Maybe I’m just in a mood, but I feel awful right now. I'm not entirely sure why, seeing as how I’d been looking forward to this evening for several weeks. Lori’s Natural Foods, a health food store in Rochester, NY, hosted a Gluten-Free tasting event from 6 to 8 pm, and I happily drove the 30 minutes to get there tonight. Free samples, gluten-free food tastings, brand reps, raffle prizes—the works. It seemed like a great opportunity to meet people and find new foods to enjoy. How could I not be excited?
But I went to this thing today with such high hopes, and I somehow left feeling drained, disappointed, achy, and nauseous.
Was it the swarms of people crammed into such a small space, elbowing into each other in the tiny aisles? Was it the incredibly loud and overzealous raffle announcer screaming into the loudspeaker every 15 minutes with a winning ticket number that wasn’t mine? (Story of my life: I never win anything…) Was it the fact that over half of the products being featured were packaged, milk-containing cookies and other sweet treats? Or was it my mistake of eating all those tiny portions of everything from chocolate vanilla bean cupcakes to coconut milk cookie dough ice cream to macaroni salad and ginger snaps one after the other after the other, so that my belly (and my brain) grew dizzy from the spin of it all?
Yes, there were baked goods. And yes, there were crackers and nut butters. There were juice companies and protein shakes. They even threw some supplements and digestive tablets into the mix. Yippee. Oh yeah, and I got a free chair massage. That was nice.
But something was amiss. The open dialogue I was so hoping to have with the folks at the product stands, perhaps? Or more likely, the overall sense of health and well-being that I so eagerly anticipated encountering?
Because instead of fresh, whole foods, most of what was on those tables was packaged, and ridiculously overpriced. Looking around, instead of feeling inspired and eager to try all these new foods around me, I felt overwhelmed, and disheartened at the realization of how unbelievably unrealistic the pre-made, pre-packaged gluten-free lifestyle truly is for the average American.
Take me, for instance: I’m a single woman in my late twenties, working as a waitress and a freelance copyeditor while I go back to school to earn my master’s degree. I cringe every time I’m at the grocery store checkout when I see how much my small handful of purchases is going to cost me. And I often find myself wondering if the clerk thinks I’m crazy for spending such gross amounts of money on such a measly selection of goods.
I can’t even imagine how one would shop for an entire family.
All in all, I suppose it’s a semi-good thing that these products are so unaffordable. Because the more I study foods and learn about various ingredients and how they affect my body, the more inclined I am to cook my own meals at home and stay away from packaged products and pre-made meals. And whole foods are most certainly better for anyone's body than the stuff that comes in boxes.
But I’m an American girl. And I've always liked that quick, convenient, easy access aspect of living in this country. I love prettily packaged, satisfyingly delicious grab-and-go products and the conscientious companies who make the food-allergy friendly ones. Hence the Pamela's cookies and the Whole Soy & Co yogurt and the Daiya cheese. They're simple, and they make me smile. And that is, after all, the American way: all the foods you could ever possibly want—right at your fingertips, all for a low price…
Unless you need to eat gluten- (and dairy) free, in which case the price shoots through the roof.
Unless you need to eat gluten- (and dairy) free, in which case the price shoots through the roof.
Sigh. In spite of my disillusionment, I did sample some truly tasty treats—most notably the Lori’s chocolate vanilla bean cupcakes, baked and sold right in the store, the freshly baked bite size pieces of Namaste spice cake, made straight from their baking mix, and some raw flaxseed crackers, of which I am totally forgetting the name.
These three items were so flavorful and satisfying—they helped the whole thing seem worthwhile.
These three items were so flavorful and satisfying—they helped the whole thing seem worthwhile.
Anyway, if I hadn’t gone, I would’ve wondered what I was missing. So I’m glad I was there. But why oh why can’t the food-sensitive world be more reasonably priced? I know agribusiness runs the show when it comes to cost, and so I understand that quality ingredients cost more. But isn’t there a way around it?
Because even cooking at home gets expensive when you care about where the veggies come from.
Sorry to be such a downer.
On a sweeter (and entirely unrelated) note, my mom just got herself a new puppy yesterday! She's been wanting one for a while now, and when she randomly came across an ad in the newspaper for a cavalier king charles spaniel that a woman was practically giving away, she had to jump on it. If you know anything about the breed, this was an extremely rare find, so she drove an hour and a half and picked the little guy up. He’s adorable, and very snuggly.
On a sweeter (and entirely unrelated) note, my mom just got herself a new puppy yesterday! She's been wanting one for a while now, and when she randomly came across an ad in the newspaper for a cavalier king charles spaniel that a woman was practically giving away, she had to jump on it. If you know anything about the breed, this was an extremely rare find, so she drove an hour and a half and picked the little guy up. He’s adorable, and very snuggly.
I may just have to steal him.
