up next: white flannel trousers and singing mermaids

[kindkit]

Today after work I went to Whole Paycheck* to buy shampoo. (I can't stand the perfuminess of most shampoos, but WP has an own-brand one that's available unscented or in nice, light natural citrus and herbal scents that I like.) So anyway, as I was wandering through WP, looking at all the no doubt delicious but ridiculously expensive treats, I happened upon some locally grown peaches at a price that, while higher than regular supermarkets, wasn't outrageously so. They were ripe enough to be gently soft. They smelled like peaches. I couldn't resist. I bought one.

I ate it just now and was reminded that yes, I do sometimes like fruit. It wasn't even the best peach I've ever had--Washington DC, where I used to live, is southern enough to be good peach country--but it was still succulent and juicy and had flavor. I'd been forgetting what a peach is supposed to taste like, after bad experiences this summer with supermarket fruit that went mushy on the ouside while being weirdly hard/crisp inside and tasted like styrofoam that had been stored next to an open jar of artificial peach flavoring.

Yes, I know, I should shop at farmers' markets if I want good produce. But our local farmers' market is shockingly expensive and only open once a week at an inconvenient time for me.

I'm just happy I had my peach.

BTW, if you were wondering, the ankle is still hurting me a bit but is a lot better than it was. This is good, because hobbling around was getting tiresome.



*Note for the confused: "Whole Paycheck" is the not entirely affectionate nickname of a US chain of healthy/gourmet supermarkets. The name gives you a sense of their prices, which are all the more outrageous because they are relentless union-busters, but my god they carry beautiful fruits and vegetables.

Comments

[hannah]

I got some peaches last week and left them to ripen, and ate them today. A peach that's everything it's supposed to be will stop the world for the time it takes to eat it.

Are there any CSAs you could join?

[lilacsigil]

Supermarket fruit is picked unripe and stored in carbon dioxide to preserve it for up to a year. I'd buy some vegetables there if needed, but fruit just isn't worth the heartbreak. (I can afford better quality fruit but I have to drive for an hour each way to get it!)

[kindkit]

Yeah, every time I buy most supermarket fruit I'm reminded that no matter how cheap, it's a waste of money. Supermarket apples and bananas are okay, but those aren't fruits I like all that much to start with.

[st_aurafina]

Good fruit makes bad fruit such a miserable thing. We have a berry farm just out of town, and it's spoiled me for any other strawberries.

That's really sad about your farmers' market. Ours is slowly gentrifying, if you know what I mean, all these ultra-slick boutique food businesses shouldering out the actual farmers around here.

[kindkit]

My farmers' market is maybe not gentrified in quite the same way as you're describing, but it's definitely catering for well-moneyed people who want organic, trendy boutique veggies etc. etc. And organic is the best way to go, environmentally, but it's more expensive than I can afford anymore. Add on to that the general expensiveness and difficulty of farming in this climate (poor soil, little water, dramatic temperature swings) and the fact that Santa Fe has so many well-off people that it pushes all prices up, and you'll get a sense of the prices. It bothers me that the only source of really fresh food is out of reach for half the population here--I keep comparing it to the Minneapolis farmers' market in Minnesota, where there were lots of farmers offering things in a variety of price ranges (including Southeast Asian family farmers selling the kinds of vegetables used in Southeast Asian cooking--I miss that so much!).