Q 1 – In the summer everyone wants to look fit and feel fit so its time to get back on track with good nutritional choices, what food shopping can you suggest?
Health food stores offer a wide variety of foods that have been carefully grown and produced. This one of the biggest growing segments of the food industry. You feel virtuous shopping there.
Q2 – Is it really healthier there?
You can make good lifestyle choices in regular supermarkets but health stores often have products that are organically traceable right back to the farmer that grew it. There are networks of 1,000’s of farmers. Be careful of that word “organic” though, as you know Dr. Joe will tell us that everything is organic.
Q3 – Isn’t it much more expensive buying food at health food stores?
It is more expensive to buy food at health food stores, because of the cost of producing smaller quantities and growing without pesticides, etc. There is one place I can mention for deals, though. At Club Organic, if you join their club ($30), you are offered a discount based on the volume you buy each time: a $1-$99 order will yield a 3% discount on your bill, $100-$299 is 5% off, and $300 and up will get you 7% off.
Q4 – What kind of food will I find there, is it all sprouts and tofu?
Your regular supermarket staples are here – grains, beans, flours (spelt, amaranth, kamut, soy, gluten-free), cereals, organic fish, beef, veal and chicken, healthy breads, dairy, candy, chips, freshly ground peanut butter, but also cashew, almond and sesame too, and always lots of teas: green teas, barley teas, tisanes.
There’s even food to go: stir fries with seitan and miso, millet pie, pizza, spring rolls homemade soups, desserts, spelt and seaweed wraps and bbq burgers.
Q 5- What kind of other things might I find there that are not usually found in a corner supermarket?
It’s the harder to find things, not usually found in a corner supermarket, that draw a lot of people to these stores: gluten-free, lactose-free and wheat-free products, goat, soy and almond milk, organic chocolate milk, brown rice pasta or buckwheat pasta, noodles made of soba, spelt and soya, etc.
Q6 – Where are all these stores?
Club Organic, 4341 Frontenac at Rachel, Phone523-0223 Food items bought at this store can be traced back to the farmer who produced them, as these products are certified by Ecocert Canada, an international regulatory network. You can shop without a membership, but for a $30 membership you can buy ground beef, chicken, butter, flour, beans, grains, dates, pasta, oil, nuts, etc., you get a discount. The more you buy the better the deal: a $1-$99 order will yield a 3% discount on your bill, $100-$299 is 5% off, and $300 and up will get you 7%.
www. epiceriebiologique.ca
Tau Aliments Naturels 4238 St-Denis, Phone:843-4420. Other bigger locations: 6845 boul. Taschereau (450-443-9922); 3188 boul. St-Martin ouest (450-978-5533). www.marchestau.com
Rachelle-Bery, 505 Rachel est, Phone: 514-524-0725 Other locations: 2346 Beaubien e. (514-727-2327); 4810 boul. St-Laurent (514-849-4118); Longueuil, 217 St-Charles o. (450-679-6472); St-Saveur, 105-1, ave Guindon (450-227-3343). www.rachellebery.com
