The Organic Raw Shopping Experience

Very early on my raw lifestyle timeline, I had myself convinced  that I could go 100% raw.  I was always trying to eat consciously. Looking at packaging and trying to avoid anything that contained ingredients that I couldn’t pronounce was second nature to me. What I fed my husband and children was carefully considered; even if they clamored for ‘Lucky Charms’, I would undoubtedly force muesli and organic fruit upon them. And it seemed like it would be simple for someone like myself to just go completely raw since I had – for the most part – always preferred fruits and vegetables anyway, albeit not exclusively.

Avoiding the Bad Stuff

Yes, I’ve had my moments. But generally my cravings for junk food were minimal, standing up well to the onslaught of fast food establishments that beckoned with the welcoming arm of drive-through lane as I made into the heart of Santa Fe every afternoon.

Sometimes I’ve been really hungry, having somehow managed to miss a meal somewhere in the web of my day. Maybe while attending to some unexpected event; an animal birth, an overflowing toilet, a forgotten key. My stomach would be growling past every bright sign that might have seemed to represent a suitable , quick antidote. Even then, I could usually resist. I always knew how bad that stuff could make me feel.  But resisting temptations such as these is one thing. 100% raw – going “all the way” – was a whole new ball game.

Eating Organic

The first time you go to a grocery store with the idea of a raw diet in your mind, is a major wake-up call. All of a sudden, that whole, huge edifice is reduced to two aisles. Those would be : the produce aisle and the bulk foods aisle. That’s the place where they keep the bird and squirrel food aka nuts and seeds. And that’s usually where they keep the agave nectar, honey and a smattering of nut butters too.

I could include the spice section but that whole thing is up for debate. A bunch of the so-called experts will argue that commercially produced bottled spices are not raw. So- in a nutshell – if you don’t see a cinnamon or nutmeg tree in your backyard or vanilla beans dangling in their pods, you are either not getting those raw or simply, Not Getting Those. Now, I stopped obsessing about this kind of stuff long ago but at the time I was super anal. And these are real, raw quandaries.

One could argue that shopping becomes easier. There are not as many choices to be made. Certainly not as many bad ones. Naturally we should aim for organic. But Braeburn or Granny Smith? Anjou or Bartlett? It’s all just apples and pears after all. Isn’t it?

This Is It?

I should add that if you’re shopping for organic produce and end up in a store like Smiths or Walmart instead of an organic grocers, you’re screwed. Because the square footage of space dedicated to the organic factor is even smaller. Likely, a six foot section of refrigerated shelving in the produce department, sporting no more than six bunches of anything. Apparently these were the things the staff could steal from their neighbors gardens on the way to work on any given day.  Or so it would seem. In the winter, there is barely anything… probably because it’s not as easy to forage for root vegetables in the snow.

The first time I really noticed this was at the onset of my raw experimentations. “This is it?”, I spurted aloud at a handful of carrots in the Albertson’s organic section as some elderly woman in a kerchief rushed past me in a nervous attempt to escape an onslaught of Turrets.

Fortunately there is no lack of natural grocery stores here in Santa Fe. Whole Foods and Sprouts even have actual Raw Food sections that seem to be growing by the day and where you can find such tidbits as crackers and breads. I use the word bread in its loosest definition because it certainly didn’t look like any of the bread I grew up with in Europe. More like WASA Thin Crisps than anything else. Unless, of course, anything else is corrugated cardboard. But if they wanted to call that bread, far be it from me to put up a stink. It didn’t really taste bad. But it didn’t really look good either. (To this day I stand firm on making your own raw breads. The grocery store has little to offer you).

It’s All Good…

So I put some Nori crackers in my basket and headed back to the produce aisle and my little organic island. Because that was what I had. Maybe it’s not 14 aisles. But, no matter what, it’s by far the prettiest section in any grocery store. And that’s a fact.