It sure has been a while!

Hello all! Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. School sure does it get crazy. I thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you some of my experiences visiting San Francisco lately.

Just last weekend, while visiting my best friend in Frisco (who is also a fellow foodie), many of our expeditions involved, well, food! We ate some wonderful fare at restaurants such as Perry's in the Financial/Soma district and Mamacita's in the Marina District. We also browsed in one of my favorite places ever, the Ferry Building Plaza Marketplace, chock-full of local produce, artisan foods, and tons of gourmet goodies.

We also took a visit to Whole Foods, and I was impressed to notice their commitment to bringing fresh and local food to their customers. In fact, for many products, they provide a brief description of who the producer/farmer of the product is, where they're from, and what their practices include. Being the fruit girl aggie that I am, I couldn't help but look at all of the labels for everything to see their country of origin.


As we approached the nuts & dried fruit aisle, I was checking out their different almond flavors & mixes. In particular, I was impressed by Whole Foods' own line of products. I picked up a container of their brand of raw almonds and noticed that their appearance was just a little different than the nonpariel variety that we grow that I was used to seeing.



I was quite disappointed when I flipped to the back of the container and read "Product of Italy". WHOA. What?! A store that is so committed to providing fresh, local food has their own line of raw almonds as an imported product? There are many reasons why this is a little disheartening:

1) California produces 80% of the world's almonds, and nearly 100% of the U.S. commercial supply. That being said, there is definitely not a shortage of California almonds.


Almond orchard in bloom in Turlock, California. Almonds typically bloom between February 23rd and March 9th.

2) These particular almonds were labelled "raw". In 2007, the almond pasteurization program became mandatory for the California industry, so even though California almonds are labelled "raw", we can be sure that they have been either steam-pasteurized OR treated with propylene oxide. This law, however, does NOT apply to imported almonds. Overall, researchers have determined that pasteurization allows for an overall better product, one that was cleaner and had a potentially longer shelf life, and did not compromise other desired qualities in the nuts such as taste, texture, and chemical composition.



3) These particular almonds were also organic, so one can make the argument that perhaps there is not a large enough organic almond supply here in California to meet the demand. Although the organic almond acreage is small when compared to the overall almond production (between 1-2%), there are co-ops such as Big Tree Organic Farms located in Turlock, California that provide organic almonds to many customers. Big Tree is an example of a locally owned company that is committed to providing an excellent product that is high-quality.



Perhaps Whole Foods has an imported raw almond product because they fear that pasteurization requirements has caused consumers who demand organic to object to any kind of treatment. Because imported almonds do not need to be pasteurized, distributors such as Whole Foods may be turning to organic almonds from Spain, Uzbekistan, Iran, Italy, and other countries.

Still, I am disappointed that a store so committed to local farming does not also provide a raw, organic, California-grown option. Personally, I will plug that I think local is the single-most important factor in food choices. We should be supporting our neighbors while ALSO being knowledgeable about their growing practices. It just seems downright silly for a store such as Whole Foods that is:

a) a self-proclaimed locavore's mothership market:
(Taken directly from the Whole Foods website: "Our search for that produce begins right outside our front door in every community where we do business. We are permanently committed to buying from local producers whose fruits and vegetables meet our high quality standards, particularly those who farm organically and are themselves dedicated to environmentally friendly, sustainable agriculture.")

b) located in the United States; specifically in California, and

c) less than 30 miles from almond country,

to NOT provide a local, California-grown, high-quality, raw product that is grown in abundance (literally) right down the road.

Thoughts?

Sincerely yours,
Fruitgirl :)