During Whole Trade February, we hope you’ve learned a lot about the difference that Whole Trade makes. In case you are just tuning in, The Whole Trade Guarantee is our commitment to quality, the environment and ethical trade with partners in developing countries. To wrap up the month, we wanted to revisit bananas – our first Whole Trade product and a great example of the very real, positive impact we can have on farm workers, communities and the environment while providing a quality product to our customers.

Bananas were the first product to carry the Whole Trade Guarantee. Over the past several years, we’ve built relationships with some of the world’s best and most socially and environmentally innovative banana growers. Bananas from these farms are now stickered with the Whole Trade seal and are available in our stores nationwide almost every day. Considering the social and environmental problems that have resulted from large scale banana production in many Latin American countries, we are proud to offer this excellent fruit from growers that are truly part of the solution. Read the rest of this entry »

Our month-long celebration of all things Parmigiano Reggiano ends in a very big way and you’re invited! This Saturday, February 27^th, at exactly 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) cheesemongers in our stores across the U.S., Canada and the U.K. will simultaneously crack into wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano.

You could say we’re trying to outdo ourselves. In 2008, with nearly 300 wheels opened at 176 Whole Foods Market stores, we set a Guinness World Record for “Most Parmigiano Reggiano Wheels Cracked Simultaneously.” Stop by your local Whole Foods Market on Saturday to witness our attempt to break that record.

There is a real art to cracking into an 85-pound wheel of the “king of cheese.” It requires an expert hand and usually takes about half an hour using the official 5-piece knife set from Italy’s Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano. This traditional cracking method perfectly reveals Parmigiano Reggiano’s delectably crunchy crystalline internal structure. In this video, Cathy Strange, our Global Cheese Buyer explains the process as Team Member Forrest Allen demonstrates.

Our stores are buzzing with anticipation for the big event. There will be Parmigiano Reggiano samples, recipe demonstrations, food pairings and wine and beer tastings (where allowed). Many of our stores will feature in-store “crack offs” with their cheesemongers competing against each other on cracking time and ability. Be sure to check your local store calendar to find out what time the celebration begins.

As a special salute to this amazing cheese, the Specialty Team in our West Vancouver, British Columbia store carved an amazing replica of the Roman Coliseum out of a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano. If you’re in the area, check it out.

We also have a feeling you’ll be seeing a lot of Team Members in our Specialty Departments sporting mustaches à la Paolo Borghi, one of our Italian Parmigiano Reggiano producers.

Whether you make the cracking event or not, visit our Behind the Rind page for more information about this wonderful cheese, along with recipes, pairing suggestions and much more. Let’s get cracking!

…With these recipes inspired by Whole Planet Foundation microcredit clients.

Whole Planet Foundation empowers entrepreneurs in our global communities through microcredit, and this month marks the beginning of Whole Planet Foundation’s Annual Prosperity Campaign. Now through March 31st, please join fellow Whole Foods Market shoppers, team members, Supplier Alliance for Microcredit partners and online donors to help raise $1.5 million for 40,000 impoverished people living in communities around the globe where Whole Foods Market sources products. These people, places and products have inspired us to create recipes honoring them.

To get in the spirit, check out these recipes inspired by Whole Planet Foundation microcredit clients from around the world:

Vegetable Biryani with Cashews

This satisfying vegetarian recipe was inspired by microcredit clients in India, where Whole Foods Market sources cashews.

Read the rest of this entry »

Is it just me, or is it starting to feel like winter is really trying to stick around this year? I know the conversation around my dinner table seems to constantly have the phrase “I’m so tired of being cold” thrown in at some point…but being a Native Texan, I think I’m just spoiled. Luckily, my job allows for the occasional side-trip into another season altogether. Regardless of what Mother Nature is brewing up, I’m typically living about six weeks to ten weeks in the future. So while it’s looking pretty miserable outside my office window right now, I’ve got a true campaigner for spring on my mind…tulips! Read the rest of this entry »

What a thrill to see that so many of you share our passion for perfectly aged Parmigiano Reggiano!  You can bet that it was not an easy task to narrow down the six finalists from the more than 1,000 mouth-watering recipes entered in our contest.

We hope you’ll agree that our top picks showcase the versatility of Parmigiano Reggiano and how creative you can be with this amazing cheese. Without further ado…congratulations to our winners:

Grand Prize:  Parmigiano Reggiano Crisps with Chocolate and Sea Salt

B. Estabrook of Rhinelander, WI

Grated Parmigiano Reggiano and chopped almonds are combined and baked to make round crisps, then dipped in melted chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt for an incredible sweet-savory combo made from just five ingredients. This innovative recipe can be served as an appetizer or dessert with a glass of red wine or maybe even prosecco. Either way, your guests will be impressed! And we bet you can’t eat just one.

First Place: Savory Parmigiano Reggiano Loaf with Pancetta, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Basil

J. Baron of Livonia, NY.

Second Place: Parmigiano Reggiano Ramekin Cheese Puffs

C. Kumpe of El Dorado, CA.

Third Place: Savory Cannoli con Parmigiano Reggiano

M. Anderson of Eagle, ID.

Fourth Place: Parmigiano Reggiano Blondies

T. Traynor of Winston-Salem, NC.

Fifth Place: Parmigiano Reggiano Grits with Corn and Vidalia Onion

K. Keegan of Memphis, TN.

Scroll through the other 1,000+ recipes and you’ll be amazed at all of the wonderful ways to eat Parmigiano Reggiano.

Many thanks go to our panel of judges for taking time out of their busy schedules to sample the top Parmigiano Reggiano dishes and make the tough decisions. Some people have all the luck!

Company-wide Wheel Cracking Event–February 27th, 3 p.m. EST

You can be just as lucky. On February 27th we’ll cap off our month-long celebration of the “King of Cheese” with a company-wide Parmigiano Reggiano wheel cracking event. At exactly 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) cheesemongers in all of our stores will crack open wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano at the same time . We’re hoping to outdo our 2008 record of 300 Parmigiano Reggiano wheels opened simultaneously. Be there to witness the event and try Parmigiano Reggiano samples, recipe demonstrations, food pairings, wine tastings (where allowed) and more.

In the meantime, go Behind the Rind and get to know more about the magnificent Parmigiano Reggiano with videos, recipes, cheese plate ideas and more.

Rice is rice, right? (Hmmm…say that three times fast!) Well, maybe not – at least not when it comes to wild rice. Contrary to the name, wild rice is not a member of the rice family at all. It belongs to a group of grasses that are native to North America. But, like rice, it grows in water; specifically, the shallow waters and gentle streams of fresh-water lakes found mainly around the Great Lakes. Much of the wild rice available these days is actually cultivated rather than harvested from growing wild. Read the rest of this entry »

The local producers we work with sometimes get national recognition! We wanted to share with you the press that a few of our Local Producer Loan recipients have received lately.

Revolution Foods Featured in the New York Times

Revolution Foods founders Kristin Richmond and Kirsten Tobey have set the bar for healthy school lunches really high – and this article in the New York Times explains how and why. We are proud to have provided them with Local Producer Loan Program funds to help their expansion! The Revolution Foods products you buy in our stores help support this valuable work. (Now available in 160 of our stores.)

Progress Coffee: One of America’s Ten Best Boutique Coffee Shops!

Congratulations to Local Producer Loan recipient Progress Coffee! In its January issue, Bon Appétit magazine named them one of the ten best boutique coffee shops in the U.S. Here’s what the magazine had to say:

Favorite coffee shops don’t just serve terrific joe; they also act as a modern-day meeting place. This Eastside spot with Owl Tree coffee and fresh biscuits is the best hangout in town.

Check out the rest of the piece here, as well as a great video on Progress Coffee. And if you live in Austin, go visit the shop itself or pick up some of their coffee at our Austin or San Antonio stores!

Edible Radio Interviews Will Harris of White Oak Pastures

We love being able to offer Will Harris’s grass-fed beef to our customers in our South Region stores. And we also love listening to him talk about his family’s fifth-generation Georgia ranch, White Oak Pastures! Edible Radio just did an interview with him about the history of the ranch, his transition from industrial beef to artisanal grass-fed beef, and the state of sustainable agriculture. He also talks about his on-farm processing plant, financed in part by Whole Foods Market’s Local Producer Loan Program. Will is knowledgeable and engaging; if you eat White Oak Pastures beef and want to know more about where your food comes from, you should definitely check out the interview here. We’ve featured Will in our own slide show interview too.

It’s great to work with such special local producers and it’s great to see others noticing them too.

If there is one thing I love about winter, it’s snow, and this year there has been no shortage of the white stuff in the northeast. But it might surprise you to know one of the reasons why I love snow. It’s not because I’m a skier, or a champion snowman builder, or an ice fisherman. Nope, it’s because I like to bag groceries, and there is no more interesting time to do some bagging than right before a snow storm.

Think about it: when the possibility of being stuck in your house arises, how do you prepare? You run to the grocery store and fill up a few bags with your snow day essentials! Here at Whole Foods Market, we prepare for a snow storm by making sure we have everything you need, and by calling in extra help to get everyone in and out as quickly as possible! This winter we’ve had a few storms, which always makes for exciting and busy days. Here’s an example of the types of bags I see on the days before a big snow fall:

The Baby Bag: tons of baby food, milk and diapers, diapers, diapers!

The Single Guy Bag: toilet paper, frozen pizza and chocolate chip cookies.

The Family Bag: Water, macaroni and cheese, cans of soup, multi-vitamins, chocolate milk, cupcakes and stew meat.

The Unexplainable Bag: 20 heads of broccoli.

Personally, my own bag contains ice cream, pasta sauce, parmesan cheese, a loaf of bread and wine (where available). Read the rest of this entry »

Together, we really can change the world. Actually, It’s already happening and with your donation during Whole Planet Foundation’s Annual Prosperity Campaign, we can do even more.

Now through March 31st, please join fellow Whole Foods Market shoppers, team members, Supplier Alliance for Microcredit partners and online donors to help raise $1.5 million for 40,000 impoverished people living in communities around the globe where Whole Foods Market sources products. We run this campaign each year to give back globally and empower the very poor with microcredit loans to create or expand home-based businesses such as weaving, raising chickens and small-scale agriculture, providing an opportunity to lift themselves and their family out of poverty. Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE 02/18/10: The comment period has been extended until March 3, 2010  You still have time to have your voice and opinions heard!  The easiest way to send your comments to the USDA is on the True Food Project’s Take Action website.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture is currently considering whether or not to approve the use of genetically engineered (GE) Roundup-Ready alfalfa. Their report says you don’t care about GMOs in organics. Comments are due to them by February 16th, so read on to hear how you can help. (Or go directly to the True Food Project’s Take Action website.)

As part of the approval process, they are required to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), a detailed analysis of how the crop will affect the environment, organic and conventional farmers, farm animals, and the public. They’ve released their EIS on GE alfalfa, and here’s how the True Food Network at The Center for Food Safety summarized the issue in a recent Action Alert:

In 2006, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) sued the Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its illegal approval of Monsanto’s genetically engineered (GE) Roundup Ready alfalfa. The federal courts sided with CFS and banned GE alfalfa until the USDA fully analyzed the impacts of the plant on the environment, farmers, and the public in a rigorous analysis known as an environmental impact statement (or EIS). USDA released its draft EIS on December 14, 2009. A 60-day comment period is now open until February 16, 2010. This is the first time the USDA has done this type of analysis for any GE crop. Therefore, the final decision will have broad implications for all GE crops.

That Environmental Impact Statement, unfortunately, contains a number of questionable statements and conclusions. The part of the EIS that worries us the most is the claim that buyers of organic foods don’t care if those products are contaminated with GMOs (genetically modified, or genetically engineered, organisms). We know that nothing could be further from the truth, and that a huge number of our shoppers care deeply about avoiding GMOs in the foods they buy. Read the rest of this entry »