[Frantzie]

Trader Joe’s rocks! Who was the CEO of a chain like this who went after Obama about healthcare tax? Was it the Whole Foods guy? Whomever it was - he is a good guy.

[Col Frank Slade]

Trader Joe’s also attracts sandal footed libs.

[Yaelle]

Who was the CEO of a chain like this who went after Obama about healthcare tax? Was it the Whole Foods guy? Whomever it was - he is a good guy.

Yes! That was the CEO of Whole Foods, and it does make me feel even better for choosing it as our main store.

[Let's Roll]

Yes, it was Whole Foods CEO and founder, John Mackey.
http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html

I was thinking about this healthfood business the other night - I mean actual food and not supplements. I’ve been to some health food stores where the produce looks shriveled and stunted - like something I might grow. And I’ve been to HF stores where the produce looks like it should be winning prizes at the state fair ... even though the HF store claims that artifical fertilizers, pesticides etc. have NEVER even been in the same zip code as their lettuce, tomatoes, squash etc.

Does anyone know if this is true? Has John Stossel or someone actually back tracked on some of these fruits and veggies in search of their provenance?

The reason I ask is if the HF suppliers are getting those kind of results without paying extra for fertilizers, pesticides etc. why would the big commercial growers ever bother with using fertilizers, pesticides etc.?

Something seems off. I mean I’m sure they could claim that every apple and potato has been bottle fed and raised by hand in a green house attached to the main house etc. and hence justify their higher prices but does anyone without a horse in the race actually know that?

And am I the only one who thinks that organic strawberries taste like their namesake - straw? I could be influenced by the taste/memory of the 5 acre strawberry patch we had when I was a kid but today’s organic versions are definitely off.

[cynwoody]

Trader Joe’s rocks! Who was the CEO of a chain like this who went after Obama about healthcare tax? Was it the Whole Foods guy? Whomever it was - he is a good guy.

It was the Whole Foods founder, John Mackey.

John Mackey at a store in Austin, Texas. To “the people that really dislike us,” he says, “Whole Foods is a big corporation, so they think that we’ve crossed over to the dark side.” Photograph by Dan Winters.

Read more here. The article calls Mackey a right-wing hippie. It was motivated by Mackey's Wall Street Journal piece of last August 11: The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare, subtitled "Eight things we can do to improve health care without adding to the deficit". The 'tards were not pleased. Some called for a boycott on WFM.

I agree on Trader Joe's, by the way. We have both TJ's and Whole Foods (aka Whole Paycheck, according to the above-linked article) here, and I shop at both.