Wal-Mart vs. Whole Foods and Shopping Paleo
10. Feb, 2010 
1 Comment
An article recently came out in Atlantic Monthly that is particularly interesting for our Whole-Foods-loving band of paleos: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201003/walmart-local-produce
Atlantic Monthly writer Corby Kummer shopped for ingredients from both Wal-Mart and Whole Foods in order for Austin’s FINO (who, btw, often but not always have local, free range meat) to create a four-course dinner. They made two versions of each dish, one with Wal Mart ingredients and one with ingredients purchased at Whole Foods. The blind tasting with 16 invited guests utilized dishes on the FINO menu prepared by chef Jason Donoho.
I’ve long shopped at Wal-Mart: my mom took us there as kids to get cheap toys, as summer camp counselors, it was our lone diversion on nights off. I haven’t spent much time there recently, but when I have stopped in for something, I’ve noticed that their food sections appear to be getting better and better. And according to Kummer’s research and taste-test, they actually are. Now, I still love Whole Foods, but the more healthy food available to more people (read: cheaper), the better off we all are.
On a congruent note, check out this poorly-made video from yours truly on how to find paleo and free-range foods at Randall’s, the neighborhood grocery store known less for its cheapness (though their Remarkable Deals are) and more for its convenience:
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Hi,
I just stumbled across your site while looking for Paleo rib recipes… after 4 months on Paleo, plain meat is getting a little less exciting, so I’m having to actually *do* something with the meat besides just (more-or-less) cooking it. Found Ryon’s post rib recipe and it looks mmmmtasty… as soon as I post this, I’m to try it
The reason I decided to comment was I saw this pop up in my twitter feed recently:
http://www.westonaprice.org/WHOLE-FOODS-PROMOTES-MILITANT-VEGETARIAN-AGENDA.html
I don’t actually live in the USA, so I don’t know how aggressively Whole Foods is pushing the veggie angle. Might be another reason to look elsewhere for meats. I know my local “organic whole foods” store has a meat department the size of a postage stamp and a soy f00d aisle that is easily 10x bigger.