Whatever people might say about Whole Foods—and having worked with them before, I’ve done my own complaining—I must admit to being rather astonished at their stubborn dedication to corporate transparence and willingness to set things right, after a time.  I believe them to be a truly well-intentioned company, and I’m increasingly convinced that it’s not just for PR’s sake.  Though it certainly helps them in that department.  And why shouldn’t it?  Fair play, y’all.

This year, John Mackey has:

--written a book about conscious capitalism, for which he solicited input on his (very good) blog

--cut his salary to $1 permanently, saying that he already has enough money.

--established a $30 million venture capital fund to make equity investments in artisanal food companies

--brainstormed ways to rate organic produce in order to indicate where on the organic scale they fall, from ‘bare minimum’ to ‘beyond organic’ or whatever.  (Assuming this gets done properly, I think it could be a brilliant way to resolve the massive and thus-far-incredibly-unresolved problem, frequently discussed on this blog, of appropriately and ethically informing consumers of their market choices.)

--entered into partnership with Fair Trade and the Rainforest Alliance to establish an ethically imported label called the “Whole Trade Guarantee”

--agreed to meet hometown hero Michael Pollan onstage in front of 2,000 people at Berkeley, one of the nation’s most virulently anti-corporate settings.  It’s rumored he was pretty nervous.  That’s balls!

The battle between the purists, who are “mistrustful of [organic] being corrupted by agribusiness and big corporations” and the pragmatists, who “want to spread organics to as many people as possible, will require compromise indeed, but I’m thrilled to see them talking.  I can’t think of better figureheads for the two camps than Mackey and Pollan.

By the way, if you haven’t read the open letters that flew between them after the publication of the Omnivore’s Dilemma (available by toggling between Mackey’s blog and Pollan’s), we highly recommend doing so immediately.  So what if you’re at work?  These things are important!  Send the link to your boss!

Nathalie Jordi's appetites keep her bouncing between between County Cork, New York, London and the French Alps.  When not slinging curd or interviewing farmers, she writes for Travel&Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, Gastronomica, and her blog at www.autobiogeography.com.  Her dreams of a life spent baking, drinking margaritas, and sitting in the sun are gathering steam during her current stint as a waitress in New York City.