A healthful surprise in Chicago

Missing Gino's East in Chicago is not all that memorable. But Chicago is not only home to deep dish pizza and Garrett's popcorn. I found this place called Whole Foods Market (on W. Huron) when I was doing my shopping in Michigan Avenue (Touristy activity I know...). It is an organic food supermarket, similar to Clover's in Columbia but it was much bigger and it had its own food court as well. It had a wide range of products and even its own product lines called Whole Food and 365 which provide cheaper(and organic) options for shoppers. What I like most about Whole Foods Market is that most products, if not all, are certified organic and not only "natural". This is what some organic supermarkets do when they cannot find cheaper substitute for their organic products. They sell the "natural" products instead of the organic products. But "natural" is different from "organic". A bottle of orange juice is natural because it contains orange, a natural ingredient but it does not mean it is organic and it can still contain tons of harmful pesticide and hormones. Consumers may not be aware of it especially when sellers sell them with other organic products.

Whole Foods Market has five stores in Chicago and one in St. Louis. They have stores in other Mid-West cities as well, not in Columbia though. (Okay, Columbia is not a city.... ) Anyway, if you love organic food and have not had a chance to visit WHM yet, check out their website.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/

Mission unaccomplished in Windy City

I spent my spring break in Chicago. I had a great time visiting the Art Institue, the Field Museum and a couple of landmarks in the city. Yet I failed to accomplish one of my planned missions- to try out the world famous deep dish pizza at Gino's East. Everyone said the restaurant's pizza was the best and my friend's favorite is the deep dish with tomato and extra cheese. So full of expectation, I decided to save the best part for my last day of my trip. Yet when we got to the restaurant at half past five in the evening, there already gathered a crowd of eager tourists and pizza loving locals. Finding our chances to get in slim, we went to Quartino, an Italian restaurant. Their thin crust pizza was good but I believe it would be nothing compared to the inch thick deep dish pizza across the street.

Demanding for (vending machine) consumer right

I have the habit of late night snacking ( bad habit I know. ) and the vending machine becomes my go-to place after mid-night when stores are closed. But I recently discovered that all the chips, candy bars or pretzels I got the vending machines are soon-to-expired ones. The pack of chex mix I got few days ago was going to be expired on April 14 2008. I wonder if that is a tactics used by the food company to get rid of the soon-to-expired food or just that no one is buying from the vending machines anymore. I suppose the business of the vending machine is not that bad to have products stocked up for a whole year with anyone buying them. But if that is a sales strategy, as a consumer, I feel unfair because even though I am paying a high price for the sake of convenience, it does not mean I deserve to get stale food... It is different from a price markdown of fresh food in the supermarket because consumers are fully aware that they are going to get food that are less fresh because of the lower price. But as a (mid night) vending machine consumer, I have no idea of that.