Organic life

I knew that San Francisco was an expensive place to live and that it was full of independent grocery shops and boutiques. What I didn't realise is that everything is organic in this city, from local fruit and vegetables to organic clothes (I am not sure how you can make organic clothes).
I am all in favour of organic food and think we all need to have more sustainable habits. However, I could not help but notice the exorbitant price of this food. 

In London, organic produce is expensive too. But there most of the stuff is imported, especially fruit and vegetables, and has to travel long miles. California has the sun, water (not so much recently, we are in a drought!) and large cities, which function as large demand centres; as a result, the food does not have to travel long distances. All these factors should reduce the cost. Why then is it so expensive?

I need to do some serious research to be able to answer this question.  By the way, answering the question will only satisfy my inner curiosity, but not solve my weekly problem of where to shop and, for a big eater of fruit and vegetables like me, prevent my grocery bill from surging. Perhaps this will be the subject of another post.

In an attempt to reduce my grocery bill and find the best value for money in San Francisco, I have embarked on a new adventure: shopping around. Well, first of all I considered whether I could buy non-organic. With that comes a logical question: How is the stuff that is not organic? I have to say that the labels I find on organic food make me very worried about what might be in the non-organic one. For example on my organic milk carton, I read "this milk comes from cows not treated with the growth hormone rBST" or on my organic egg carton "no antibiotics, no hormones". Without doing further investigation, non-organic does not look good for my health.

Having excluded the possibility of buying non-organic, I have started shopping at a larger grocery store instead of my local one. I have landed at Whole Foods Market. In London, Whole Foods is considered posh and luxurious. When their first store opened in Kensington, newspapers joked about the folks that would shop there: bankers and Russian oligarchs. However, in London, you don't have to shop at Whole Foods; I rarely did as there are more decent priced alternatives, like Waitrose.

Apparently, here it is not only bankers and techies who shop at Whole Foods. I have seen young mums with pushchairs, builders and old ladies. I have found Whole Foods' prices to be somewhat lower than my local grocery shop, but with no big savings. On the positive side, I have been impressed by the selection and choice you have there.

            Whole Foods Markets

Still, not content with the value for money at Whole Foods and following up on my new neighbour's suggestion, I have decided to try local farmers' markets. I have visited those at the UN Plaza and Noe Valley. I have not been impressed by UN Plaza; where the produce did not seem to be particularly fresh- mushroom and arugola had seen better days! Noe Valley, instead, was very good, but even more expensive than Whole Foods!

           Noe Valley's Farmers Market

Finally, prompted by large poster on MUNI (i.e. the San Francisco's tube) I discovered CSA (Community-Supported-Agriculture) farms. These are farms that deliver organic produce boxes in the city once or twice a week at selected pick-up point. After a few searches on the web, I have found a farm that delivers to a relatively convenient location, close to where I live, and that appears to be excellent, at least according to the reviews.

As a rational social scientist I would expect that given there is no middle man and the produce comes directly from the farm to final customers, I would get a good bunch of seasonal organic fruit and vegetables. I will have to wait until next Saturday to find out if my first box turns out to have the good value for money I am expecting. If it is, my adventure in the world of organic food will end!