Blind dates

One of the side effects of our peripatetic lifestyle last week was needing to shop in unfamiliar stores. Initially, I was feeling guilty about shopping somewhere other than the coop, like I was cheating or something. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the mainstream supermarket scene.

My first dalliance was on the way home on the last day of school. I just didn’t have time (or so I thought) to get all the way out to the co-op and back and still have time to get my cooking done. Into QFC, the local Kroger brand, I head. I find the “natural” section, flanked by fake hardwood floors and pretty borders of silk greenery, and locate some organic sugar. I then head for the produce department for celery for shrimp étouffé. I am taken aback that produce is not labeled by its provenance. Yes, the shelf tag tells me things like what it is, how much it costs, and even some nutritional information (did you know celery was high in fiber? If you didn’t, you haven’t been paying attention), but nowhere can I find anything about where it was grown. There’s no breaking the bundle apart either, so I take a huge bunch of generic celery home with me, and I’m not still sure if I should encourage or discourage the kids from eating it.

On the way to Portland the first time, we make a bathroom and lunch break in the parking lot of a Fred Meyer somewhere south of Olympia. I grab sushi for the boys and bread for Darling Husband, and then look around for something for me. A big tub of organic greens sounds good, I just need some dressing. And here I discover that my co-op has been holding out on me: Freddy’s, another Kroger puppet, has five milk-free salad dressings made by Nasoya that I’ve never seen before. With a stinging sense of betrayal, I grab a bottle of Garden Herb. It is delicious, and I am overjoyed that I don’t have to eat allergens to have a creamy dressing.

In Redding, I don’t expect to find anything I can’t get at home. No Trader Joe’s, no co-ops here. Raley’s is the high-end supermarket, and the one-and-only place in town to find organic meats, which I must buy, since my mother doesn’t consider it a meal without meat (I didn’t tell her about the soy grind in the spaghetti until after she’d eaten it). As I cruise their natural foods section, my jaw hits the floor. Glutino, makers of yummy gluten-free sandwich cookies that I have been known to dabble in, also makes crackers and – gasp – bread sticks! In two flavors! I read the label twice, just to be sure it is not too good to be true. What’s more, they’re so tasty the kids start munching them out of the box.

I ask myself why I can’t get them at my store? The answer is simple: shelf space is at a premium. However, a supermarket manager once told me that they take customer comments very seriously, reckoning that for every person that speaks up, ten hold their tongues and just go elsewhere. I’ll be talking to the manager at my local store, and failing seeing these products, will be buying online.