The food snob in me.

My fear with this post is that I may come across as a food snob.  Please note: that is not my intention.  But maybe I just am one. 


This past Sunday after church, we made the grueling trudge to the grocery store.  Not the local butcher, not the local market, but the full-fledged, gigantic grocery store.  I don't think I've been to one since the growing season began and as I walked in, I felt a blanket of dread come over me.  As thankful as I am to have access to such large amounts of food, it comes at a price.  But because I needed Thanksgiving ingredients, castile soap, razor heads, and wood stain, to the enormous grocery store we went.


Allow me to take you on my grocery store journey.

First, I landed in the produce section.  Holy cow.  I couldn't believe how many choices there were!  Cucumbers?  Blueberries?  Raspberries?  Where did this food come from this time of year!  It's been months since I've seen their beautiful faces.  Although, I must say, their faces weren't all that beautiful, having been packaged and processed.  And though I didn't taste them, I can imagine they don't taste nearly as sweet as they had picked straight from the vine.  


After picking up from celery, carrots (ours home-grown stored supply are dwindling quickly!), pomegranates (guilty pleasure), garlic, salad greens, lemons, and sweet potatoes, I got lost in about seventeen aisles before I found my other needed items.  In the meantime, I was run over by approximately four carts, driven by crazed women who were sour-faced and rushed.  Why so glum, chum?  Having grown accustomed to walking into our teeny local food market and hearing a friendly hello from Mike the butcher and Scott the baker as we talk about the produce they have for the week, it was quit lonely to be lost amoungst the giant crowd of pushy shoppers.


Talk about over stimulation.


By the time I got into line, my eyes were burning from the flouresent lighting.  I was ready to be done after approximately 16 minutes of shopping.  I waited patiently as my checker slowly checked out the lady in front of me.  Now, I'm one of those people that likes to stand back a few feet from the customer ahead of me.  I don't push my cart into their back.  I don't breath down their necks.  I don't reach for the divider and push their stuff forward so I can get my goods loaded.  I simply stand back, allow them their breathing room, and load up my items when they have finished.  After all, I surely don't want to make someone feel rushed or that they are annoying.


The lady behind me, however, did not agree with my tactic.  Before the woman in front of me had finished, this pushy lady behind me began moving my items around, pushing my cart into my back, and huffed and puffed when she ran out of space to put her items.  At which point I turned around to her and yelled "BACK OFF! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TRYING TO BE PATIENT AND CONSIDERATE TO THE PERSON IN FRONT OF ME!"


I didn't really say that.


But dear reader, I beg of you, please don't be that person. Don't shove peoples carts out of the way and act all annoyed when you have to wait.  It just ain't nice.


Now,  back to this pushy lady.


Because I had ample access to view her items (as mine were shoved into a pile), I began judging her selections.  It's true, I admit it.  Total food snob.  She had 9 cartons of Cool-Whip, some prepackaged graham cracker crusts, Chicken-N-Biscuit crackers, white bread, sugary cereal....you get the idea: processed, nutrient-absent calories.  Not a fruit or vegetable to be found.


But what caught my eye was her last item: a giant bottle of Prilosec OTC heartburn medicine.  Oh, the sweet, sweet irony.


It seems, at times, we fail to connect our health and our food.  


Now, please note, I realize that some people suffer from health issues that are inevitable.  However, there just seems to be this giant void in our minds about how what we eat affects our bodies.  


Maybe it's because we don't see our food grow.  We don't see it harvested.  We don't understand the natural changing of the seasons in the food world.  We don't see our food processed & preserved. It's almost as if food is seen as simple a means to satisfy hunger, rather than seen as nourishment and a way to fuel and heal our bodies.


I've said it once and I'll preach it again - what you eat matters.  What you put into your body affects it.


I didn't say this to the pushy lady though.  Social boundaries can sometimes be a good thing.


Which is why I recommend not pushing your cart into the back of the person standing in front of you.


And that's all.