Whole Foods introduces a "Produce Butcher"

In My Humble Opinion
1

I wasn’t sure if this should go in Cafe Society since it’s technically about food, but I thought it was really more about opinions on the business concept so thought IMHO might be better.

I know everyone loves to make fun of Whole Foods, with their high prices and sometimes seemingly ridiculous products, but I don’t get the backlash on this one. They’ve introduced a produce butcher service, who will cut up your fruit and vegetables to your specifications for an extra buck, which this article finds laughable. This actually seems like a perfectly reasonable, sensible, and desirable service to me, and I really can’t see why anyone would have a problem with it.

For one thing, even the most basic of cheapo no-frills grocery stores usually offer bagged salads and pre-cut fruit and vegetables at a premium, so how is this so astonishingly decadent?

And how is it really even all that “lazy”, as the article states? I mean, if I get my produce cut up for me and then take it home and cook something with it, that’s still less lazy than getting take-out or a frozen dinner, which no one finds appalling. Even for someone who loves to cook and enjoys the whole process, as I do, sometimes you have a time crunch or lack the equipment or skill to cut certain things certain ways. I also like to try different vegetables I might not be knowledgeable on how to use, so advice from an expert could be really helpful.

I guess I just can’t see how it’s not wholly analogous to a traditional meat butcher. Sure, I could (and often do) buy a whole chicken or hunk of beef, but just as frequently I’ll buy the prepackaged deboned chicken breasts or pre-cut steaks or whatever, and occasionally I will ask the butcher to grind or trim or prep something a certain way. I also regularly ask advice from the butcher on the best way to cook a certain cut, or the best kind of meat to use for certain things. Most people accept this as pretty standard - why would making the exact same choices about produce seem so outrageous?

So what do you think – is a “produce butcher” ridiculous or perfectly sensible?

(Full disclosure – I genuinely enjoy kale, so I can understand if my opinion on this topic may be discounted by some)

2

Can’t see any harm in it.

3

When I make a double batch of Chili Cheese Chowder, it probably takes an hour and a half just chopping. Hm, a buck a pound? I might try it, though I don’t shop at whole foods.

4

I think that backlash probably comes more from the name, and the connotations thereof, rather than the concept itself. If they had named it something like “Specialty Chef” or even “Vegetable Deli” rather than using the word “butcher” I think it would sound a lot better.

5

Do you pay for the waste? It seems like a lot of money if you pay for the waste and the cutting fee.

6

People with disabilities, including arthritis and trouble standing for long, could eat a lot more veg if they didn’t have the prep work.

I think it’s a great idea.

Pretentious name, but that’s par for the course with Whole Foods.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

7

Part of the absurdity of it is that traditionally, butchering is definitely a skilled craft- they have to know how to, for lack of a better word, disassemble a carcass in the proper way to have the useful cuts. On top of that, butchers typically know how to make various sausages and meat preparations. What you see in the cold case is just the very final end product of a long chain of fairly skilled work. Someone had to know how to cut up the cow into a side of beef, and then someone had to know how to cut that side up to give you a ribeye or strip steak.

A “vegetable butcher” is just some dipshit who knows how to cut up vegetables. There aren’t really any structures approaching the skeleton and various muscles in the vast majority of vegetables, and typically you just cut them up how you want them.

I mean, ANYONE can cut up broccoli. ANYONE can cut up a bell pepper. Maybe the “vegetable butcher” can julienne that pepper well for you, or you don’t want to take the time, but it’s not even remotely close to being on par with a real honest-to-god butcher’s skills.

I guess I wouldn’t have too much trouble if they wanted to just call it a cut-to-order service, especially if they had implements that allowed them to do it very fast or very accurately. I mean, it might be nice to hand them a bag of onions and get back 3 lbs (minus skins and root ends) of perfectly 1/4" onion slices or julienne. But calling it a “vegetable butcher” implies something that this isn’t, and is horribly pretentious to boot.

8

What caught my eye in the article was this:

That should read “whatever vegetables customers need to be prepared”. In its original form, it’s an Ohio Valleyism that needs die.

Oh, and while I occasionally buy a package of pre-cut broccoli florets for convenience and to avoid buying the semi-woody stalks that I do not want for salad, the idea of having a “produce butcher” routinely cutting up one’s fruits and veggies does not decrease the level of mockery I have for Whole Paycheck and its entitled customers.

9

Hmm. I do see your point, and I absolutely agree that a good butcher has specialized skills and knowledge that laypeople don’t. But if you’re going to say any “dipshit” can chop vegetables, then I’d apply the same to meat. Sure, anyone can take a knife and hack away at a potato, but really the same can be said for a carcass. ANYONE can make a cow into pieces small enough to stick in a stewpot. But you’re talking about ribeyes and strip steaks, not random hunks of beef, so you need then to compare that to someone who knows the difference between a brunoise and a macedoine and can execute them accurately and efficiently, not someone who can rough chop a head of broccoli.

10

I wouldn’t go to Whole Foods just for that, but if I were already in one I’d definitely try it. I like to think I’d eat more salad if I could find baby spinach with the stalks cut off, or if I could get packages of romaine that *only *include the leafy bits.

11

Sure, but the guy doing the cutting would likely cut the vegetables/fruit for a brunoise or macedoine in the same way, the only difference being the size. It’s not a different skill; it’s on the order of having a 1" thick steak or a 1.5" thck steak. And there’s no potato anatomy to deal with- it’s essentially a uniform mass that you can cut up however you like.

And really… I suspect anyone calling out a brunoise vs a macedoine is likely to cut their own vegetables.

I don’t have a problem at all with a cut-to-order vegetable service at the store. I do object to the notion that it’s done by a “vegetable butcher”.

And, I suspect most people who would avail themselves of this service fall into three categories- Those who need some small amount of a vegetable- like a few cloves worth of minced garlic (or less) or a diced onion or something and who don’t want to deal with doing it themselves. The second category would be those who have a lot of chopping to do- like chopping onions for French Onion soup. It might be worthwhle to be able to have someone cut up the onions for you, as the onion-cutting prep time is probably the single largest consumer of time. The third category is the lazy wealthy; those who could buy enough broccoli for their family and dismember it quickly with a paring knife, but who would rather spend the money to have someone else do it than bother.

12

You can already get both. Here are examples of packaged romaine with only the very special bits.

Lots of similar items are to be found in the refrigerated produce section of my local Giant Predatory Bird supermarket.

Of course, only Whole Foods can guarantee Organic Non-GMO Locally Sourced Free Trade Free Range Romaine and baby spinach.

13

You’re right (on all of your points) and I really just wanted to say that for some reason “potato anatomy” makes me giggle.

14

It’s not that the service is silly. It’s not very much different than buying florets or bags of prepared lettuce, after all. But the name “produce butcher” is ridiculous, and makes my eyes roll. But it is Whole Foods, after all, and they specialize in being pretentious.

15

Maybe they’ll hire Martin Yan wannabes and make a whole production out of skinning and slicing an eggplant or whatever.

16

If they had called it “personal prep cook” or if they wanted to maintain the pretentiousness “mis en place service”, it would be a lot less annoying.

17

If you were disabled this might be a really useful service. Or maybe you’re Jewish and you can’t do this on shabbat.

18

Hmm. What is it were: “The store near New York’s Bryant Park, which opened last week, features a “Produce Butcher” who will chop, dice, and mince whatever vegetables customers need cut up.”

Isn’t “prepared” the same part of speech as “cut up”?
Anyhoo, I’m just glad they didn’t say “Produce Curator”.

19

What’s pretentious about the word “butcher”? It seems to me any other term would be more pretentious.

20

A butcher is a skilled trade. Prep cook work, as this service is, much less so.