Elegy for Alfalfa’s, Ode on Nude Foods
I have lived in many different places: the Main Line of suburban Philadelphia, the Berkshires of Massachusetts, Cambridge and the Cotswolds in England, the central valley of California, Utrecht in the Netherlands, the Hudson Valley of New York, the Susquehanna Valley of Pennsylvania, and now Louisville. I have therefore shopped for groceries at many different stores. To date, in my opinion, no other grocery store surpasses the Davis Food Coop in Davis, California, where my wife and I lived for six years as graduate students. What distinguishes the Davis Food Coop? Again, in my opinion, the highlights include its cooperative ownership structure, its well-curated stock of groceries, its extensive bulk selection (including spices), its extensive selection of organic and mostly local produce, its commitment to exclusively selling sustainably harvested or raised meats (insofar as any meat is sustainable), and its oftentimes entertaining newsletter. Shopping at the Davis Food Coop, I learned to use my own set of reusable containers for bulk items, and I have strived to continue this practice ever since (with the same set of reusable containers). Buying bulk items in reusable containers significantly reduces the amount of waste that my family generates.
When my family and I were planning our move to Louisville, we investigated the grocery store options. As an obsessive cook with environmental sustainability at the forefront of my actions, I seek out grocery stores from which I can source high quality, sustainable ingredients. Louisville’s Alfalfa’s clearly came across as the best option for my family’s preferences, so we factored Alfalfa’s location into our decision about where to rent a house. We chose a house for rent in Steel Ranch from which I used to walk to Alfalfa’s; more often than not, I walked home overburdened by more groceries than I initially intended to buy. When my family and I were on the market for a house in Louisville, walkability to Alfalfa’s was again a serious consideration. To my extreme dismay, Alfalfa’s closed not long after we moved into our home. Of necessity, I have since become much more familiar with other grocery store options, but I would still prefer Alfalfa’s not only for its proximity, but also for its well-curated stock of groceries, its selection of bulk items (including spices), its selection of organic produce, and its selection of sustainably harvested and raised meats. I lament Alfalfa’s closing every time I get in our family car to go grocery shopping.
Towards the end of 2021, a new grocery store opened in Boulder—Nude Foods Market—on Walnut Street between 32nd and 33rd Streets. Nude Foods is an (almost) zero-waste grocery store. Nude Foods primarily stocks bulk dry goods sold in reusable glass containers (of the same variety as my own set of reusable containers). Customers pay a fee of $1.50 for each container and receive a refund of $1.00 upon returning each container with $0.50 retained for cleaning each container. Nude Foods has expanded its offerings considerably since opening, also stocking home cleaning products, some organic and often local produce, a growing variety of perishable items, a growing variety of locally prepared foods, and more, all still sold in reusable glass containers. Nude Foods now delivers to Louisville (by bicycle or electric vehicle), but I have yet to try their delivery service.
On virtually every visit to Nude Foods with my daughters, the older one questions the logic of its name: she argues that the food is not in fact nude as the food is clothed in glass, albeit clear glass. She has a point. Her quibbling notwithstanding, Nude Food’s system of reusable containers is not entirely to my liking. Since I still have my own set of reusable containers (sufficient for almost every item that I purchase at Nude Foods), I would much prefer to refill these containers from bulk bins. Employing my own reusable containers is an even more sustainable option: an additional set of reusable containers is not required, and a container refilled with the same item need not be cleaned before every refilling. Initially, Nude Foods did not support this mode of bulk shopping, but Nude Foods now also offers some of its most popular bulk items in this manner. (Nude Foods has partially resurrected Alfalfa’s by reusing the latter’s bulk dispensers.) Unfortunately, these most popular items do not align very closely with my family’s preferences. In any case, as much as possible, I buy bulk dry goods (and a few perishable items) from Nude Foods: I want to support a local business with highly commendable practices, and I prefer to buy groceries in reusable containers, my own or otherwise.
