Good food brings family and friends together — especially at Thanksgiving. Are you thinking about how to share your table this year while not blowing your budget? In this podcast we talk to nutritionist and natural foods chef Alana Sugar to get ideas for feasting well without breaking the bank (‘cause those banks don’t need any help breaking about now!).
Don’t forget to check out our huge collection of holiday recipes. Whether you are planning a traditional feast or want to venture outside the norm this Thanksgiving, we’ve got you covered. What dish do you absolutely have to have for it to be a perfect Thanksgiving? Let us know!
Steve Taron is a Wine Specialist in our Glendale, California store.
It’s time for the Holiday Edition of our Top Ten Wines! In case you’re not familiar with the Whole Foods Market Top Ten wine event, a few times a year our national wine buyers select their favorite wines for exceptionally good values. Stylistically, the wines tend to be a fairly eclectic bunch, ranging from rustic to more refined. And, as is usually the case, there are more then 10 of them (12 this time ‘round). Why be limited by a number when you have a lot of good wines to choose from? Here is a short review of three of the Top Ten Holiday Wines that I believe deserve a little personal attention.
When the weather starts to cool off, my body and soul begin to crave root vegetables in almost every meal in as many different combinations imaginable.
These bulky, clunky, sturdy vegetables have a history of being supporting vegetables buried deep in a stew or a soup. We all know how to cook and eat carrots, but there are so many other great roots that we don’t all know what the heck to do with. Lots of roots can be found in your local Whole Foods Market from some of your favorite growers. I like to buy all different sizes of these classic autumn treats to test my skills in the kitchen and on the dining room table. In my kitchen at home I have been working to isolate the flavors of these tasty roots and build them into as many meals as possible. The Radish family is always a staple in our house; we eat them the European way with butter and salt spread on a raw radish — a great snack any time of year. Black Spanish Radishes and Watermelon Radishes are great to wow your friends with beautiful variety and unusual spicy savory flavors not found in traditional red round radishes.
My name is Ha Lam and I am the National Projects Photographer for Whole Foods Market. Over the last two years, I’ve had the opportunity — and privilege — to meet several recipients of Whole Planet Foundation micro-loans. Those trips, which spanned South and Central America, have been nothing short of amazing. Though our time was short with each borrower, I felt a connection with each woman. At times I wondered: How much can you really learn about people after being in their homes for just a few hours? The relics of our lives, the ones we live with every day, the ones we quit paying attention to years ago — those are the things that often say the most about us.
For Halloween this year I headed to Costa Rica with a couple of friends to Finca Luna Nueva! It’s a unique ecotourism destination and rain forest lodge in Costa Rica dedicated to sustainable living in a tropical rain forest environment. This working certified organic biodynamic herbal farm and estate — located adjacent to the 50,000 acre “Children’s Eternal Rainforest” conservation area — farms organic ginger, turmeric, and other tropical fruits and vegetables.
Since it was Halloween, we thought it only fitting to make some organic crystallized ginger candy! Granted, picking the ginger, cleaning it, cutting it, boiling it, and then crystallizing it yourself in the rain forest of Costa Rica, on Halloween, is quite the story to tell, but you can make this incredibly special treat yourselves at home!
Want to learn the secret to roasting a succulent, show-stopping turkey? Tune in to this week’s Secret Ingredient as our host Charlotte shares her tips for making a honey and rosemary brine, roasting a turkey to golden perfection and whipping up an easy Riesling and herb gravy. Plus, you’ll discover why choosing the right turkey—free-range or organic—makes a big difference in flavor, texture and juiciness and is the secret ingredient for a successful Thanksgiving feast.
The Farm at Red Hill is a small family-run farm located just eight miles from Charlottesville in North Garden, Virginia. Richard and Wendy Harrison, along with their two children, farm the dirt in season and utilize greenhouses in the colder months to ensure fresh produce is available year-round. In addition to fresh produce, the Harrisons offer a line of fresh salsas, hummus, pestos, dips, and habanero jams.
Note: Our Farm to Market slide shows currently feature farmers and producers from our South and MidAtlantic Regions. We hope to expand to others in the future.
Food and its obvious necessity to sustaining life has been a particularly hot issue this year with increased concerns about rising costs, safety and quality. This week, we’d like to share with you two interesting projects that unveil aspects of the current state of food in the United States. Let us know what you think!
Check out the trailer for this new documentary by Chris Taylor about food culture in the United States. The film features interviews with culinary heavy hitters such as Wolfgang Puck and Alice Waters, as well as nutrition expert, Marion Nestle and acclaimed author, Michael Pollan.
Food Fight is a fascinating look at how American agricultural policy and food culture developed in the 20th century, and how the California food movement has created a counterrevolution against big agribusiness.
Today we start our 30 day challenge of a one dollar diet. This means that for the month of September we will each have one dollar to spend on our daily allotment of food.
When we first started talking about doing this, we didn’t really have an agenda, or any developed sense of why we wanted to do it. It just seemed like an interesting challenge; one that would force us to see things differently.
We are interested in many of the strands related to this experiment; food choices, consumerism, waste, poverty, social psychology, etc., and this experience may provide insights that could help us better understand and teach about a variety of concerns (we both teach Social Justice in a public high school).
This post comes to us from Olowo-n’djo Tchala, Founder of Alaffia Sustainable Skin Care. Olowo-n’djo grew up in poverty in Togo, Africa, and has dedicated his life to empowering communities in Africa. Here, Olowo-n’djo writes about his most recent trip to Togo.
I would like to begin by thanking all of you that have either directly or indirectly supported us and made our projects possible. It is clear that without your support, our commitment to bettering lives in Togo would not be possible. My main intentions for this post are to thank all of you for your support and to take the opportunity to tell you about my most recent trip to Togo and Ghana.
Son of Alaffia cooperative member dances as part of ceremony honoring the cooperative and its efforts in central Togo communities.
One of the great pleasures in life is enjoying a memorable meal with your loved ones. Restaurants eliminate the work that goes into preparing a great meal – but at a price. Preparing special meals at home can sometimes take more effort than you have time for. How do you find the balance? This week’s Whole Deal™ customer tips focus on getting that great dining experience in the comfort of your own home without all the work of preparing everything from scratch or spending a week’s grocery budget on one meal dining out.
From Channon:
My favorite savings tip is to let Whole Foods cater a Saturday date-night for me and my husband. Rather than going out to a restaurant and having a sitter (which costs!), we can wait until our children go to sleep and have a late super filled with a variety of exotic foods (which are even more reasonably priced and result in less waste since we decide the portions) from the “prepared foods” department; we pair that with great cheeses, fresh bread, and a glass of the 365 label wine and taste the foods of the world – prepared with wholesome ingredients -from the comfort of our home without breaking the bank (or evening using our car).
From Katrina:
We have saved money by shopping the ready to grill section and prepared food section at Whole Foods instead of eating out. My husband and I both realize how we have no control with what goes into the food we eat at restaurants and it can get expensive eating out. So when we have the urge to eat out, we buy amazing already cooked dishes or ready to grill kabobs and burgers and enjoy a meal that is much less than if we went out to eat and virtually little to no effort.
From Sara:
My husband and I enjoy fresh, healthy foods and are always experimenting in the kitchen.
Here are some of my favorite budget tips:
1) A fancy dinner at a pricey steakhouse can cost over $100 for a couple. I recently made filet mignon (fresh from Whole Foods!) with a side of roasted red potatoes and salad for under $15. Certainly, this isn’t everyday cooking, but you’d be hard pressed to eat anywhere for two for under $15.
2) If you have a pricey meal one night , enjoy a less expensive meal the next. Tofu is a steal at $1.50 for the Whole Foods 365 Brand. Pair it with a ready made sauce (e.g. Seeds of Change), jasmine rice, and naan – yum!
3) Eat real food. Why pay $4+ for a 12-pack of diet soda when you could enjoy a 1/2 lb. of fresh salmon, a loaf of whole grain, organic bread, or a few cups of raspberries for the same price?
Welcome to Whole Story, the official blog of Whole Foods Market.
Don’t know us? In a nutshell, we are the world's leading natural and organic grocer and we’re passionate about healthy food and a healthy planet. Learn more about us.
We’re lucky to have a whole bunch of smart, passionate people doing incredible things in areas like organics, supporting local growers, green practices, fair trade, micro-lending and all kinds of food related stuff. We’ll use this blog to share some of the cool things going on around here.
Of course, what makes this blog really exciting is YOU — so join the conversation!
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