Preference for organic foods grows
Photo by Bianca Bystrom.
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Elysia Gabe
April 16, 2009
Filed under Features
Jenna Arnold ’09 takes out two small containers from her Whole Foods lunch box: one with whole-wheat pasta, the other with organic applesauce.
“I’ve eaten organic foods for a long time,” she says, “but I only started focusing on it about three or four years ago, but especially this past year.”
Like Arnold, more and more people are buying organic foods. Alisa Lum, a manager at ‘Umeke Market, says that their store has experienced an increase in patronage over the past couple of years. “We have all different types of customers now, especially more families,” she adds.
With more importance placed on eco-friendly lifestyles and good health in mainstream society, demand for organic foods has skyrocketed. The Organic Trade Association reports that total sales of organic food and beverages have increased more than $20 billion from 1990 to 2008.
“More of my friends eat organically than before,” Arnold says.
Just six years ago, Down to Earth, ‘Umeke Market and other organic food stores were the homes of dreadlocked, Birkenstocked tree-hugging hippies. But now, families with young children grab snacks and the evening’s dinner; young adults stop by for an acai drink or lunch after a day at the beach.
Whole Foods, a national organic supermarket, opened its first Hawaii location in September 2008. By 2010, Whole Foods hopes to open two more stores – one in Kailua, the other at Ward.
“I’ve been buying organic foods since the ‘70s, and I’ve definitely noticed a lot more middle-class families at Down to Earth and other stores” says Deborah Gabe, 58. “And now, you can even buy organic products at regular supermarkets!”
As interest in organic products has increased, major supermarket chains have taken notice. Shoppers no longer have to make special trips to specialty food stores. Instead, they can drive to the nearest grocery store.
Safeway introduced its O Organics line in 2006. Foodland has an entire aisle devoted to organic and natural food choices. Even Costco and Wal-Mart offer organic products now.
Kelli Torigoe ‘11 and her family have been buying organic foods for about a year now.
“We’re not the organic family yet,” Torigoe says. “We still just buy whatever tastes good.” Torigoe purchases organic cereal, chips and other products from Costco.
Gabe remembers organic consumers in the ‘70s as the “younger counter-culture crowd.” But now, she believes they are people focused on improving and maintaining good health or people concerned with chemicals and pesticides in food.
The much-younger Torigoe stereotypes organic consumers as “healthy” and “skinny with no fat.” She does not mention the old stereotype of the aging hippie stuck in the Summer of Love.
But why buy organic? As Arnold says, “Because it’s healthy and good for the planet!”
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