Brainwashing, Aisle 3 (Whole Foods Market and Peter Singer)

The Weekly Standard ^ | 5/18/05 | Andrew Breitbart

[Unam Sanctam]

LOVE WHOLE FOODS. I love the Austin-based boutique supermarket chain so much I find ways to go there almost every day. Sometimes I go for the Siciliano sandwich (rare roast beef, caramelized onions, Gorgonzola spread on a toasted French roll); sometimes I go for the trail mix and dried fruit bins (yogurt-covered raisins and pineapple rings). Other times I go to buy an $18 Pinot Noir on sale, so I can race home to tell my wife it was marked down to $11.99. They've got a lot of those deals.

The produce is fresh and, by demand, "organic," one of the new synonyms for "virtuous." Samples of expensive cheeses and other culinary delights make the procession up and down the aisles a gastronomic treasure hunt, and there are no Cap'n Crunch displays to impede your cart and depress your spirit along the way. With a massage therapist in the front of the store charging only a dollar a minute, the place is a veritable culinary day spa.

THE DOWNSIDE to the Whole Foods experience is that its success is driven by one of our era's more grotesque phenomena: the upwardly-mobile urban dweller, the one who wants to indulge class-conscious epicurean yearnings and save the world, too. Whole Foods is a wonderland molded to accommodate the psyche of the socially-responsible, guilt-ridden liberal--the crunchy Kucinich capitalist.

What other conceivable reason would the chain have for displaying Out magazine at the checkout stand? Even if the wishful demographic estimates of gay-rights groups don't economically justify this niche product's front-and-center placement at the point of sale. Out--with other unreadable yoga and nutritionist-approved lifestyle monthlies arrayed around it--screams: You are an open

[diamond6]

Cyborg, have a question. How does one wash a strawberry?

[colonialhk]

You got it

[cyborg]

I soak them for a minute or two in water with a little vegetable wash.

[TheBigB]

How does one wash a strawberry?

It's an evil euphemism, like #121. We can't tell you out loud. ;o)

[savedbygrace]

Then it shouldn't be too difficult for someone to find an original source to cite, with a real study that makes that conclusion. So far, nobody's found that. Please find one, so we can be educated by facts.

[null and void]

I always wash my meat.

I mean. uh. *nevermind!*

[Zacs Mom]

I believe I've heard that it's leaner than regular ground beef, is that right?

I'm afraid to answer this 'cause I don't have a source!

;^P~~~

Kidding aside, I do think it is supose to be leaner - it sure does seem so to me, anyway!

[2Jedismom]

You should get a yogurt maker and make your own!!! It's incredibly easy and very delicious! I make it all the time!

You just take about 4 cups of whole milk, heat it to 110 degrees (I heat mine in the microwave), add a couple of tablespoons of store-bought plain yogurt (after you make your first batch, you can use your own), mix it up real good, put it in the cups, stick it in the yogurt maker and 6-10 hours later, yogurt! (It doesn't become thicker after 6 hours, just more pronounced in flavor). This makes a thin yogurt, apparently that is the way yogurt normally is, but Americans like a thicker yogurt. You can add a half a cup of that carnation instant milk to make it thicker. I like mine thicker, so that's what I do.

It is truly delicious...my kids love it! I like to drain a little of whey off mine through a coffee filter, then just add honey. Mmmm! Or mash some fresh garlic into it and serve it over cucumbers. Or lightly sweeten it and eat it over fruit.

[johnb838]

Hmmmm... well it IS a very large city. Things aren't too bad right now. They got a lot better under Mayor Lanier, slipped a bit under the Dread Pirate Mayor Lee P. Brown, but the liberal Bill White has been doing an OK job, the Safe Clear program notwithstanding.

[george wythe]

Thanks for your recipe. Now I need a cow to get the whole milk :-)

[Petronski]

Ping. Good thread, top to bottom.

[2Jedismom]

I also wash my store-bought veggies in a wash...I make it myself. First I wash them with a soap I make myself...it's made basically with Crisco and lye and it has no scent. Then I dip them in 200ppm clorox water (2ml clorox in 500ml water). Then I rinse.

I do the same thing with my hen's eggs.

[Osage Orange]

Really?

Please provide verification.

FWIW-

[TheBigB]

I wash each of my nacho cheese Doritos individually before consuming them. Can't be too careful, says I! ;o)

[2Jedismom]

Well, you can just use regular whole milk from the grocery store. It works fine. I have also made it from Swan's raw milk from Claremore. Worked good too.

[null and void]

But it's another reason why I'm only getting two. I can force myself to butcher two. If I had 100 and it was awful...what a nightmare!

Put turbans on them first. Think of the WTC...

[george wythe]

Yes, I buy raw milk. I was just teasing you about getting a cow.

[2Jedismom]

I know I know...I'm probably a bit paranoid.

But I know as a nurse that there's a lotta grossness out there! LOL

Doesn't stop from from going out to eat or anything, though. I can get over it. But when I can, I wash wash wash!

[fatnotlazy]

My aunt's mother used to wash the meat she brought home from the store or butcher shop -- literally soaped it up and rinsed it. People scoffed, but she might have been on to something -- she lived to be 99. :)

[null and void]

I have to ask: is that Brown Cow brand yogurt, or brown yogurt from a cow?

Brand. It's about the only yoghurt that is actually edible plain. It doesn't taste 'off' or too sharp.