Two Questions for Whole Foods | An Exploration of Portland Oregon ...

Over the weekend, I happened into Whole Foods on Fremont, and noticed they were roasting Hatch green chiles. It seemed like a nice alternative for people who couldn?t get to the farmers market, or didn?t have a way to roast the chiles at home.

So as I?m watching, they pulled the peppers out of the roaster, and threw them into flimsy plastic produce bags before taking them into their kitchen to be placed into plastic clamshells.

Why on earth would they put something so hot into a plastic bag? By the time they got into the kitchen, the bags were distorting from the heat. Yes, peppers are commonly put into paper bags to steam them and make it easier to remove the skin, but never plastic, which leaches chemicals when it becomes hot.

I wasn?t going to bring this next topic up, but since I?m talking about Whole Foods anyway, I?m going to give it a quick mention. In late July, Gawker, an online gossip site, ran a withering resignation letter from a former employee of Whole Foods. Of course the letter went viral, and to the dismay of the author and the grocery chain, it was read by millions. You can become one of them by clicking here.

There are legions of stories like this, and much of their content can be taken with a grain of salt. However, one of the comments highlighted by Gawker, says, ?Almost all of the prepared foods come from Sysco, not the sales floor. The only time you?ll be eating anything even remotely similar to organic romaine in your $9 caesar salad, is if they had bunch of it on spoil in the produce department.?

Hmm?

Whole Foods, I live near your Pearl District store, and will admit, when I?m not feeling well, or am just too lazy to cook, I will wander in and grab something from the hot foods area, or even better, a large container of broccoli crunch salad, which is like crack. Note: I?ve always prided myself on eating slightly more healthy than usual when I indulged. However, an employee whispered to me last week, ?The secret ingredient is bacon grease?, which gave me pause.

Moving on, Sysco? SYSCO? No offense to the company that seems to supply most of the bad restaurants in the nation, but when I plop on the couch with a box of salad to watch a rerun of Antiques Roadshow, I?d like to think the Whole Foods version is somehow more organic or natural than something from Safeway.

So my questions are as follows:

1. Did someone just not think through the hot chiles/plastic bag combination?
2. Are the ingredients for the prepared foods from Sysco?

I will still eat your broccoli salad, but am now thinking it is time I get off my fat ass and make it myself ? with good bacon grease and my home-made mayonnaise.

About Food Dude

"I have a wide-range of food experience - working in the restaurant industry on both sides of the house, later in the wine industry, and finally traveling/tasting my way around the world. Whether you agree or disagree, you can always count on my unbiased opinion. I don't take free meals, and the restaurants don't know when, or if, I am coming."

Food Dude has written 875 articles on this site.

Source: http://www.portlandfoodanddrink.com/2011/08/two-questions-for-whole-foods/

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