WholeFoods miscellanea, or: I upload a whole lotta photos on a Friday night

Here are some out'n'about shots from WholeFoods. Big snaps to Buzz who patiently waited while I snapped everything with the word 'vegan' on it and even lent a helping hand to hold up various pieces of produce to demonstrate their size.

I'm not really a soy-cream kinda gal (or should that be ice-soy cos it's the cream that I object to?) but this ... this really takes the ... cake? Soycream? IceSoy?

Just look at the soft and sticky swirls of fudge ... this bucket didn't last very long at all. Oh no it didn't!
A meal-in-a-bowl from the buffet.

Views from above - taken from the eatering area way up above the foodering area (don't ask where those words came from. But it makes sense doesn't it? The eatering are is where you do your eating, and the foodering area is where you pick your food).

All the little soy proteins ... maybe a bit too chemically and processed, but what a haul!






My first ever food tub from the buffet - layers 1 and 2. I was a full little girl.



Buzz has fairly large hands, and even they are dwarfed (kind of) by these bemusingly large red onions.

Slightly bizarrely arranged fresh produce. It's like someone's come along with a WhipperSnipper and buzzed off all the unruly ends.

Finally - why oh effing why does the one thing ever with my name have to be effing dairy? Tragedy!

Having now seen all these pictures together, I think I have also seen why I was so manic and determined in photographing all the special vegan food I could find. Certainly it was partly to demonstrate the range of products we simply don't have in Australia, but seeing now that so many of the items are those that are made in-store, I think my unrealised motive was to show that where there is a critical mass of people who are interested not just in veganism but in organics and other non-mainstream eating choices, market forces will lead to the creation of a new and expanded form of operation which sees these choices as crucial to their business.

Despite the concern about the role of WholeFoods as yet another giant supermarket chain - concerns that are valid and worth remembering - it's still pretty damn cool to get the incredible range of bakery treats above, bringing them out of the health food store and into a supermarket environment, which is the kind of food market where the vast majority of people in the US and Australia purchase their food. My position is that if this kind of ubiquity can help someone to think that veganism is something 'normal' enough to be catered for by a large supermarket chain, not impossible for that person themselves to cater for, and part of a movement large enough to command these things, then I say that this is a damn fine thing.

WholeFoods, or: I am overjoyed, eat myself silly, and start turning into a dumpling

Although I am still unable to post pictures, my little hotel in London has free internet access so after being starved and denied in NYC, I'm going to start transcribing my handwritten stuff and add in photos when I'm home. Be prepared for lots of text!

Before I left for NYC a friend at work kept telling me to go to Whole Foods Market. She kept trying to explain the Aladdin's Cave of Magical Goods (Open Sesame!) to me. In my ignorance, I couldn't really fathom it. But she was so right.

WF is an organic supermarket. It has a social conscience (as a supermarket can), doing things like paying all employees' health benefits in full – a big deal in the US – and focusing on local and fresh produce. The one I went to in NYC was the Bowery store, so all my observations are from that experience alone.

After our first wander through WF, I was all agog with giggly wide-eyed amazement. Naturally I paid most attention to the vegan foods, which included more than a whole freezer of soy and rice ice cream;

a whole case of tofu and soy products; more soy milk flavours that I could imagine (Mocha! Spice! Coffee! Sweetened! Unsweetened!);

sweets and desserts;

ready made meals, fresh meals including pizza; and 3 massive salad and hot food buffets.

Each item produced on the premises is not only clearly labelled as vegan or gluten free or what have you, but has all the ingredients listed on its little sign. And we're not talking one option here. As a guesstimate, about 1/3 of the buffet was vegan, and there were quite a number of vegan desserts, ready made and other meals too.

On my first visit to the buffet bars I bought over US$22 worth of food, at $7.99 a pound, cos I was compelled by a force greater than my self-control or vanity to try it all (that didn't mean I had to eat it all. But I did, natch). I was more restrained on future visits but did note the changing variety of options - and all of them were winners. They included seaweed salad, endamame, soba and buckwheat noodles, slaw, tofu baked and marinated in three hundred gazillion ways, dumplings, samosas, guacamole, quinoa, fresh salads, pakora, curries ... and not one was less than great.

One thing that really got me was the variety of vegan foodstuffs that we just don't have in Aus: Turtle Mountain ice creams in all flavours; Soy Dream ice cream (the mocha fudge is spine-tingling);

a few shelves of non-dairy cheese (although as I discovered too late, most contain casein - yeah thanks Soya Kaas!); and a lot of processed mock meat. Usually I avoid the processed stuff for health, price and food snobbery reasons, but the need to try multiple varieties of Tofurkey was strong (and it was good! Really good!) ... and the fact that they are being produced is still better than no vegan food being on manufacturers' radars at all.

So with all this variety, not to mention the 'personal care' section including Zuzu Luxe makeup and No Miss nail polish, I was an excited girl. On our second trip I took photos of just about everything labelled vegan - slightly embarrassing for poor Buzz, yes, but oh-so enjoyable for me!

Also - a picture of many eggs. I'm not sure why the sight of duck, pheasant and ostrich (ostrich!) eggs on sale next to the chicken eggs disturbs me so much - I'm sure they're not treated any better than the chooks - but it does. There's something especially obscene about the ostrich eggs. Maybe it's because they're bigger and I'm sizeist, maybe it's just the unpleasant novelty - I don't know. But I was particularly shocked. What do you think?

So .. Whole Foods. Are you planning to open in Aus? Would it help if I offered my services as your Special Executive Vegan Food Taster Extraordinaire? Would it help if I promised to shop exclusively with you and you alone? Would it help if I extolled your virtues a little louder (no, this not a paid advertisement, just a hungry hungry girl!)? So, like, open in Aus ploise?

I'm aware that there's some concern out there about the supermarket-y nature of Whole Foods, and the vegan virtue of proclaiming their brilliance in light of the extensive meat and dairy sections, and things like the ostrich eggs. I intend to do a bit thinking and a bit of research and have a more serious, less fawning discussion later on, but in the meantime, if I could get that Soy Dream Mocha Fudge right now I would happily use my fingers as a spoon.

Noo Yawk Rawks, or: I pound the streets, eat the food, buy the shopping, and can't find any Internet cafes

Ahoy from Noo Yawk, where the streets have no name and apparently no Internet cafes either. Due to this unforeseen technical hitch (and the fact that I am sitting in the crappiest, most bizarre little cafe in Chinatown with a total hobo next to me who is kicking chairs around) there will be no picture posting until I get home, or maybe to London.

The culinary and shopping delights so far have been swoon-worthy. As I am paying by the minute here, I'll summarise in telegraph-ese bullets ...

• Moo Shoes. Two pairs of vegan J-41s purchased and fallen in love with. Like little squidgy bliss on your feet. One pair olive and pistacchio Aquarius, one pair black and grey maryjanes. Shop has five cats residing - and was tickled to see that the clothes on display were covered in their hair. Lots of great pamphlets and a Vegan Restaurant Guide to NYC which does not leave my side.

• Te Casan - Natalie Portman vegan range. The joy of holding high-quality, beautifully made vegan shoes in hand... I suspect that it's something like holding your firstborn in your arms ... kinda. Two gorgeous pairs purchased - one pair of 'snakeskin' flat shoes with toe holder and ankle wrap strap; one pair goldiegold going out heels. Made sure to extol virtues of high quality vegan shoes to shop lady to help ensure future buying. Pricey but definitely worth it.

• WholeFoods. Am obsessed and in love. Just so so many things labelled vegan, including curries at the buffet bar (US$7.99 per pound. Today I paid $22.65 inc tax for my lunch. You do the maths. It was 2.61 pounds. I just couldn't resist trying everything! Curries, salads, tofu galore, endamame, quinoa ... ). I also bought two types of soy cheese not available in Aus - disappointing but so exciting to see so many varieties. Going to try Tofurkey. Also fantastic range of makeup (including No Miss nailpolish and Zuzu Luxe) and blue chips! Woah Nellie! Pictures of levels 1 and 2 of my buffet food-mountain.

• Candle 79 - fine dining organic vegan. And boy, fine dining. Have left carefully copied out list of what we had at hotel, but suffice it to say that we both left stuffed and sugar rushing. Service and ambience just perfect. We had a friendly, informative and just plain ol' nice waiter, and no one commented that we turned up in Havaianas, shorts, t-shirts, and all tired and dirty from a long day pounding the streets of New York City and getting caught in a downpour. The food was exquisite and I was greatly satisfied that Buzz really enjoyed it too. I had to get on the bandwagon and explain to him (as he patiently listened yet again to me drone on about veganism) that when you know that food like this exists, to see the paltry offerings normally available, to constantly order chips'n'salad, to have people assume that you aren't interested in food, is supremely frustrating. I am vegan because I am interested in food, and I am interested in food because I am vegan.

So to sign out .. Noo Yawk rawks. It just needs more Internet Cafes (and signage for the subway.