Cross-posted at the Writing on the Wal.
My family shops at Whole Foods because it has better food than any other store near me. Slate has an article up now that essentially pokes fun at Whole Foods shoppers because of the ideals which Whole Foods uses to pitch to people like me. As I wouldn't shop there if the food wasn't good, I'm going to let that pass. But the end of the article is just too much.
Undoubtedly inspired by the recent announcement that Wal-Mart will be doubling its organic food offerings, the author, Field Maloney, writes:
It's likely that neither Wal-Mart nor Whole Foods will do much to encourage local agriculture or small farming, but in an odd twist, Wal-Mart, with its simple "More for Less" credo, might do far more to democratize the nation's food supply than Whole Foods. The organic-food movement is in danger of exacerbating the growing gap between rich and poor in this country by contributing to a two-tiered national food supply, with healthy food for the rich. Could Wal-Mart's populist strategy prove to be more "sustainable" than Whole Foods? Stranger things have happened.
The corrosive effect that Wal-Mart has on organic standards has been noted many places, most notably in the New York Times. Last year, they told the story of Organic Valley milk and how Wal-Mart dumped them because they wouldn't let the quality of their product suffer in order to meet the needs of a the world's biggest corporation.
That's a serious problem that Maloney overlooks, but it is certainly not the stupidest part of this article. Undoubtedly the stupidest thing about this article is the notion that Wal-Mart can actually do something to solve the gap between rich and poor in this country. If the average Wal-Mart customer is poor, are they going to reach for the cheap brand or the more-expensive organic product? If the only reason anyone ever goes to Wal-Mart is to buy cheaper, why are they going pay more for a food item when there is a cheaper version of the same food right in front of them?
I'm all for cheaper organic food, but organic food at Wal-Mart is just another effort by Wal-Mart to get middle class dollars because they have run out of other growth opportunities with their overwhelmingly poor customer base. Like their new supposedly chic women's clothing lines, it is destined to be a commercial failure because Wal-Mart has no appeal beyond its prices. To think that organic food at Wal-Mart might be more "sustainable" than the Whole Food model is a sick joke. There have to be better ways to get good food to more people than by paying Whole Foods prices, but shopping at Wal-Mart isn't one of them.
JR