Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, and perfect worlds

Via the brilliant and fun-loving KMW comes this story in The Atlantic about Wal-Mart’s incursion into the world of Whole Foods-style organic and local food:

In the grocery section of the Raynham supercenter, 45 minutes south of Boston, I had trouble believing I was in a Walmart. The very reasonable-looking produce, most of it loose and nicely organized, was in black plastic bins (as in British supermarkets, where the look is common; the idea is to make the colors pop). The first thing I saw, McIntosh apples, came from the same local orchard whose apples I’d just seen in the same bags at Whole Foods. The bunched beets were from Muranaka Farm, whose beets I often buy at other markets—but these looked much fresher. The service people I could find (it wasn’t hard) were unfailingly enthusiastic, though I did wonder whether they got let out at night.

During a few days of tasting, the results were mixed. Those beets handily beat (sorry) ones I’d just bought at Whole Foods, and compared nicely with beets I’d recently bought at the farmers’ market. But packaged carrots and celery, both organic, were flavorless. Organic bananas and “tree ripened” California peaches, already out of season, were better than the ones in most supermarkets, and most of the Walmart food was cheaper—though when I went to my usual Whole Foods to compare prices for local produce, they were surprisingly similar (dry goods and dairy products were considerably less expensive at Walmart).

Corby Kummer then describes the taste-test she arranged with some foodie friends: Walmart handled Whole Foods when it came to greens; Whole Foods took Walmart to the shed when it came to meats. Overall, Corby’s piece is fair, but I would like to take issue with this line:

IN AN IDEAL WORLD, people would buy their food directly from the people who grew or caught it, or grow and catch it themselves.

Really? Why would that be ideal? I mean, I for one love the fact that we have a division of labor that ensures I have no need to grow or catch my own food. Furthermore, I’m quite happy that food can be shipped in from all over the globe to provide us with a variety of goods year round at a decent price. It’s fantastic! Why can’t we admit that we already live in an ideal world?