Posted by Leah Greenstein, September 7, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Photograph from Freshandeasy.com
Everywhere you look in the greater L.A. area these days, it seems likes there's a lime and olive-green sign telling you that there's a Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market coming soon. The new market chain, owned by British giant Tesco, is like the love child of Trader Joe's and Whole Foods that looks like a culinary Ikea. It's smaller than your average megamart, with wide, dimly lighted aisles stocked with house brand goods in simply designed, often recycled packaging: Organic Maple syrup and Organic Fair Trade coffee, snack foods free of trans fats, artificial colors or flavors and even preservatives, whenever possible. Their eggs are cage free and the meat is raised in the U.S. without the use of hormones or antibiotics. And the stores are LEED Volume Green Building certified, in addition to a number of other environmentally conscientious initiatives.
So who is this new kid on every block? In an era where people are realizing the far-reaching implications of their food choices, how different is Fresh & Easy from Ralphs (owned by Krogers) or Vons (owned by Safeway) or everyone's beloved Trader Joe's?
The answer, on the surface, is: not so much. Fresh & Easy is a small supermarket owned by a multi-national, corporate behemoth. They aim to provide consumers a store that's easy to get to that fills all of the consumers' food shopping needs. They advertise high quality and low prices and provide lots of prepared foods for busy people.
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Posted by Wan Yan Ling, August 4, 2008 at 3:00 PM
I am a bad daughter. My dad, an aircraft engineer who keeps planes in the air for a living, forwards every piece of email he receives that carries “useful” information: “What to do if you’re being followed down a dark alley; Beware of poisonous spiders lurking in restrooms; Don’t eat red and blue foods together lest your bowels explode.” Being ungrateful, I tend to mock the information, convinced that if an email claims that drinking tomato juice while skipping will prevent disease, Dad will stockpile tomato juice while skipping ropes in earnest.
So when I read Dad’s latest email, entitled: “Starfruit can be deadly,” I was ready to dismiss it. How could such a pretty little thing cause harm? It doesn’t even have thorns! But Dad’s sources were on the money this time.
The Health Risks
Turns out that starfruit’s high levels of oxalic acid—the same substance that gives it its delectably tart flavor—can aggravate a kidney patient’s already weak organ, leading to hiccups, insomnia, confusion, convulsions, and even death.
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Posted by Wan Yan Ling, July 22, 2008 at 1:45 PM
I don’t know about you guys, but the most exciting part about traveling for me is discovering new things that smack you in the face with a great, big, “Hello, I exist! And I am delicious!”
Last week, I poked through Hong Kong’s street markets, asking vendors nosy questions and snapping surreptitious shots of seafood still splashing in tubs. There was eating too—lots and lots of eating. Many of the sights were a blast into the past, a remembrance of how things ought to be and still are on this island of startling contrasts. Rice flour rolls freshly steamed and rolled before your eyes; towering skyscrapers amidst bustling, squawking, croaking, cawing, livestock markets. But the one thing that stopped me dead in my tracks—these yellow-skinned lovelies called wampees.
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Posted by Joy Manning, April 21, 2008 at 11:00 AM
I like Good magazine. Really, I’m a subscriber. (You might consider subscribing, too. It’s only $20 and it goes directly to a charity of your choice, and one of the options is Slow Food.) But when I read Good’s piece on the tastiest streets in America and saw my beloved Ninth Street—Philadelphia’s treasured Italian Market—left off the list, I wondered how the author could have been so asleep behind the keyboard.
I know I’m somewhat biased. When my husband and I bought our house, proximity to the market was the single nonnegotiable factor. Walking the market, loaded-down shopping bag over my shoulder, is like my Paxil, a moving (and eating) meditation on what makes life worth living. This is my completely personal tour of what I believe is the tastiest street on earth.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, March 18, 2008 at 3:15 PM
A lot of things taste better in Ireland: the Guinness, the farmhouse cheese, the fried pork, the dirty spuds. Since some of us aren't ready to ditch the St. Patrick's-ian mindset, here's a guide to one of the Emerald Isle's best culinary destinations: The English Market in Cork City, an indoor covered market hall and Ireland's answer to the lively, delicious Turkish bazaars. It's been around since 1786, and is just as much an institution as University College Cork up the road.
Here's a guide to Cork's English Market, open Monday through Saturday (9 AM - 5 PM) with entrances on Grand Parade and Princes Streets in downtown Cork City. And yes, the title is confusing. Shouldn't it really be called the Irish Market?
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, March 6, 2008 at 2:45 PM
Going to your local grocery store to replenish your food supply may seem like a chore, but browsing ethnic markets is a fun way to discover new foods. Here are seven great ethnic markets and grocery stores in the Washington D.C. area covering Hispanic, Turkish, Lebanese, Ethiopian, Italian, and Vietnamese cuisine.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, September 21, 2007 at 11:45 AM
As reported in May, a tragic fire burned down Washington's historic Eastern Market hall, leaving Mr. Bowers, the cheese man; Jose Canales, the butcher; and the entire vendor gang homeless by day. Alternatives were limited since meat-slicing and dairy-refrigerating didn't translate well on folding tables outside. Plus, the sadness of it all was too overwhelming for many to bounce back.
But it's been five months since that horrible 2:30 a.m. wake-up call, when neighbors watched their second home go down in flames. Since then, the community and entire city has fund-raised enough to open a temporary hall across the street, which opened a month ago and is starting to feel more and more Eastern Markety inside.
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