Lately, I have been working part time in a candy store. We also sell nuts, dried fruit, and snack mixes, as well as bulk items for home bakers. Anyhow, yesterday this guy comes in, and the ensuing interaction was, to me, both funny and irritating.
Gentleman comes in, earnestly asking about our raw nuts. I assure them that they are unadulterated raw nuts, nothing added, only the shells removed (and not even that for our pistachios). He proceeds to buy several pounds of various raw nuts, extolling the virtues and cancer-fighting properties of same. I nod in agreement, also confirming that good, fresh food is good for you. He then starts a spiel about organic foods.
Now, don’t get me wrong here. I have nothing inherently against organics - in fact, my backyard garden is entirely such. However, there are times when “organic” is used as a marketing tool, and there are other instances where processing or non “pure organic” is adequate to just as good.
So, he’s going on about how evil sugar is (and he’s standing in a CANDY STORE!) and how if one must use it, to use only “sugar in the raw”, yadda yadda yadda… :rolleyes: Then is on to eat low on the food chain (a good general rule, but not a hard and fast one in my book) and ONLY free-range, organic meat. Now, he’s a customer (even if I think he’s a loon) and you don’t disagree with the customers. I’m there to sell him whatever food items we have that he wants. That’s it. And, oh yes, smile. Smile lots. Anyhow…
He then starts asking me where I buy all my organic, free-range, etc. food. I tell him it’s a bit hard on my budget, there’s not much around locally. He says “Oh, but go to Trader Joe’s!” I ask him where the nearest one is. He says Orland Park. That would be an almost 70 mile round trip for groceries (let’s not ever consider how to keep cold foods cold over that distance in sweltering summer weather, right?) That’s at least 8 bucks of gas just to get there! $16 if I take the truck to stock up on things. I told him that between the cost of getting out there, and the cost of such free-range whatever, that it was honestly out of my budget to eat in that manner.
He was… shocked. Aghast. But healthy eating is so IMPORTANT! How could I NOT do it, wasn’t there some way to squeeze it out of the budget? No, you stupid, Yuppie idiot, I am poor, I do not have the money for that. $8 is sufficient to purchase enough flour to make a couple weeks worth of bread for me, so sorry it’s not organic and hand-picked by virgins during a new moon. I’ll go for the 100% whole wheat, unbleached flour but, frankly, traveling 70 miles to Trader Joe’s is just not reasonable when I can can that 100% whole wheat, unbleached flour within 5 miles of home.
He was still aghast.
I said, look, to be honest, right now I’m trying to support a family on less than $20,000 a year.
“But, but - you have a job!”
Yes, yes I do. It is, however, only part time. So pleased to meet you, I am the face of the working poor. Having a job does not automatically make one middle class.
So, I found it funny that he was sooooooo concerned about eating right, yet so disbelieving that yes, there really are people who just can’t afford to eat the way he thinks everyone should.
Personally (and no, I did not tell him that) I think you can eat extremely well without having to go to certified organic everything. That 100% whole wheat, unbleached flour I’m speaking of is minimally processed and may be just as healthy as anything in the “purely organic” aisle wherever he shops - and it costs less. Really, “organic” as a label can be and has been used as an excuse to jack up costs (yes, I’m aware that organic produce can be more expensive to produce, but that’s not what I’m talking about). And really, if he is so concerned about the healthiness of fruits and vegetables why didn’t he suggest gardening, which is the only circumstance where you can really be sure of what you’re getting, and of having some control over it?
But, like I said, I’m starting to get my own stuff out of my own garden.