settling for unfair food for a fair price? a tale of two grocery stores
I go to sleep tonight feeling very conflicted and pained about the meeting I just attended, about the recent lease to Whole Foods of the 47-year Jamaica Plain landmark Hi-Lo foods, a medium sized, affordably priced grocery store, which sold a variety of Latino and Caribbean foods. After news of the lease slowly leaked through Hi-Lo’s employees to community leaders and the press in the past few weeks, it became the talk of the neighborhood, and much of Boston; community organizations planned tonight’s meeting, which was an opportunity for JP residents to speak out about how they were feeling about the loss of Hi-Lo, and the impending presence of Whole Foods in the community.
When I initially heard about the lease, I was extremely upset, in part because living a few blocks from the Hi-Lo was one of the things I was most excited about when I moved here 18 months ago, yet I felt conflicted because I had not made this store the primary focus of my grocery shopping since living here, as I wrote about in this prior post. I have had myriad conversations about the issue over the past few weeks and had been reading the press coverage voraciously, yet I was apparently unprepared for many of the concerns and feelings that tonight’s remarks brought up for me.
The primary arguments many of us in the community seem to have with this change, is that Hi-Lo represented a bastion of the Latino cultural heritage of JP, as well as the best source of affordable food in the neighborhood, much of which was quite healthy. Combine that with the gentrification, corporatization, globalization and disrespect for labor symbolized by Whole Foods, and you start to get the picture of the anger and disillusionment present in the room this evening. Although I am quite devastated by Hi-Lo’s closing and not happy about it being replaced by Whole Foods, I found myself surprisingly sympathetic to Whole Foods after I heard the remarks tonight, or rather, sympathetic to the segment of the market which Whole Foods products serves. I recognize that in fact, Whole Foods’ preference for supposedly “healthier” products may have a net negative impact on the health of JP residents, since those former Hi-Lo shoppers whose price points for fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods are below the prices at Whole Foods, may end up buying less healthy food and more unhealthy food at other stores. For all the complaining about the quality of Hi-Lo’s produce done by people who could afford to shop elsewhere, the truth is that the store had a variety of fruits and vegetables at an affordable price, in a convenient environment when people were buying other foods there as well.
Yet when one of the meeting’s organizing groups talked about the price survey they had recently done comparing the prices of staple foods at Whole Foods and at Hi-Lo, I felt like I was being forced to dump half of my core values in support of the other half. For we know that in fact, the eggs sold at Whole Foods, are not the same eggs sold at Hi-Lo. While I am upset about the loss of this affordable, culturally diverse and healthy grocery option, I don’t think that the prices of Whole Foods products are actually the problem. As we know, the price of food in this country is way too cheap, and the reason why a growing percentage of our population cannot afford nutritious food (to which they may not have convenient access) is not actually that the food is to expensive, but rather is due to our nation’s rapidly increasing income inequality and lack of value on ensuring adequate incomes or a seamless safety net. So my true hope would be that everyone could afford the food at Whole Foods. Not because I want Whole Foods to expand or because I think they are a great company. To the contrary- one of the highlights of the evening was when a friend of mine spoke about her struggles as a Whole Foods employee in Madison, WI among a group from the only Whole Foods store to ever try to organize--an effort which was quashed by the store.
The fact that we are taught by the mainstream media and our society that only the children of privilege can be conscious of the lives impacted by the foods they purchase is unacceptable. We must reunite consumers of all classes, races and regions to the movements for just food, and cease trying to create divisions based on our differences, whether they are based in place or class, race or type of community.
The primary arguments many of us in the community seem to have with this change, is that Hi-Lo represented a bastion of the Latino cultural heritage of JP, as well as the best source of affordable food in the neighborhood, much of which was quite healthy. Combine that with the gentrification, corporatization, globalization and disrespect for labor symbolized by Whole Foods, and you start to get the picture of the anger and disillusionment present in the room this evening. Although I am quite devastated by Hi-Lo’s closing and not happy about it being replaced by Whole Foods, I found myself surprisingly sympathetic to Whole Foods after I heard the remarks tonight, or rather, sympathetic to the segment of the market which Whole Foods products serves. I recognize that in fact, Whole Foods’ preference for supposedly “healthier” products may have a net negative impact on the health of JP residents, since those former Hi-Lo shoppers whose price points for fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods are below the prices at Whole Foods, may end up buying less healthy food and more unhealthy food at other stores. For all the complaining about the quality of Hi-Lo’s produce done by people who could afford to shop elsewhere, the truth is that the store had a variety of fruits and vegetables at an affordable price, in a convenient environment when people were buying other foods there as well.
Yet when one of the meeting’s organizing groups talked about the price survey they had recently done comparing the prices of staple foods at Whole Foods and at Hi-Lo, I felt like I was being forced to dump half of my core values in support of the other half. For we know that in fact, the eggs sold at Whole Foods, are not the same eggs sold at Hi-Lo. While I am upset about the loss of this affordable, culturally diverse and healthy grocery option, I don’t think that the prices of Whole Foods products are actually the problem. As we know, the price of food in this country is way too cheap, and the reason why a growing percentage of our population cannot afford nutritious food (to which they may not have convenient access) is not actually that the food is to expensive, but rather is due to our nation’s rapidly increasing income inequality and lack of value on ensuring adequate incomes or a seamless safety net. So my true hope would be that everyone could afford the food at Whole Foods. Not because I want Whole Foods to expand or because I think they are a great company. To the contrary- one of the highlights of the evening was when a friend of mine spoke about her struggles as a Whole Foods employee in Madison, WI among a group from the only Whole Foods store to ever try to organize--an effort which was quashed by the store.
I am not a a Whole Foods apologist. What I am, is a "good food" or "fair food" apologist. While the store may represent a series of elitist qualities antithetical to JP, much of the food sold at Whole Foods is consistent with my values and those of many of my neighbors, and I don’t think we can lose sight of that. What will become a daily life issue for the residents of JP and beyond who will not be able to buy the affordable eggs they bought at Hi-Lo, is also a daily life issue for the thousands of small farmers who have been driven out of their livelihoods by the corporate production of cheap eggs for stores like Hi-Lo, not to mention the lives of the people who will die because of the irresponsible use of antibiotics and hormones fed to egg laying hens.
And although this fight seems to be primarily about what Whole Foods represents for the gentrification of the neighborhood and the lack of transparency or public process that has happened during this business transaction, the remarks nevertheless frequently demonized both the people who shop at Whole Foods and the products sold there, which has led to my fundamental tension with the arguments. Can we at least try to raise up the values of cultural heritage and tradition inherent in Hi-Lo's food without demonizing the values in many of Whole Foods' products?
And although this fight seems to be primarily about what Whole Foods represents for the gentrification of the neighborhood and the lack of transparency or public process that has happened during this business transaction, the remarks nevertheless frequently demonized both the people who shop at Whole Foods and the products sold there, which has led to my fundamental tension with the arguments. Can we at least try to raise up the values of cultural heritage and tradition inherent in Hi-Lo's food without demonizing the values in many of Whole Foods' products?
I don’t see how we can talk about the bread and butter issues of food prices in our communities and exclude from the conversation the entire chain of people and communities impacted by the path that food has taken to get to our stores. I’m not saying Whole Foods is the answer, but they are a major player in the market and represent a significant buyer of many of the small-scale, just and sustainable producers that are the only answer we have to our inequitable food system. And many of these producers hate Whole Foods and do everything in their power to avoid selling to them, but we haven’t created enough other options yet--what represents bourgeousie self-indulgence to many JP residents represents the difference between debt and greater debt, health insurance or college tuition for many small farmers.
The fact that we are taught by the mainstream media and our society that only the children of privilege can be conscious of the lives impacted by the foods they purchase is unacceptable. We must reunite consumers of all classes, races and regions to the movements for just food, and cease trying to create divisions based on our differences, whether they are based in place or class, race or type of community.
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