Rachael is part of our team dedicated to answering emails, letters and phone calls from our customers.

At Christmas, I went with my boyfriend to “meet the parents” and as we were driving along the highway he pointed to his hometown’s Whole Foods Market and said, jokingly, “There’s Whole Foods, I bet you’d love to go there since you get to see it every day!” He was trying to be funny, but I confessed that I actually love to visit our stores in other towns because each and every one I’ve visited is different. With the varied selection of prepared foods, regional specialties in our grocery departments and locally grown produce, each of our stores truly caters to the local flavor of the community.

But the community feeling is not limited to the products we sell. I hear from customers every day about how our Team Members make them feel like part of the family. One customer I spoke with was so used to the Team Members in her store knowing her personally, she was heartbroken that one of our Team Members didn’t know her name! She explained that the store was her spiritual family. While sweetly off-kilter, that call reminded me that our stores truly do make an impact in people’s lives.
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In this episode of Fest-a-Nation you’ll join the parade on 6^th Avenue in midtown for one of Manhattan’s liveliest street fests. Along with about 1.5 million revelers, host Emma Green checks out the ritualistic cleansing of the street, capoeira, fresh sugarcane juice and other cultural icons of Brazil.

Hit the streets, tents and pavilions with Emma as she eats, drinks and dances her way through festivals that celebrate and preserve international cultures far from home.

The self-described “Martha Stewart meets MacGyver of all things food, wine and travel,” Emma Green asks the questions you would ask if you were there and gets the answers with her ever-present smile.

There are tons of great stories out there. Watch them on Thrive and let us know what you think.

Derek Vaughn proudly works at Johnston Farms in the San Joaquin Valley near Bakersfield, California. It’s a four-generation farming operation producing premium citrus while utilizing soil management techniques such as low tillage, cover crops and sterilized manure to replenish the soil.

In this episode of Hungry for More, follow host Kieron Elliot as he gets up in the trees picking Satsumas and on his knees begging to drive the forklift. Will he help get fruit fresh to market before he eats all the profits?

There are tons of great stories out there. Watch them on Thrive and let us know what you think.

Satsuma or Clementine? Taste test and get back to us!

Robert Sinskey didn’t attend wine school; he has a BFA from Parsons School of Design. A native Californian, six months helping his father with a fledgling wine business evolved into what is now Robert’s 200-acre organic and biodynamic vineyard, Robert Sinskey Vineyards.

In this episode of Hungry for More, host Kieron Elliot as tastes his way through Sinskey Vineyards and climbs into the process with both feet. Literally.

There are tons of great stories out there. Watch them on Thrive and let us know what you think.

Are organic and biodynamic vineyards important to you?

Did you know that more than 17 million kids in the US are at risk of hunger? That’s nearly 1 in 4.

We’re partnering with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry® Campaign to end childhood hunger in America. The No Kid Hungry Campaign supports local youth groups, schools, faith-based institutions, food banks and other community programs in providing meals to children in need.

Here are four easy ways you can help:

Donate Online & We’ll Match It

Go to our online holiday meal ordering site and select “SOS Donation” as one of your items. Make a donation and we’ll match it, up to a total of $25,000. (You can donate even if you don’t place a holiday meal order!)

Buy Organic Fuji Apples

For every pound of organic Fuji apples sold at our stores, a donation goes to the campaign. Together, Whole Foods Market, Rainier Fruit Company and Columbia Marketing International will donate two cents for each pound of organic Fuji apples sold from November 14 to December 25, up to a maximum of $30,000.

Order Gift Cards Online

For each Whole Foods Market gift card ordered online from November 16 to December 31, we’ll donate $1.

Use Special Coupons

Arrowhead Mills, Celestial Seasonings and Terra Chips will donate 40 cents per redeemed specially marked coupons featured in The Whole Deal value guide.

Watch this video to see how your donation to Share Our Strength’s No Child Hungry campaign can help the children in your community:

No Kid Hungry creates partnerships with anti-hunger groups, government agencies, corporate partners and political, education and business leaders at the state and city level to break down barriers to accessing healthy food. Learn more details about our partnership with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign and find out how Share Our Strength is making a difference in your area.

Now in its third generation, family-owned and -operated Jaindl Turkey Farms was established in the early 1930s. Today, David Jaindl is proudly at the helm of this integrated farm where the main feed ingredients are grown next to the facilities for turkey breeding, hatching, growing and processing.

In episode 3 of Hungry for More, host Kieron Elliot visits Jaindl Turkey Farms and puts in a good day’s work bantering with organic turkeys and eating their food. Now if he could just keep a straight line, driving the combine in the feed field could be his true calling.

There are tons of great stories out there. Watch them on Thrive and let us know what you think.

Would you eat turkey feed? Or would you prefer chicken feed?

Since 1915, New Bedford, Massachusetts, has celebrated the rich culture of its Portuguese community. In this episode of Fest-A-Nation, tag along with host Emma Green as she eats her way from bacalhau to beef, sipping Madeira and learning folkloric dance.

Hit the streets, tents and pavilions with Emma as she eats, drinks and dances her way through festivals that celebrate and preserve international cultures far from home.

The self-described “Martha Stewart meets MacGyver of all things food, wine and travel,” Emma Green asks the questions you would ask if you were there and gets the answers with her ever-present smile.

There are tons of great stories out there. Watch them on Thrive and let us know what you think.

Hot off the presses, our Whole Planet Foundation calendar is on sale now at Whole Foods Market stores throughout the US and Canada! At just $3 each, these calendars are perfect for home, office, stocking stuffers, gifts and more. Thanks to funding from our vendor partners, 100% of calendar sales goes to provide microlending support to our global communities. In addition to feeling good about helping, you’ll also receive more than $16 (Canada) and more than $20 (US) in coupons from the Whole Foods Market’s supplier community! You’ll save on your favorite items from companies like Nature’s Path, Earth’s Best, Amy’s Kitchen and Seventh Generation.  Visit our calendar page to see the full list of coupons.

This is our fifth year to create a calendar, and each year gets better. More value for you through coupons and more funds raised to help our microcredit clients. Last year, shoppers purchased more than $70,000 in calendars, which funded 312 microloans that empowered nearly 2,000 poor women and their family members to create or expand a home-based business and create prosperity. Each year these loans are repaid and re-loaned again and again, and with your help this year, Whole Planet Foundation can empower 2,000 more women with an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty through entrepreneurship.

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Since 1986, Gaia Herbs has been committed to growing certified organic herbs.  Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, the Gaia Herb Farm is one of the largest medicinal herb farms in the United States, with some 50 crops growing on 250 acres of certified organic river bottom soil.

Get your appetite ready because if you’re lucky enough to live in or be visiting Northern California, you’ve got to check out the Eat Real Festival coming to Oakland’s Jack London Square September 23rd through the 25th. This amazing event is totally free to attend and no street food or beverage is over $5. The Bay Area’s finest street food vendors will be cooking up some of the best dishes you’ve ever had: tacos with fascinating ingredients from all over the world, BBQ, flatbread, noodles, curry, falafel, ice cream and more!

Eat it!

Make sure you look for the local vendors we feature in our Northern California stores like Liba Falafel, El Porteno Empanadas, and Scream Sorbet. It’s a great way to meet your favorite chefs face to face and tell them how much you love their food.

We’ll have a special area where you can put your feet up and relax with some tasty treats from our own Taco Truck featuring Creminelli Meat Whip, Grilled Figs with Goat Cheese, Hodo Soy Kung Pao Yuba Salad and Jalapeno Battered Fork in the Road Corn Dog Bites.

You can take a bit of Eat Real home with you, too! The Craft Marketplace will have handmade honeys, jams, pickles, and other deliciousness for sale. There’ll be a complimentary bag check, so you can buy your treats, go enjoy the fest, and then pick up your goods before heading home.

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