One disturbing image from "Food, Inc." was the Hispanic family shopping in the grocery store. They were in the produce department debating about buying produce and deciding whether they could afford it.
The hope is that their saga was an aberration, but likely some mull whether they can afford food that is good for them.
In hitting the farmers market, you see people who can afford to buy even nicer produce than you find in the grocery store, debating whether to buy heirloom tomatoes or lettuce with the roots still on them or cage-free eggs.
There is a gap in the process that doesn't get much attention. It feels like there are people in cars on the road who want the quickness of high-speed rail trains while others follow along on bicycles.
You can argue that eating well is its own reward. You feel healthier, less time spent in the bathroom, and higher quality of life. You spend a little more – certainly doesn't have to be heirloom tomatoes – but get more in return.
A certain percentage of the population doesn't see value in that equation, or they see value but can't justify it.
Like most cases, I fall in between. Good produce, even from the grocery store, makes a vital difference. But I don't always fall into the other extreme.
I am amused when I see items that cost more per pound than steak. Somehow, steak has always been the gold standard for expensive for me.
The epitome of this trend came at Fauchon – the famous fancy grocery store in Paris. I saw cheese there for 40-50 euros per pound. Then again, I occasionally buy Parmesano Reggiano for $17-$19/pound. But I'm usually buying 1/2 pound at a time, and most of the time, I buy Pecorino Romano for $10-$11/pound.
When I had lunch with the Italian family after we visited the Eiffel Tower in Paris, they fed me Parmesano Reggiano fresh from Italy. We ate it straight like regular cheese. I asked them how much Parmesano Reggiano cost back home. I recall the math added up to about $10/pound. Somehow eating Parmesano Reggiano literally from Italy with Italians in Paris was worth the money, if I was paying for it. They saw eating the cheese, even at that price point, as being worth it.
As part of my research this summer, I bought a couple of heirloom tomatoes at $5.50/lb. They were beautiful tomato explosions, fresh and amazing. But I felt a little strange eating tomatoes that cost more per pound than hamburger meat, even if I wasn't eating that much of them.
I bought a small head of lettuce, complete with roots, for $2.50. The woman told me that while they were 2 for $5, it was $3 for one. I bought two. The lettuce was really nice and fresh, but felt like the cost reflected a salad in a restaurant.
I like quality but I also think about price. I will pay for a fine quality cheese to sprinkle on my whole wheat spaghetti, but like buying some produce on price.
I do pay more in the farmers market but also look at it like a summertime treat, and to help out the farmers. The food tastes good, after all. In the upper half of the country, summertime is an appreciation time for food.
Education can narrow the gap, but there has to be a basic understanding that fruits and vegetables are worth it to our health, regardless of price. In exchange, we need to know that for some, produce is produce, even if it's not heirloom tomatoes. Of course, it would help if lower cost produce tasted better to encourage more people to buy fruits and vegetables. The balance of food requires some of that food to be high quality and low enough on price.
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