Food in Boston

A recap of the recent Michael Pollan / John Mackey discussion touches on some interesting points:

• There have been some significant changes in Whole Foods’ business since The Omnivore’s Dilemma was published, presumably as at least an indirect result. In a way I’m not surprised, as something like half the people I talk to about food have read the book, but it’s interesting to see that it and the related conversation are having an influence on a fortune 500 company.
• WF sees Trader Joe’s as their main competitor. This rings true for Boston, but I wouldn’t have thought that it was also true on a national level. Interesting in that their value propositions are pretty different, but I guess they’re more alike each other than other national food retailers, who seem to be more about “we have everything and it’s cheap!”

I can verify the Brookline Whole Foods store’s interest in supporting local farmers. I was part of a group of Boston Slow Food members who spoke to the head marketing person there about hosting local farmers at their store during the summer. She was very much on board with almost everything we said, and indicated that support of local farmers has been a regional priority since last summer - about the time Omnivore’s Dilemma was making serious headway.