Food trends

By Chi-Young Kim

In the last several years, I have found myself becoming more interested in the sustainability, healthfulness and sources of my food.

As does everyone else I know. Ten years ago, I walked into my first Whole Foods, the upscale grocery chain that touts organic meat and produce, artisanal products and healthy living. My college roommates and I were there to buy obscure ingredients for a dinner party we were throwing.

But most of the time, we bought questionable meat at our campus grocery store or, when we had time and managed to borrow a car, we would go to the local grocery store. We had fun, but we weren’t cooking from scratch every night and we didn’t even notice if the food we bought was organic or locally sourced. There was one fancy fruit store in town we would walk to, but we could only afford to buy a single pear. Most of the time, I made stir-fry, and we ate a lot of pasta. I don’t even remember eating a lot of fruit or fresh produce.

In a decade, there has been a lot of change. I hear that the campus grocery store is now stocked with whole grains, fresh local produce and lots of organic fruit. We as a society have also evolved; while I don’t remember anyone going to farmers markets when I was a child living in the United States or Canada, most of my friends now shop at farmers markets, receive community-supported agriculture (CSA) boxes every week or are members of a co-op grocery store, grow their own produce, and talk at length about which fish is a good, sustainable choice.

Living in Los Angeles, farmers markets are plentiful (there are three wonderful ones within a 2-mile radius of my house) and the produce is perennially excellent. So much so that when I go into fancy, upscale grocery stores, I’m unimpressed. When I visit my parents in Korea, my mom buys fist-sized strawberries and beautiful green asparagus as special treats, but they pale in comparison to what I get down the street.

Although the boom of grocery stores in decades past did away with the need to visit the butcher, the fishmonger, the cheese store and the greengrocer every day, more and more are reverting back to the shopping habits of our great-grandparents. I visit the farmers market every Sunday for fruit, produce, fish, eggs and bread; make several trips to the chain grocery store for bananas, yogurt, milk and dried goods; and go to the fancy upscale store for meat.

My weekly shopping trips do take a lot of time and my habits make me feel a tad ridiculous (after all, I grew up on grocery store meat and turned out fine). But now that I know what is in generic meat (antibiotics, saline solution, artificial coloring, etc.), I can’t bring myself to eat it. Of course, I still eat out, which means I’m eating generic meat anyway, but I like to think that what I make at home makes a difference.

In the last year or so, I’ve been dabbling in several produce delivery services. These services are modeled on CSA boxes, but while CSA boxes are usually direct from a farm, contain in-season produce and are usually a year-long commitment, these newer services promise excellent, farm-fresh produce with more variety (as they source from multiple farms), flexibility in the size of boxes, delivery to your doorstep and the ability to cancel or suspend the service at any time.

The first company I tried only delivered produce and fruit, and they supplemented produce from their own farm with vegetables from neighboring farms. It came from Northern California, however, so the produce was often wilted or on the verge of rot. I then changed to a service that sourced their items locally, and it also included options for meat, eggs, dairy and interesting grains and pulses. That box came with recipes as well. While I enjoyed that service, I grew tired of the high cost and the odd cuts of meat (lots of chicken wings!).

Now, I’m with an L.A.-based service that brings the freshest, most gorgeous produce to my door every week. Not only is their produce pristine but there is a nice variety, and the cost is a fraction of the fancy service I formerly used. Also, they’re willing to work with you to customize your box; since we cook a lot, I asked for a larger box, which feeds our family of three perfectly for five days. Now, when I go to the farmers market on Sunday, I don’t have to lug home giant bags; I just pick up extra fruit and a stalk of broccoli or two.

I’m hoping this trend continues. More awareness allows for more choice, better quality, and hopefully lower prices. I know that some farmers markets accept food stamps to try to appeal to a wide audience, and once you start to know the vendors, you can get good deals. From my very unscientific sample of friends and acquaintances, it does appear that Americans are beginning to eat better. We’ve come a long way from Velveeta.

Chi-Young Kim is a literary translator based in Los Angeles. She has translated works by Shin Kyung-sook, Kim Young-ha, and Jo Kyung-ran. Contact her at chiyoung@chiyoungkim.com or via her website, chiyoungkim.com.