BENGARLAND!com

I recently finished reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. While it was a very interesting and educational book, I couldn’t help but think he was too harsh on Whole Foods. During several of his rants I kept thinking “Does Whole Foods really do this? Do they really promote no-name Wal-Mart-ish industrialized organic agriculture?”.

Whole Foods has responded to Mr. Pollan’s criticism.

And it’s a good read.

I still recommend the book highly, although I think Mr. Pollan has lost some credibility.

On a related note, some regional managers from Whole Foods were down here at EARTH this past week. I found out that not only does Whole Foods get their bananas from EARTH, they have also started buying organic mangoes in the last year or so. One of Costa Rica’s ex-presidents stipulated in his will that his farm land be given to a good cause, and his wife chose to donate it to EARTH. It has been converted into organic mango production with Whole Foods as the buyer.

Additionally, two of the five WF managers that I met were in the process of reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Both of them thought, rightly so, that the book was too critical of Whole Foods. One said (to paraphrase) “If he has such a problem with shipping food around the country, he shouldn’t be shipping his books around the country either.” Ha.

As far as I know, all of EARTH’s profits from their partnership with Whole Foods go directly back into funding the university. Whole Foods has also set up a half-million-dollar program in Guatemala and Costa Rica called the Whole Planet Foundation that gives micro loans to impoverished entrepreneurs so that they can get off their feet and start a business.

So when you read the letter above, take into consideration these things — Whole Foods really does put their money where their mouth is. It’s a shame that Mr. Pollan based his criticisms of Whole Foods on assumptions and hearsay, instead of going to the source.

If only Whole Foods would put a store in Athens…