Day Three

Sad news. I can't find rice cakes from California.* I'm feeling a little lost without my favorite snack, and it's only been two days. In other sad news. I ate the last of my spicy nut-butter today. Since it is made from a Trader Joe's nut mix, I don't think I will be purchasing it for a while. This is a blessing in disguise, says my gut, but I literally said goodbye to the jar as I licked my finger clean. (tear)

We went grocery shopping yesterday at Whole Foodies. We bought a few staples, such as fruit and things to make myself lunches. We also got a lot of veggies for dinner. I felt so accomplished...$150.00 later.

For some items, I had peruse the shelves for a while before I found something from CA. Almond milk for example. I was actually looking for hemp milk. In this medical marijuana loving state we live in, I didn't anticipate this being a challenging product to locate.  All the hemp milk ended up being from Colorado, and many of the non-dairy alternatives were from around the country. However, Blue Diamond is a San Diego company, so I conceded with almond milk. This got me thinking though. Blue Diamond is a huge company. In fact they tout:  Today the California almond industry produces over 80 percent of the world supply and leads the state as the largest food export!
And thus, I encountered a new dilemma. Big business vs small growers and companies. Is it better to stray from California in order to keep it organic and supportive of local business? Then again, companies, like Blue Diamond, started as cooperative of almond growers and over the last 100 years, evolved into what it is today.

What this boils down to, which frankly I anticipated when I decided to embark on this project, is greater research in quality companies. I will not blindly support a business simply because it is California based, particularly when they are exporting their product all around the globe, thereby essentially negating the purpose of this endeavor. *This is what my note is about as well. I have not given this further research yet, but the only California based company that I have encountered so far that makes rice cakes is Lundberg Farms. Unfortunately, I was recently informed that they are owned by Clorox, or some such horrible planet poisoning big business. I need to my own research on this, but until then, I'm sans rice cakes.

Good thing it is summer and I have lots of time.