Grocery Stores and Farmers Markets

[AllisonR]

Two more weeks and I will be in California! SO PSYCHED. We are visiting LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Flagstaff / GC, and Las Vegas. I am so excited I am counting down the days.

However, I just saw the movie Food, Inc tonight, and now I am freaked out!

I would like advice about any good farmers markets in those areas. And if I need to go to grocery stores, which are OK for ecological/healthy food? I was in the USA 10 years ago and I remember the super markets were really really huge, but I don't remember much ecological or healthy packaged goods. For example I wanted to get some cereal and found several types of musli that looked really good, but every one of them had added sugar and ingredients I could not pronounce. I would also like to get some ecological, non-homogenized milk from grass-fed cows. Is this going to be realistic? Where can I go to shop?

[HappyMommy2]

Maybe try in the Cali tribal area...???

[Chamomile Girl]

Where in LA are you staying?

For the most part you should be fine shopping at Whole Foods (they are all over the LA area) and Trader Joes (they have non-hom milk, don't know if its grassfed).

[Bokonon]

Henry's and Sprout's are both in Southern California and are great natural foods stores.

There are a ton of farmers' markets all over San Diego: http://www.sdfarmbureau.org/BuyLocal...rs-Markets.php

The one in Poway is my favorite!

Though I do have to say that while eating healthily is obviously a good thing, don't let it dominate your vacation. Enjoy your trip!

[cristeen]

For grass fed raw milk, there's only 1 widely available brand in CA - Organic Pastures. And WF stopped carrying it a couple months ago. You'd need to go to their website and find out what local stores near where you'll be staying may carry it.

[blumooned]

You could try to find a Natural Foods Co-op. Here is a link to find them all over the US - just go to the states that you'll be visiting.

[AllisonR]

Thank you all so much for the great tips and links! Very helpful. I will look out for Whole Foods and Trader Joes, and the Consumers Co-Op in Santa Monica or the Ocean Beach People's Organic Food Co-op. cristeen - thanks so much for the tip on Organic pastures milk. I found out that both Henry's and Sprouts stores carry this milk, so we will definitely stop by one of them.

Originally Posted by Chamomile Girl

Though I do have to say that while eating healthily is obviously a good thing, don't let it dominate your vacation. Enjoy your trip!

ITA- but I just saw that movie, and it made me ill! I figure we will be eating breakfast at the various hotels every day, and eating out for dinner almost every night, so I just wanted some really healthy grain-veggie-fruit options for lunch, just to compensate.

[jeanine123]

The Farmer's Market on Third and Fairfax is Los Angeles is AWESOME! It's also open every day.

http://www.farmersmarketla.com/

And here's a list of the farmer's markets in and around LA.

http://www.farmernet.com/events/cfms

You should be able to plug "farmer's market, area you're visiting" into Google or another search engine and find similar lists.