Stamford: Caged and Hopped up on Growth Hormones
On a walk to get coffee for the Blog Stamford staff this morning I was approached by a crunchy gentleman asking to be directed to the nearest organic food store. I struck the direction giving pose, far off gaze as if my vision is piercing across miles and through building, lower lip pinned between clenched teeth (coincidentally also the white boy dance face).
"Well Stop & Shop has their Nature's Choice line"
"What?"
"It's a super-market"
Which he translated as - "Hey, there's a place up the street where they crap in boxes and serve it to you in plastic shopping bags"
"There's no organic store in THIS WHOLE CITY?!"
I felt the need to defend the city and started to explain how a whole foods was supposed to come in up the street but it was shot down and now there might be one coming in a block away... then I realized he just wanted a free range, anti-biotic free chicken rollup on whole wheat tomato basil peta bread and not a update on local zoning disputes. He begrudgingly took directions to the Super Stop & Shop.
Am I forgetting an organic store? Did I needlessly debase the city in the mind of hippie traveller? Bull's Head debacle aside, why can't we get a green grocer. There must be existing space to work one in where it isn't part of a larger development? Fairfield has a modest sized Trader Joe's.
8 comments :
I think Mrs. Green's on High Ridge Rd. would qualify as an organic store.
Mrs. Green's is the only one I know of off hand. There is an "organic" pet supply store on Hope Street just up from the State Theater, but Bandaline dog training in the Riverbend business complex (behind the Springdale train station) and Sport -n- Life in Glenbrook also sell lots of "natural" pet items.
I think Mrs. Green's is the only one to my knowledge. Their produce, however, is atrocious.
That's an odd story. Who has to ASK a stranger for directions to an organic grocery? People who like that stuff usually have the scoop on it, whether from a google search or from someone in yoga class.
Well, Blog Stamford, you must look the earthy and/or knowledgeable type.
I got some well-priced organic produce from the Trader Joe's on the Darien/Norwalk line.
Mrs. Green's isn't bad. They have an OK prepared foods section if you are in a pinch for quick take-out. It's also good to pick up for a picnic at the Bartlett Arboretum (how that is different from the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, I have no idea). When I was at the Bartlett, it looked EXACTLY like a Nature Center.
It's annoying that a decent-sized city like Stamford has only one dinky natural/organic food store while Greenwich, Norwalk and White Plains all have Whole Foods.
As for Trader Joe's, while their prices are great, their quality (in my experience) has been atrocious. I've gotten home to discover moldy pitas, moldy english muffins, moldy cheddar cheese and stale tortilla chips.
Mrs. Green's dumbass
On a related note, are there any good places nearby to get local produce? I read a great op-ed piece in the Times about how local farming is now four times more efficient and environmentally-friendly than factory farming.
We have a Whole Foods in Greenwich but I hate it for several reasons.
First off, making the left into the parking lot is nearly impossible. If you can get in there, finding a parking spot is worse. Once inside, you can barely move.
So I never go there (in fact I started using Peapod and blogged about it).
However, my wife likes to go there, and when she does, she comes back with $20/gallon orange juice and other insanely overpriced goodies.
Now we have compromised and she goes to Stew Leonards.
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