On a whim I decided to make a detour on my way to Berkeley, and seek out Rainbow Grocery Store in San Francisco. I had been hearing about how wonderful this store is, and pining over its offerings for years now, and today, I finally got to experience this sustainable grocery Mecca. It was everything I could want in a store and more! Bulk isles as far as the eye can see; reusable glass, plastic, and cloth containers available to fill with as many bulk food items as my little pocketbook could afford; cool food items that I had never heard of and may never need; even bulk chips (oh yeah!). I love this place. So yeah, yeah, I know what you are thinking: all "hippie" food stores have a bulk isle -right? But Rainbow Grocery doesn't just have a bulk bin isle they have a whole store full of bulk bins, the bins at Rainbow are WAY more expansive and awesome than anything I could imagine, and they have SO many things that I have never seen before, and want to try!
So here it is, the top 10 list of reasons to LOVE (and shop at) Rainbow Grocery:
1. They have SO many bulk herbs and spices available. They even had Vietnamese cinnamon that is so spicy that it smelled like Big Red gum (A favorite of mine from childhood- I used to chew so many pieces at once that I would get huge, spicy headaches.)
2. Paper bag containers for the bulk spices (yeah plastic-free).
3. Reusable, durable containers (for purchase) for filling with bulk items, including the 1/2 gallon mason jar that I have been pining after since I was at Telion Holon and saw their wall of mason jars (I bought one just because they are cool - a horrible consumerist response I know, but I will actually use it- promise!).
4. Oil, honey, nut butters, chips, chocolate, and other junk food in bulk.
5. Cleaning/beauty products in bulk. Okay, this one is REALLY cool because I've never seen this selection before, and in my desire to reduce/eliminate(?) the plastics that I consume this isle of bodily and house cleaners in bulk will be key.
6. They sell 100% Pure products. A company that I love for their philosophy, and product line, but am annoyed at because they never responded to my letter. (More on that later, but bottom line they still rock! Check them out!)
7. They sell organic, raw Kimchi from this cool place in Berkeley which is closed on the weekends. Since Rainbow is open on the weekends, now I get to have my kimchi and eat it too.
8. Rainbow is a worker-owned coop. (This probably should have been higher up on the list. Silly me.)
9. Their website is awesome, and filled with recipes, info on the food they sell, and links to so many other cool enviro info.
10. They are closed on March 31 in honor of Cesar Chavez' birthday. How cool is that?!
So, I'm a smitten kitten as you can see. The only sad part (although lucky for my wallet) is that Rainbow is in the City, and I am not. I will have to plan special trips there, bring all of my reusable, empty containers to fill up with yummies, and burn up a ton of fossil fuels transporting myself there in future visits.
Long distance love. How do you make it work? Will it last?
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