Food

Unsurprisingly, food is a big issue in a new country. Several things are just different. Why should butter taste different? The children don't want toast anymore because the butter tastes 'funny'. For that matter, so does the bread (Americans add a lot of sugar/honey/high fructose corn syrup to their bread - even the organic wholemeal stuff). Being electric, we didn't bring over our breadmaker, although, of course, I can still make bread without one. But then, what's the point when butter tastes so funny? There are legions of other foods that are just different. And then there is my quest for local and organic food.

I have finally made a trip to the Whole Foods Supermarket. I'd read about them in the UK, and seemed to remember mostly that they'd been nicknamed 'Whole Wallet" Markets because they were so expensive. Yeah, well, who among us is is surprised that organic food can be more expensive? Our Whole Foods is in neighbouring Fort Collins - about 30 minutes away - and it is amazing. Imagine a completely organic Waitrose and you have the picture. I was flabberghasted at the quantity and quality of the produce along with fish, meat, cheese, bakery and deli counters. Then toss in aisles and aisles of all the other stuff that you get in grocery stores. Just wonderful, and yes, probably more expensive.

I've no great longing to shop there regularly though, as my local grocery store is terrific for organic produce, and I can get just about anything I want. On more than one occasion, strawberries have been on sale, and the organic are offered, side by side, at the same price. (More about food miles later) This week I bought some organic zucchini (courgettes) for 88c/lb. I suppose a quarter of the produce display is organic, and the variety is comparable to the non-organic.

Having conducted my share of workshops on the subject of food miles, I find, none-the-less, that I don't seem to blanch overmuch when I see that the strawberries come from Mexico. That doesn't seem so very far away to me. Have I had an American distance head shift perception change? Probably.

Organic vegetable box schemes as we know them don't exist here. Instead they operate something called Community Supported Agriculture schemes, CSAs. You pay a fee upfront - something in the region of $300-600, and then get a box each week - only during the growing season - of whatever is harvested, and if the harvest is ruined by frost or hail, then there is nothing. I shall investigate further as the growing season approaches.

And we haven't even touched milk, cheese, meat, and dry goods...