Supermarket Pastoral

While reading this section of “The Omnivores Dilemma” I was struck by Michael Pollan’s foray into Whole Foods Market and how “supermarket pastoral” holds up under close research and investigation. Working at a Whole Foods myself give me somewhat of an interesting perspective on the matter.
Pollan concludes, and once he raises the question I think that it is obvious what the answer will be, that these “whole” foods do not necessarily hold up too well when looked at closely. The question now is, who will care about it? Having become acquainted with the Whole Foods customer over my time in the company’s employ it seems that they may be divided on that point.
I worked in the prepared foods section more or less the deli, serving up quarter pounds of egg salad and heaps of Vegan Kung Pao Tofu. There were a few different types of customers. There were those that wanted to taste everything before they bought it. They wanted to make sure it tasted good, or their kids would like it, before they spent a little extra on it. There were the visual shoppers who always look for new menu items or the most complex looking deli meat (spicy southwest turkey). They didn’t necessarily care about the price and just wanted to experience all Whole Foods had to offer. Then there were those who wanted to know everything about the product they were about to buy. When it was made, where it was made, what kind of meat/vegetables it was made with, things like that. I had the basic array of answers such as “none of our deli meats are made with hormones or preservatives,” or “our salmon is raised on Whole Foods farms, which have higher standards than normal salmon farms,” (I never found out what those higher standards were). These seemed to be shoppers who had fully bought into the idea of “supermarket pastoral” and it would be interesting to see how they would respond to hearing stories about how “free range” Rosie the chicken’s life actually was or how far their grass fed beef is shipped once it’s slaughtered.