Saturday, April 11, 2009

Whole Foods Market: A Fine Purveyor of Food Crack

Food crack: noun. Exceptionally high quality and good tasting food that elicits an "I must have this food NOW" reaction in humans that can be called addictive. Regular consumption of food crack is likely to deplete one's cash reserves.

I went to Whole Foods today to buy some lamb for tomorrow's dinner. My sole purpose was to buy lamb. However, because it was Whole Foods, and they had samples, I ended up buying more.

The first hit was in the produce section where, as usual, free samples of cheese and jam spreads to go with the cheese were available. Today the culinary money trap was robusto cheese with spice plum chutney. It was GOOD. Initially I resisted the temptation to buy some, but the longer I spent in the store the more I thought about it. I ended up circling back to the produce section to grab some of the cheese and a jar of the chutney. My rationalization was that I would use to the chutney with the lamb. My plan is to spread the chutney on the lamb and roast it. I have no plan for the cheese other than to eat it with the chutney in the next few weeks. Bad for my heart, but good for my bones.

The second hit was the Tonnino tuna in garlic and olive oil. When I was in Whole Foods a month or so ago a woman was giving free samples and explaining the product. She said it's high quality tuna, and very flavorful, and goes well with pasta (or "pah-ster;" she was British) and doesn't need mayonaisse. I was tempted then to buy a jar, but I had already had a bunch of items in my basket so I didn't get any. Today, I remembered the tuna and told myself it'd make a tasty lunch to take to work. So I bought a jar. Which was around $8. And very small.

I did resist other goodies there - the beautiful looking cooked shrimp, the intriguing shrimp salad, and the fresh looking tuna sushi rolls. Oddly, I'm never tempted by the chocolates at Whole Foods. That is probably a good thing.

I used to envy a friend who lived within walking distance of a Whole Foods. And, to some extent, I still do. However, the fact that any Whole Foods is at least a 20 minute drive from me is probably a good thing for my financial well-being.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Speaking of food crack, you should check out their Asian condiments section - sooo good.

The Mad Commenter