I am big - BIG - on sustainability when it comes to, well, all things. But, particularly, when it comes to food. I shop local whenever humanly possible, and I also make every effort to buy from small producers whose ethics and methods I trust.Therefore, you'd think I'd be a great audience for what Eli Zabar claims is an effort to start a "dialogue" about "the infrastructure that powers a supermarket[...]the perishability, yada yada yada." How is he beginning said dialogue, you ask? By adding a 1.8% fuel surcharge to all purchases at Eli's, his store on Third Avenue.
However, given that the prices at this place are already laughably astronomical ($7.00/pound for heirloom tomatoes that can be had at the Greenmarket for $4 or $5/pound, for example), I'm not inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt here.
This, combined with the experience I had at E.A.T. (his Madison Avenue deli) on Labor Day, seals the deal. I will no longer be patronizing any of Eli Zabar's establishments. In the name of true sustainability (they don't use air conditioning OR heat), I'll stick with the Greenmarket.
Ciao, Eli.
2 comments:
Wow! Big ideals you've got there, Meg. I'm impressed.
Indeed! Luckily, he doesn't own the original Zabar's, so I can obtain my whitefish salad without troubling my conscience.
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