In case you missed it, a post on this site last week elicited an entertaining rumination by Berkeleysider EBGuy on Berkeley’s food stores and their role as our new cathedrals — or temples, or synagogues. More Berkeleysiders weighed in with their analogies. Here’s the full list (so far):
- Farmers’ Markets: outdoor tent revivalists. This is where the Food Fundamentalists go.
- Berkeley Bowl: non-denominational mega church. Draws from the surrounding region. You go there, right?
- Berkeley Natural Grocery: storefront religion at its finest.
- Monterey Market: Baptists. True believers. Schisms.
- Trader Joe’s: Assemblies of God. Fervent believers. Growing fast.
- Safeway: Mainline Protestants. Trying to revamp but slowly dying.
- Andronico’s: high church Episcopalians.
- Farm Fresh To You CSA: Jehovah’s Witnesses
- Whole Foods: Unitarians. Backsliding food fundamentalists who don’t want to feel any guilt when shopping for convenience.
- Whole Foods: Catholics. Pope, err CEO, John Mackey; need I say more?
- Shintos go to Tokyo Fish Market.
- Presbyterians go to Grocery Outlet.
- Hindus go to the San Pablo/University markets.
- Secular humanists aren’t sure where to go.
- Atheists grow their own.
- The Cooperative Grocery is the Judaic temple.
- Pagans gather huckleberries and miners’ lettuce in the woods.
- Irish Catholics shop at Beverages & More and complain about the Joyce quotes.
- Italian Catholics shop at Genova’s Delicatessen and buy more than they need.
- Opus Dei Catholics shop at Natural Grocery Company while lecturing patrons on the impurities present.
- Jesuits shop at Lucky because they’re open 24 hours and they can get in their shopping before 6 a.m. mass.
- Convent of the Sacred Heart sends the glove-clad hired help to Star Grocery.
- Anti-Zionist Jews shop at Halal Food Market because it makes them feel less “oppressive”.
- Zionist Jews now ONLY buy Israeli manufactured couscous and feta at Trader Joe’s by the caseload.
- Conservative Jews mainly shop at Andronico’s, but being somewhat nostalgic for a mythical past, they still wistfully refer to it as Park N’ Shop.
- Reform Jews also shop at Andronico’s on Shattuck, University and at Whole Foods on Telegraph but pretend it’s still the old Berkeley Co-op to balm their forward oriented conscience.
Thanks to EBGuy, Superstar Jane, Maureen Burke, Lee Trampleasure, Nancy Schimmel, Cliff Magnes and SZ Underwood. For attributions see original post. Photo: jaycross, Creative Commons.
