Whole Foods and Me

I started shopping at Whole Foods about twenty years ago, when I was living in Hawaii.

Around the time the Kahala store opened, my mother passed away from stomach cancer. After that, I began paying much closer attention to what I ate.

Organic food was still far less common then than it is today. Even so, I remember feeling grateful that there were finally more choices that seemed safer and more reassuring.

Now, food labels often tell us much more than whether something is organic. They may also explain how animals were raised, how the food was processed, and what has or has not been added.

There was a time when seeing the word “organic” was enough to make me feel comfortable. These days, I also look at the ingredients, farming methods, and whether a product contains anything unnecessary.

Still, if I try to be too particular about everything, everyday meals can begin to feel restrictive. I prefer to choose what feels right to me, within reason. That balance suits me best.

Of course, groceries in the United States are not inexpensive.

But now that organic products are widely available in ordinary supermarkets as well as Whole Foods, I do not feel there is always the same extreme price difference between organic and conventional food that I sometimes notice in Japan.

My husband is vegan, so I am the only one in our household who eats animal protein. I also do not eat very large portions, so choosing organic eggs, chicken, and cheese has never felt like an especially heavy expense.

The fresh mozzarella I bought this time was something I believed had been produced in Europe. Only after I came home did I realize that it was made in the United States.

Cheese sold in America often has European-sounding names and illustrations, while the actual country of origin may be printed in very small letters. Even when I check the ingredients, confirming where a cheese was made can be surprisingly difficult.

Whole Foods has its own standards for ingredients and product quality, so I am not especially worried simply because the cheese was made in the United States.

Even so, the European Union has its own rules regarding food additives and labeling, and when it comes to cheese, I still prefer to buy European products whenever possible.

This time I bought:

Sugar snap peas — $3.29 Organic chicken — $11.29 Organic pasture-raised eggs — $5.59 Organic tomatoes — $3.99 Fresh mozzarella — $8.49 Parmesan cheese — $8.75 Green beans — $8.75

I often cook the green beans and sugar snap peas simply with chicken.

For the tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, I usually make panini with sourdough bread. Fresh mozzarella is relatively high in fat, so it is something I enjoy only occasionally.

Together with what I already have at home, these groceries should last me for about a week.

The meals are not elaborate, but this kind of everyday food is what feels most comforting to me.

Over the past twenty years, I have gradually adjusted both the kinds of organic food I buy and the amount I eat, until I arrived at the way I eat now.

Brown rice, which I once believed was especially healthy, turned out to be one of the causes of my stomach pain. I also realized that eating black beans or adzuki beans every day was a little too demanding for my digestion.

Every body is different. These days, rather than simply following advice about what is supposed to be healthy, I have learned to consult my own body first. That has become my way.

It was another hot summer day in North Carolina. In the American summer, sunlight still lingers well into the evening. I love the bright, wholesome feeling of it.

The illustrations were created from photographs, with an emphasis on preserving their atmosphere.