Whole Foods has a meat counter, and an awesome seafood counter. They also have a ton more variety than Gateway Market, especially with their produce.
As far as the on the shelf stuff (canned and dried goods), they are very similar.
I love going to Whole Foods and getting sushi grade fish, and making homemade sushi. Can I get that stuff at Trader Joes or Gateway Market?
Also, I'm not sure about this Whole Foods, but the Deli Area that makes their own homemade salads, breakfast burritos, soups, and sandwiches are awesome.
Most people can't afford to shop exclusivley at Whole Foods, but if you are looking for a special ingredient, or to make homemade sushi for a fraction of what you'd pay in a restaurant, it's worth it.
It will be interesting to see how this does in Des Moines, as people here don't see the value of organic foods and freshly flown in fish, as it doesn't really fit the culture.
I was originally excited to have a place to buy different kinds of foods, but wow the direction they go is crazy.
The majority of the people that post here are against Whole Foods and the couple people who are not get railed on, and then just push back defensivley and diss each other.
Equally upsetting is the fact that nobody on here posts reliable information. It's usually supported by a biased news source that just states an opinion.
It really is sad how counterproductive it is here. There are more similarities than differences in terms of the food provided on both sides of the aisle, yet we just divide ourselves.... and for what?
This is America, we are supposed to have different views. Why can't we have meaningful discussions that really get down to what the differences are, between grocery stores?
Even more disappointing, is that people just use soundbytes from their favorite local farmer to fuel their opinion. You people realize that these people have a shitck and it garners them millions of dollars right?
If you actually look at the choice in grocery stores and see what people are buying, both sides are not that different from each other in terms of what they actually put in their mouths. Maybe in their seasoning, but not their approach.
It also saddens me a great deal when people say we live in a organic tyranny, or that our food is full of pesticides. It isn't. All of the fundamentals are in place. There are many choices for the people to decide on when selecting what they will eat. We as Americans tend to be very narrow and not grasp what it means to eat exotic foods, or to experience a full on bout of dysentery, or to really understand what "organic" is.
I figured that we are smarter than the crap that spews in our media. It's fair to question and criticize everything that goes on our plates, but why must we go about it in a way in which we attack each other? And why can't we find common ground? Or good tomatoes out of season?
Our grocery stores will not change until the people who buy from them change.
We are damn lucky to be Americans, and able to spend time mud slinging each other over grocery stores and not having to worry about things that people in other countries do. Why can't we have some fun, get serious when needed, and try to work together? Also eat some ribeyes?
I'm sorry for the rant, but what happens on here is no different from what I see in the at restaurants. It's also no different from what the fast food industry wants us to do. They want us to be divided, have everything be 0 or 1, even though the similarties outweigh the differences, so they can sell more Big Macs.
We are a generally educated group that lives in the midwest. We are kind people and we resort to such juvenile stuff when it comes to our grocery stores. We're better than that, and we're better than Aldi.
