Seattle's Food Gap

An article in the PI earlier this week related the results of a community survey undertaken by a group of teenagers during the past few months comparing supermarket prices in different parts of town. Although the results were far from consistent, the overall conclusion was that prices were higher in more affluent neighborhoods.

The teenagers observed that there was some correlation between price and quality: PCC had the highest prices overall, but they had no mainstream junk food, which tends to be particularly inexpensive. They also found themselves asking important, thought provoking questions like how could bananas be so cheap when they're flown in from so far away.

I found the article particularly interesting because I've been slowly making my way through Mark Winne's "Closing the Food Gap", a book that came out earlier this year addressing the issue of inequities in the way food is sold and distributed in this country. (It's a very good book. I'm only reading so slowly because I have so much else going on.) The introduction describes Winne's experience moving to Hartford, Connecticut during the 1970's and discovering that the grocery stores in the heart of the city were dirty, decrepit, and expensive, while the stores in the suburbs were cleaner, better lit, and offered better prices.

With Winne's book as background, I was actually encouraged to read the results of the study related by the PI. It's better to have a direct correlation between price and quality than to have stale, dirty food costing more than fresh, appealing food. And it's better to have rich people paying more for food than poor people pay. (If they don't like it, they have the resources to drive to less affluent neighborhoods and pay less.)

There's still so much that's wrong with the food system in this country, but I do think we've taken some step forward when we're questioning why food is so cheap instead of asking why it's so expensive.

Premium Pricing

I encountered the term "premium pricing" in a marketing class last year. It describes the practice of charging a particularly high price for an item when it first comes out, so the folks who want it at almost any cost will pay extra to have it right away. It's the phenomenon behind the early high prices on appliances like I-Phones and Playstations.

I thought of the term recently when I saw the season's first blueberries. They were $7 for a container, but it happened to be my birthday, and I really, really wanted local blueberries on my birthday. I didn't think twice about paying the money, in fact, I felt grateful for the opportunity.

Blueberries are now selling for $4 a container, the same as raspberries. I've also seen this phenomenon with cherries, which started at $10 a pound and are now selling for $4, and potatoes, which can start out at $4 per pound before dropping to $2.

I really don't splurge on many things besides local produce (and good chocolate.) For me paying the initial higher price is a way of expressing my appreciation for the bounty of this landscape and the hard work of these quixotic farmers.

Biodegradable Takeout Containers

I was excited to discover today that the wholesale food service warehouse where I shop is now carrying bio-degradable and compostable takeout containers for a price that's in the same ballpark as styrofoam. They already carry one variety of unbleached, biodegradable takeout containers, but those are almost twice the price of these new ones. (And for some reason, the ones with compartments are significantly cheaper than the ones without.)

Washington state is trying to outlaw all styrofoam. I've been hearing restauranteurs complaining on the radio. Some say that they're going to have to instate a takeout surcharge now to pay for the extra expense.

I think that's a terrible idea. Many years ago Washington state passed a minimum wage law that required employers to pay waiters and waitresses the same wage as everyone else. (Before that they had their own, lower minimum wage, with the assumption that they'd make up the difference in tips.) One of my favorite restaurants raised all their prices by a percentage, and had a note on the menu explaining why. They ending up with prices like $6.34, the kinds of odd numbers that you never see on menus.

I stopped eating there. I felt that if they really needed to raise prices they should have done so on selected items that could bear it, and not even mentioned the wage increase. The awkwardness of the new prices and the note on the menu made me feel like they were whining about something that really wasn't a bad idea.

As restauranteurs, we're always finding ways to save money, at the same time that we're dealing with ongoing price increases. We don't lower our prices every time we figure out a more efficient way to do something, so why should we raise them when we're faced with a new expense, especially one that's in everyone's best interests? Of course it's inevitable that we have to raise prices at some point, but it's much more constructive to look for some graceful way to offset the expense, rather than complaining about a new, enlightened law.

A Trip to Costco

My Costco membership is going to expire this month. I joined mainly because they have great prices on a lot of the equipment I need for my farmers' market booth. I probably won't be renewing.

I'm proud to say that, in the entire year that I've had the membership, I haven't bought a single food item.

I headed up there today to buy a few pieces of equipment while I still can. I figured that, while I was there, I should take a closer look at the food, to see if it defied any of my preconceptions. As far as quality, there were quite a few "industrial organic" items. I was glad to see them, but I wasn't tempted to buy any.

I was mainly interested in comparing prices with some of the other places I shop. The meat seemed really inexpensive, but I rarely buy meat, and when I do it's usually at the farmers' market and I'm more interested in quality than I am in price. (Buying it only occasionally gives you that luxury.)

I do look at a lot of produce prices in a lot of different places, so I figured that would be a good section to use for comparison. I found a 10 lb. bag of red potatoes for $5.29, pineapple for $2.99, a couple of small watermelons for $6.79 (they looked like they were about 5 lb. each,) and 5 avocadoes for $6.99.

After having my receipt scrutinized by the guard at the door, I headed up to one of my favorite produce stands, Country Farms, in Edmunds. They had 10 lb. bags of potatoes for $2.49, a 3 lb. pineapple for 98 cents a pound, and 10 lb. watermelons for 39 cents a pound. They had baby avocadoes at 5 for a dollar, so I couldn't compare that price precisely, but I do know that the last time I checked, Trader Joe was selling 4 avocadoes for $3.

I'm not denying that Costco has great prices on many of their items. But I do think that people who shop at big box warehouse stores often assume that any price they see there is cheaper than what you'll get elsewhere, and it isn't necessarily so.

And I'm left with the perennial question, if you spend less money on stuff you don't really need, are you actually saving money?

Cheap Eating Without Discount Stores

Here are some helpful hints, in response to an article in yesterday's New York Times about gourmet cooking with dollar store foods. There are plenty of ways to save money on food without buying lots of processed garbage.


1. Buy bulk foods whenever possible. They're much cheaper than the packaged stuff.


2. Eat less meat and dairy. Learn to use these foods as components, rather than as the bulk of a meal. That's how most people have eaten for most of history.


3. Eat fruits and vegetables in season. In the spring you can get artichokes for less than a dollar. In the winter they're more like three dollars.


4. Pay attention to the price of each item you put in your shopping cart. If pecans are $9.50 a pound, pay attention and buy just what you need, instead of filling the bag because you're not paying attention.


5. Buy ethnic foods at ethnic stores. Taro root at Viet Wah, in the International District, costs less than a dollar a pound, but it's $3.99 a pound at Whole Foods. A lot of the other stuff at Whole Foods is competitive price-wise, but the ethnic specialty stuff is off the charts.


6. Learn what things should cost. If you're aware that conventional parsley is usually around $1/bunch, and organic parsley usually costs about $1.50, you'll know not to buy it when someone's charging $2.50.



Note that the first three suggestions are not only ways to save money, but also ways to eat more sustainably. And yet we tend to think of sustainable food as a more expensive option. Now there's some food for thought.

A Trip to the Grocery Outlet

The New York Times had an article in today's food section by a chef who tried to fix some decent meals using items from a discount grocery store.

I thought I'd write something in response about how you can save all kinds of money on groceries without shopping at discount stores. But first I thought I should take a closer look at the discount store in my neighborhood, in case it defied my preconceptions.

I generally stay away from these stores because I'm turned off by all the cheap, processed foods. But the Madrona Farmers' Market, where I vend, is held in the parking lot of a Grocery Outlet. They're great hosts, and I can usually pick up items there that I've forgotten to bring, like soap and paper towels.

Today I checked out the store on 130th and Aurora. As I expected, I found long aisles of canned meats and vegetables, and boxes of convenience foods. But I was actually impressed with the cheese section, which included ricotta salata as well as several varieties of flavored havarti.

I was disturbed by an observation I made on my way out the door. The ice was priced at 99 cents, and the sign said that was a $2 savings over the price of $2.99 that regular grocery stores charge. I buy ice regularly, and I rarely see it for more than $1.29. Even Whole Foods--Whole Foods!--sells a bag of ice for a dollar. If discount store prices are so low, why do they have to lie about what the competition is charging?

Expensive Eggs

The price of eggs has been steadily rising, mainly due to high feed costs.

Eggs are an important staple food, and this is not the first time that a price increase has been upsetting to consumers.

The increase in egg prices is part of an overall increase in the price of food lately, brought on by everything from rising fuel costs, to greater overseas demand for products we like to enjoy cheaply at home.

Most of us can afford to pay more for food, although it may mean that we spend less on other things. We've somehow figured out how to make room in our budgets for cell phone bills and high speed internet connections. I don't want to be insensitive to the tribulations of folks who are genuinely struggling to get by, but personally I think that the low food prices we've grown accustomed to are more of a problem than the high prices we're seeing now.

During the past forty years or so, the federal government has deliberately worked to lower the price of food. Farm subsidies have encouraged mass production of a handful of crops, especially wheat, corn, and soy. Food safety regulations favor large scale meat and dairy operations, making it nearly impossible for small scale operators to compete.

As a result of these policies, we're confronting epidemics of all kinds of diseases that are directly related to the way we eat, and the food that's available in most supermarkets doesn't have much flavor.

The price of good quality, sustainably produced food has been rising at least as quickly as the price of supermarket fodder. Still, I wish we'd learn to separate our collective passion for low prices from the decisions we make about what to eat.

Expensive Meat

These customers are lined up in front of the Sea Breeze Farm booth at the Ballard Farmers' Market, waiting for the day's sales to begin. The line is there every week, rain or shine, because Sea Breeze usually runs out of their most popular meat and dairy products early in the day. The customers line up and wait even though Sea Breeze's meats cost two or three times as much as the meat at the grocery store.

We've come a long way since the 1970's, when angry housewives picketed and boycotted supermarkets over the rising cost of meat. In response to these angry consumers, the USDA implemented a program of subsidizing farmers to grow corn and soy, much of which ends up as cattle feed. This has ensured that the price of meat has stayed relatively low and relatively stable. At the same time, many American households discovered that they didn't need to use meat in every meal, every day of the week.

When you compare meat and dairy prices at the farmers' market with meat and dairy prices at the grocery store, you'll find a much bigger difference than when you compare fruit and vegetable prices at the farmers' market with fruit and vegetable prices at the grocery store. That's because it takes more resources to produce meat and dairy than it does to grow fruit and vegetables.

Bizarre federal policies can bring down the price of meat and dairy at the supermarket, but cows aren't adapted to eating corn and soy. The animals who eat these foods are unhealthy, and their meat is inferior. Low meat prices can't fool these consumers, who line up and wait for Sea Breeze to start selling their meat and dairy, week after week, in every kind of weather.

Good Food- Worth the Price?

I was talking to a farmer over the weekend who mentioned that he'd just raised his prices because he'd realized that people were willing to pay more for his produce. He was conflicted about the change, and worried that his stuff was less affordable now for people who really couldn't pay the extra money.

A few days earlier I'd been shopping at Pacific Food Importers, one of my favorite spots. I was deciding whether to try a new brand of olive oil or stick with Adolpho's, my long time favorite. I got to talking to one of the guys who works there, and when I mentioned my preference for Adolpho's he said, "Yeah, that's great stuff, but he finally figured out what it was worth, and jacked up the price."

Now, I appreciate a good deal as much as the next person, but part of me is also glad to see people who produce fine products getting fairly compensated for their efforts. I've written before about farmers' market pricing, and the fact that organic produce at the market is often cheaper than comparable fruits and vegetables at the grocery store.

Even if organic produce at the market is generally cheaper than what you'd pay at the store, it' still usually more expensive than "conventional" produce, because it's a higher quality product.

As contemporary Americans we spend a smaller share of our income on food than any other society in the history of the world. I've heard figures ranging from 9 to 13 percent but, whatever the exact number, we're pretty spoiled in this arena. The low cost of food gives us more money to spend on clothing, entertainment, vacations and high speed electronics, among other things.

The fact is, we spend our money on what matters to us. I know people who are barely scraping by who buy most of their food at farmers' markets, and I've met people who live in mansions but fill their cupboards with processed garbage from Costco. What matters to you?

High Prices at the Farmers' Market: Fact or Fiction?

One of the biggest hurdles faced by local farmers' markets is the perception that market food is too expensive. (The other big hurdle is the lack of convenient parking, but I have nothing useful to say about that.)

Last spring an economics class at Seattle Central Community College explored the question of whether farmers' market prices really are higher than comparable prices at the supermarket. They compared the cost of organic produce at the nearby Broadway Farmers' market with prices at QFC, Safeway, and Madison Market.

In almost every case they found that produce at the farmer' market was actually cheaper than stuff at conventional stores. So why the negative perception?

Perhaps a trip to the farmers' market feels expensive to some people because it involves preparing meals from scratch. Shopping for ingredients and cooking a real meal tends to be more expensive than eating fast food or frozen convenience food, although it's certainly cheaper than buying a decent meal at a restaurant.

Fresh herbs, in particular, tend to much more affordable at farmers' markets, and the bunches are much bigger than those tiny, overpriced plastic packages at the supermarket.

And I haven't even touched on the question of quality...