Love Whole Foods or loathe it?

Over at Food Republic they’ve reprinted an essay from the New Yorker, How Whole Foods Created A New Breed of Shopper. As Tom Roston writes, 

“In my darker moments, I imagine what it might be like to live through an alien invasion. I’m not a War of the Worlds, death-and-destruction kind of guy; I am more prone to creepier visions of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers variety, in which our enemies live comfortably amongst us. And, lately, I’ve come to suspect that the enemy is indeed already here: It’s Whole Foods.

The environmentally conscious, user-friendly, million-options super market chain snuck up on me like a slow-moving teddy bear. Now, I can’t imagine life without it.”

Through several more very humorous paragraphs Roston talks about his slow conversion from a “a guy who prides himself on knowing the best local pizza joints in each and every neighborhood” to one who “bought a whole pizza pie (hey, it’s not bad!) at Whole Foods because I wanted to supplement the meal with offerings from the $9.99 per pound antipasti bar.” He asks, “What have I become?”

It’s a fun summer read. And whether you’re about to shop at Whole Foods or any other supermarket, remember that with EYB’s new mobile app, you can look up a recipe in one of your cookbooks at the store and check that you have the right ingredients. Just sign into EYB on your mobile phone, and it will be downloaded automatically. Enjoy!