Is there any other region in the U.S. with the same diversity of groceries as California? (Long Beach: co-ops, to buy)

[DriveNotCommute]

California is a magnet — and a graveyard — for supermarket competitors [latimes.com]

Michael Hiltzik's column from last Sunday made me think for a bit about the diversity of our grocery choices here in southern California. Food can be an affordable luxury and a good catalyst for new ideas and experiences.

If someone were to move out of California to elsewhere in the country, what other metropolitan regions have a comparable selection of food? I imagine online retailers have evened the field a little for a price, but that still leaves a question of the availability, quality and price of perishable items such as fresh produce.

[Ruth4Truth]

All that is available nationwide, now. I'm in a small town in NM, and we have all those items, same stores, same inventory.

[Tulemutt]

Interesting topic. Although, I would point out that too many choices generally upset people subliminally more than please them.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Interesting topic. Although, I would point out that too many choices generally upset people subliminally more than please them.

I don't think that maintaining this level of diversity and quantity is sustainable. If you look at stores in Europe, for example, they don't have an entire huge wall of fresh produce. And food tends to be more expensive there; depending on the country, but overall, people pay more for groceries. Co-ops and discount grocers are popular. Anyway, with weather patterns changing, agricultural production will decline.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

All that is available nationwide, now. I'm in a small town in NM, and we have all those items, same stores, same inventory.

I'm sure that is not true. I'm not questioning what you have available in NM, but my sister moved from Long Beach to Oklahoma City several years ago, and she has a laundry list of things she can't get, or can't get with the same quality, in OK. Every so often I send her a care package from Trader Joe's. And the couple of times she has visited, she practically fainted with joy at the sight of the produce at the farmer's market.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by saibot

I'm sure that is not true. I'm not questioning what you have available in NM, but my sister moved from Long Beach to Oklahoma City several years ago, and she has a laundry list of things she can't get, or can't get with the same quality, in OK. Every so often I send her a care package from Trader Joe's. And the couple of times she has visited, she practically fainted with joy at the sight of the produce at the farmer's market.

I could understand it, if it were a question of some of the more exotic items TJ's carries. (Does OK even have TJ's?) OK may not have a lot of demand for Thai recipe ingredients, and the like, so the stores choose not to carry it. But produce?

One thing I notice about our Whole Foods is that there are produce items that I'm not able to identify. There are a couple of tropical Asian fruits, so I'm assuming the rest of it is Asian as well. I don't know who in this community would eat that stuff--who's creating the demand? The only Asians in town, with the exception of a handful of Chinese, are Tibetans, and they're not going to be eating Indonesian star fruit. It's not Latin American; there's nothing like the Latin American markets of the Mission Dist., for example.
I wonder what it is that CA farmers' mkts have that OK doesn't?

[sav858]

It does seem like Southern California gets all the new grocery stores/chains first and are a test market for international chains. Sprouts (Henry's Marketplace when I lived in SoCal) and Fresh and Easy (now closed) all eventually made their way to Northern CA years later. I've been reading about this new Aldi store, I hope it makes it up here soon.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I wonder what it is that CA farmers' mkts have that OK doesn't?

The farmer's markets have produce that is fresh and local, if that matters to you (it matters to me), and the same is true for the supermarkets in California. According to my sister, it's not that produce is not available in Oklahoma, but that for much of the year much of it looks and tastes pathetic because it's been shipped a couple of thousand miles in a truck.


I well remember the time I spent in Michigan in late March, when I was shocked at the limp lettuce and shriveled bell peppers in the supermarket. Common sense should have told me that those items come from far, far away at that time of the year, but I was only in my early 20s and had never thought about it before. Living in California, you take year-round fresh produce for granted.


Also, there are definitely vegetables and some fruits available at my farmer's market which you might not find elsewhere. One vendor, for example, is Filipino and carries things such as bitter melon, those extra long beans, turmeric root, and many things I can't identify.


No, there is no Trader Joe's in OK. (My understanding is that state liquor laws currently forbid opening them, or at least make it difficult and impractical).

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by saibot

The farmer's markets have produce that is fresh and local, if that matters to you (it matters to me), and the same is true for the supermarkets in California. According to my sister, it's not that produce is not available in Oklahoma, but that for much of the year much of it looks and tastes pathetic because it's been shipped a couple of thousand miles in a truck.


I well remember the time I spent in Michigan in late March, when I was shocked at the limp lettuce and shriveled bell peppers in the supermarket. Common sense should have told me that those items come from far, far away at that time of the year, but I was only in my early 20s and had never thought about it before. Living in California, you take year-round fresh produce for granted.


Also, there are definitely vegetables and some fruits available at my farmer's market which you might not find elsewhere. One vendor, for example, is Filipino and carries things such as bitter melon, those extra long beans, turmeric root, and many things I can't identify.


No, there is no Trader Joe's in OK. (My understanding is that state liquor laws currently forbid opening them, or at least make it difficult and impractical).

Thanks, this explanation makes sense. We get CA produce in NM that looks plenty fresh, but we're about half-way to OK, so maybe that's why. Our local co-op carries locally-grown produce, and it looks to me like WF has begun to buy a few things from local growers, too. Last summer, btw, WF packaged greens section was completely bare for weeks, because of the drought in CA. They still had other fresh produce, so I don't know where that came from. I didn't check the other chain grocers to see if their supplies were affected by the drought. Now I shop more at Sprouts, so we'll see how they do through the coming summer.

[DriveNotCommute]

If NM is getting fresh produce from California in good condition that should mean everything at a similar range and closer could possibly have the same benefit, meaning AZ, UT and NV. My thought is that if job centers are developing in those states then those places might be a little more attractive for people who value high quality groceries.

I would expect the Pacific NW to compete pretty well, I've always had the impression that not only is there a population with demand for ethnic origin fruits, vegetables and spices but that the more long-time Americans out there also value high quality produce. They are farther from Central and South America than we are though so I would expect fewer imports or imports of lower quality than what Californians can find?