McCarren Park Greenmarket vs Whole Foods
Yesterday was the weekly Greenmarket at McCarren Park in between Williamsburg and Greenpoint. It’s a once a week chance for locals to buy things from local farms and producers, except for Smorgasburg, which is amazing and much missed! I thought it would be good to compare the Pros and Cons of the Greenmarket and Whole Foods. Today, let’s start with the Greenmarket!
Greenmarket - Pro
- It’s outside, and it can be hard to beat fresh air shopping.
- It’s all local, so you know it’s made by local people and you are supporting the local economy.
- It’s all organic, which is the only food a lot of people want to eat.
- It’s seasonal, so you aren’t messing with Mother Nature’s master plan for eating.
Greenmarket - Con
- It’s outside, so it can be either really cold or really hot sometimes. Not good.
- It’s all local, so sometimes you only get stuff that can be grown locally. It’s hard to cook lots of exotic dishes with only apples and kale people! Local also usually equals EXPENSIVE!
- It’s all organic, but sometimes it’s exciting to live a little and eat conventional fruits and veggies or cheese made in a factory! Also, don’t you think organic is now such a watered down marketing buzz word that it doesn’t mean anything anymore?
- It’s all seasonal, and sometimes you need stuff grown out of season using advanced farming techniques because you have a hankering for Meyer Lemon risotto in the summer or heirloom tomato salad in November!
So it seems like all of the pros are also listed under cons. It’s kind of confusing, especially since going to the Greenmarket for kale and apples and radishes has been such a big part of life since we moved into the Condo. Let’s see what happens when we go through this same process with Whole Foods.
