GMO-Free Portland! |
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Food Front Cooperative Grocery
Food Front is a member-owned cooperative with a mission- defined by what they buy but also the co-op model. Both are discussed here. We are familiar with the NW Portland store and it is impressive. They also have a new store in Hillsdale (just west of Portland). Many Americans will shop for the lowest cost at any cost.--> Fortunately, the tides are changing. A lot of us found out about GMO's in a process of peeling away layers of the food system- we no-GMO's and people reducing or considering eliminating GMO's from their diet are not in the group of the blissfully ignorant. Either is Food Front. They make sure they know about what they sell us. They focus on local, fresh and sustainably grown foods. We know from shopping at Portland's Farmers Markets that local and sustainably grown food, often including organics, do not always cost more Speaking of, Food Front has a farmers market next door on Thursdays from 3pm to 7pm.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Sustainability practices in general can save a company money in the long run and that may be passed along in the pricing. In the links page we talk about sustainability -->When you focus on sustainably grown local food like Food Front does, you are punishing those that do harm indirectly by directly rewarding the good farms and other food businesses. That is how we operate at GMO-Free Portland. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ If you do pay more for certain products, you may be doing so as a vote for what you believe is right. If you've ever given money to an organization to undo damage to our planet in some way, you might also be ready to take the next step and ask "What is the right price to pay for food?" which is discussed in the FAQ # 1. Look also for quality to save you money in the end. Food Front carries some products that are geared for lower cost and not sustainability but we really like their local focus and that does yield itself to eco-friendly shopping. More than that, we shape the products they carry with our business- and also by becoming FF member-owners who have a stake and a vote! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Buying local and from smaller companies helps us all. As long as there is competition from them, we don't have to support bad megacorp. practices. Food Front has an outstanding produce selection- perhaps the best we've seen. Everything is fresh and bright and there is a good selection of organics (whether that means "certified organic," or if you know the farm, organic for all intents and purposes. --> It takes a lot of investment to bring quality local produce with sustainability in mind. FF manages accounts from a huge number of small farms. The store, member-owners and other shoppers, and the farms get more from eliminating the middle man but it is an investment of resources. Every time a crop is not looking good or is unavailable, they go to another local farmer. It is no coincidence that their fresh food is delicious and beautiful. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Coop employees that I've talked to make the store a part of their lives and contribute their talents, taking on projects and sharing their ideas, and really rolling up their sleeves. The employees are the power and energy behind cooperatives (co-ops) action of serving the community. Coops, by nature, benefit everyone. Read about their missions on the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) Co-op Principals page. Portland is special in its support of the cooperative business model- many other communities can't or won't support them. The Food Front website explains member benefits in the link called "ownership" (but you don't have to be a member to shop there- its completely optional. Finally, you can't beat the location on a sunny day, so we recommend a little fruit and cheese at one of the many street-side tables. www.foodfront.coop |
More...While writing about Food Front we wound up with topics needing a sidebar for notes!
______________________________ Have you ever heard someone say "I don't want to know- it will spoil my appetite." or "Not during dinner, please."? (!) It's one thing if a person is saying something that might take some convincing- for example, a lot of vegetarian horror stories might be written off as exceptions. But what about when the person asking you not to talk about an argument for not eating certain food is completely aware and just doesn't want to think about how the food got there like .... third-world slave labor, animal cruelty, or harmful amounts of pesticide poison? That's how it is with the GMO talk. Email us for a free brochure to leave them. ______________________________ ______________________________ Here is one example of an unsustainable practice we find part and parcel to GMO's: Some farms pour wasteful amounts of nitrogen made in a dirty oil guzzling process because they stripped their soil of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Their soil is "dead." What's more, all that excess nitrogen runs through groundwater out to the sea where it causes algae to bloom and bacteria that decompose it to thrive. Both deprive the ocean of oxygen so nothing else can live in it. Such is the case with a huge and growing area at the mouth of the Columbia River. Who has the right to make soil and ocean waters devoid of life? ______________________________ ______________________________ Without horribly expensive and difficult certification, no one can use the word Organic anymore. Some growers get the certification but if you knew every practice you would choose a non-certified grower in some instances. We can't all know who deserves and doesn't deserve our business, and in general, buying certified organic is a good choice. But some stores we feature here like Food Front are choosy and have personal relationships with farms , so we trust their choices of growers to be "Organic for all intents and purposes." Walking the walk versus certification is also discussed below in mini-stops in regard to Fair-trade. ______________________________ |