because it's already been marinated at the factory. They definitely cater to people with busy lifestyles. However, TJ packages everything in Monrovia - and if you tried to find out where anything is from, often it'll label it as "Made in the USA" or "Packaged in Monrovia, California." It's really hard to figure out whether the food is sourced locally. I can walk to the Berkeley Trader Joe's as well, though it's a bit further away then Berkeley Bowl in the opposite direction.

And then there's Whole Foods. I  really like Whole Foods, especially because they carry my favorite variety of apples called "Cameo." And it's organic. Its the most crunchy and sweet apple variety that I've ever found. Whole Foods also tells me where the food is sourced, and have a good amount of organic produce (not as large as Berkeley Bowl, though.)  But I'm told that they are expensive. One great advantage about both Whole Foods and TJ's are their hours of operation. They are both open later than Berkeley Bowl.

Yesterday, I went to the supermarket but made up a rule for myself before I went shopping. I told myself I didn't want to buy anything with plastic packaging. This proved to be a ridiculous rule, as it proved very difficult to purchase anything from the store! Everything in the middle part of the supermarket (everything from household goods to frozen foods and international foods) did not pass muster. Fortunately, it was easy to find fresh baked bread packaged in a paper bag, and there was one local cheese company that wrapped their cheese in paper. But for the most part - I walked through aisle after aisle after aisle looking for something I could buy, without any luck. Sure, many of the juices were packaged in bottles - but why would I buy juice when I can drink water out of the tap? (My parents are both borderline diabetic and I'm already hypoglycemic so water sounds like the best thing I can drink to maintain a stable blood sugar.) And the canned goods? I thought, "Hmmm. I'm not sure if I want to eat out of cans, if I can eat fresh veggies instead." And then there were a lot of things I just didn't need right now like detergent and milk (which would have passed the plastics test). Also, I wanted to get my produce from the Farmer's Market so I didn't even go into the produce section of the supermarket. In the end, I walked out of the supermarket with a loaf of bread and a hunk of cheese. I was there to shop for the week.

Today was Tuesday, so I went to the Tuesday Berkeley farmer's market which unfolds a block away. The sun was turning orange as it lowered itself towards the ocean, and the denizens of this fair city flocked to buy local, seasonal produce. I was excited about the fact that things were not wrapped in plastic! And I learned that artichoke season is just beginning around here, and some fruit stand owners at one end of the market jovially discussed the fact that the other folks down the other way already stocked artichokes. "They're the first ones to have artichokes this season!" one fruit stand attendant exclaimed to another. Everyone seemed excited about the arrival of the artichokes. Like life itself - all good things have a beginning and an end. The arrival of a certain vegetable this season is only a metaphor for what's at play in the Universe. I paused to consider its significance.

Today, the experience of visiting the farmer's market was fulfilling physically (it was beautiful), mentally (it made me happy), and spiritually (I learned something). On the way home I realized that I was finally in want of nothing else other than what I had. I felt light. I'd spent years wishing for something I did not have - like uncomplicated love or the health of an aging puppy. Today is the first day in a long time that I realized that now, there was nothing about my life I'd want changed. I had somehow survived my last incarnation into my present life, and I was at peace with myself, finally.