Yesterday I made a trip to the ‘health food shop’ and it was only when my husband questioned why I couldn’t get what I needed from a supermarket instead that we began contemplating the existence of these so-called ‘health food’ shops.
Unless you are a health freak, a coeliac, or have any other ‘intolerances’ you may consider that you have no reason to visit health food stores (I know I didn’t – I was embarrassed not to know what most of the products were!). Well I’m here to tell you they are a gold mine of awesomeness!
Are you someone who enjoys getting everything in the one spot? And so the supermarket is it? Or do you have a few different places you head to – a butcher, a market, a local grocer, a co-op? If you’re a one trip fits all kind of shopper then health food stores might not rate too highly, but I definitely recommend them for all those alternative ingredients you see in recipes and wonder what they are! Many large supermarkets are in shopping centres that have health food stores very close by.
But the issue we grappled with was why the need for a SEPARATE ‘health food’ store? What’s going on if speciality stores with healthy alternatives have opened up with loads of goodies we should be eating. They are not mainstream because supermarkets don’t stock them, but it just seems so crazy! What the hell are the majority of us missing out on if we don’t even know the breadth of products available to us?
Tonight I am making chickpea and vegie patties (I’m all into meals that the three of us can eat together at the moment, instead of cooking separately for Elliott). These look YUM but would have stopped me in my tracks by mentioning besan flour (chickpea flour). This is not available at my local supermarket and would have gone in the ‘too-hard-basket’ of recipes.
But as I’m on a mission to decrease the amount of wheat flour we consume, I committed to exploring my local health food shop before throwing in the towel. And I found it, of course. I’m definitely looking forward to making these little patties of delight and trying out a new ingredient.
Do we expect too much from supermarkets? Or are we all just lemmings, blindly following the leader and putting items into our trolleys without really thinking about whether it’s healthy? So much stuff in the supermarket is crap. And I mean, really bad. It makes us sick and we don’t even know it. So I guess we do need stores that provide healthier alternatives, but it’s up to us to explore them. Do yourself a favour, like I did a while ago. You’ll be amazed at what you find and how inspired your cooking might get!
Do you buy at health food shops? What do you get there?
Image credit: tradekey.com, brewedfriedtoasted.info
