Meet Hosea Rosenberg, Top Chef Season Five Winner, and find out why buying and eating local is important to him. And to us!

Our history and reputation are intimately linked to our support of local farmers. Our search for produce begins right outside our front door in every community where we do business. We are committed to buying from local producers whose fruits and vegetables meet our high quality standards, particularly those who farm organically and are themselves dedicated to environmentally friendly, sustainable agriculture.

And our Local Producer Loan Program (LPLP) provides up to $10 million in low-interest loans to small, local producers. Why? Because we believe in supporting local farmers and producers. We want to make it easier for them to grow their businesses and bring more local products to market. That’s good for us and it’s good for you.

Local means miles closer, miles fresher, miles more delicious.

What are some of your favorite local products in our stores this summer?

Hot weather brings cooling herbs and the “coolest” by far is fresh mint. If you planted some in your garden this year, it’s probably going crazy growing about now! We all know the pleasing flavor of mint – it’s in everything from toothpaste to gum and, of course, “mints.” That initial peppery bite of mint is followed by a deep coolness – perfect for the hot months of summer. As an added bonus, mint promotes healthy digestion – making it a perfect addition to your favorite dishes.

According to garden experts, there are over 15 varieties of the mint plant. Red mints of the peppermint variety are stronger in flavor and aroma than spearmint and other varieties of green mints, but they all share that common cooling taste. It’s really a personal preference as to which you choose to use. Check our produce departments or your local farmers’ market if you don’t have a personal supply of fresh mint.

Fresh herbs generally taste best when used raw or in recipes that are cooked for a short period of time. If your dish needs to cook a while, just add some fresh mint at the end and cook for a minute or two more. Read the rest of this entry »

In this segment of Cheese Travels, I traveled to Waterloo, Wisconsin to visit Crave Brothers, an amazing cheese producer that makes fresh mozzarella, mascarpone and other fresh cheese for our stores.  This extraordinary company is run by four brothers who run a self-sustaining operation where they raise their own animals and over 80% of the feed right on the farm.

On this leg of his trip through South America, Steve explores Paraguay and opportunities for building a microcredit program in the country where Whole Foods Market sources its organic sugar cane.  Steve experiences the hospitality of folks who remember Phillip Sansone, Executive Director of the Whole Planet Foundation, from his days as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay over 30 years ago.

After his recent graduation from the University of Texas at Austin, Reid Schwartz is busy learning the ropes on the Whole Foods Market Global Public Relations Team. When not investigating natural first aid, Reid enjoys experimenting in the kitchen and finding new and exciting things to do in Austin.

As an enthusiast for all things natural, I feel really lucky that some of the projects I get to work on include speaking with some of our incredibly well-educated team members to learn about different products that are timely and relevant to the season. With summer upon us (especially here in Texas…hello 104 degrees!), families across the U.S. are enjoying water parks, backyard barbecues, and other summertime activities like hiking and camping. But planning for the hottest season of the year also means those inevitable summer mishaps! The experts around here gave me a lesson in natural first aid and here’s what I learned.

Any parent or outdoor lover knows that even a mild case of sunburn or a swollen bug bite can put a serious damper on an otherwise thrilling summer adventure. Being prepared with a well-stocked first aid kit that addresses all types of summertime injuries is the best way to avoid discomfort and sooth the summer ouches.

When putting together a first-aid kit (I packed mine in a lunch-sized Better Bag), keep in mind the obvious summer pain concerns: sunburn, insect bites, minor skin injuries, bumps and bruises. Make a quick trip to our stores and you’ll find the right combination of remedies to prevent and minimize any setbacks to your summer fun. Read the rest of this entry »

Natural foods chef Juan Pablo Chavez works as a demo coordinator in our Union Square store.

After years of cheering from the sidelines, I grabbed my partner and a Carmen Miranda headdress and finally got a chance to make my debut in NYC’s Gay Pride Parade thanks to Whole Foods Market. For the first time, we fielded a merry band of team members from all the Northeast Regional stores to march down famed 5th Avenue. We represented a variety of teams-from Prepared Foods to Whole Body, from Bakery to Marketing-and all wore specially designed rainbow colored t-shirts for the 4-mile march on June 28.

Our marching team joined the 500,000 other participants and nearly 1 million spectators in the march that is now New York City’s largest. The 40th Annual NYC Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Pride March (www.nycpride.org) commemorated the beginning of the LGBT civil rights movement that started as a protest at a Greenwich Village bar named Stonewall in 1969. Read the rest of this entry »

Pacific Northwest native Mark Curran, our Facility Team Leader for Select Fish in Seattle, has been in the seafood business for 25 years, getting his start at the Pike Place Market in 1984.

Greetings from the great Pacific Northwest, home of magnificent wild salmon, which is now in season! In the midst of getting our best wild salmon values front and center in our seafood cases, I thought it would be a good time to bring you up to date about our unique involvement in getting wild salmon to your dinner plate.

In 2003, Whole Foods Market made a commitment to sourcing the best wild salmon by purchasing a seafood processing company in Seattle, Washington called Select Fish. For years, this small seafood company has excelled in selling the highest quality salmon found throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to warm weather all over the U.S., domestic production is reaching peak output. This time of year is perfect for picnics and other outdoor events, and few items pair better with sunshine and outdoor eating than melons.

The melon industry has changed a bunch over the years. When I was a kid, watermelons were 25-pound monsters and my sisters and I spent many a hot summer afternoon seeing who could spit the large black seeds the furthest. Most watermelons sold today are seedless and much smaller varieties, bred to be “refrigerator sized” and easier to harvest and transport. On the whole the recent changes in watermelon and other variety production and post harvest handling have been positive – particularly in the last few years as a re-emphasis on flavor has brought back some great heirloom varieties or has greatly influenced the selection of new ones. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t let sprains, strains and pain get in the way of your summer fun! Discover homeopathic, herbal and lifestyle recommendations for supporting the muscles, joints and whole body before during and after your activities. Dr. Tiffany Binder is a Naturopathic Physician, a general health care practitioner and a leading expert in nutrition and supplements.

For a summary of this and our other summer podcasts, click here!

Podcast: Download

Summer’s outdoor activities often mean I return home exhausted and hungry in the way that one’s brain doesn’t function well enough to put a complete meal together from scratch. This is when I grant myself full permission to take urban shortcuts vs. the scenic route, so to speak, in the kitchen.

For me, taking a shortcut doesn’t mean splurging on a completely prepared dinner, frozen or otherwise. It means buy some, make some, starting with an affordable, yet convenient packaged or prepared food. Then I add to it so it goes further and hopefully becomes a more nutritious rounded meal in the process. I usually have these basic starters on hand so I don’t fall for ordering a pizza for delivery.

Frozen Cheese Pizza

Transformation ideas: canned artichoke hearts, olives, tuna & hardboiled egg (I discovered this on menus in Malta), pineapple & ham, small cubes of packaged baked tofu, anchovies, bell pepper or mushroom slices, leftover chicken tossed in BBQ sauce, browned ground meat, slices of pre-cooked sausage. Or my favorite is to brown crumbled tempeh with garlic, sage and fennel seed to make a veggie Italian sausage topping. Read the rest of this entry »