Reply to comment

This summer for a few weeks I worked in Annapolis, MD as a nanny for my cousin's son. My cousin's wife would take me grocery shopping at Whole Foods and to me it was a supermarket heaven. In the cheese section alone I felt like I was in a whole new world. Every section I looked there were organic marvels and I felt like I had finally met the supermarket of all supermarkets.

When Pollan rips apart Whole Foods it made me so sad, because for not only me but for my family I felt like he was ripping apart what it stood for -- a life of organic and healthy food accessible close to home. For so long in my life my family has searched far and wide at organic health food stores for gluten-free tasty food (which is hard to come across), all  because my father is allergic to wheat. I told my mother about Whole Foods after I visited it in Annapolis and and she got excited about the fact that there was a whole supermarket that we could shop at and have a better chance of less migraines for my father, instead of a tiny health food store miles away. She and I felt like the search for his better food for not only my father but for our family was closer than ever before. When Pollan ripped apart the organic milk, it really crushed my ignorance of a perfect organic world. My family loves to buy organic milk because now my father (and me) are on the verge of being lactose and tolerant and we think organic milk is better to have for us. I guess to me it was always okay if the label said organic because I had nothing else to compare it to. Now even though it might say organic I feel untrusting of it. To me Pollan has made me nervous to walk into a supermarket now because I am afraid that it will crush my hopes for a perfect gluten-free and yummy meal at home. 

--Leigh