The Rawtarian Community
The Rawtarian Community is one of the largest online raw food communities. In addition to this community forum, you can browse and search thousands of community recipes added by over 5000 talented Rawtarian Community members just like you!
Visit The Community
Comments
It depends on where you are. The selection varies a lot by location, but if it’s a relatively large one, yes to all of these.
Some smaller locations (like the Columbus Circle location in Manhattan) don’t have as many staples and focus more on prepared foods, but I think you could probably find most of these items at most stores. My local WF is definitely on the smaller side, but it has them all. One note: the raw coconut butter is usually in with the supplements. Took me a while to figure this out!
WF definitely has its issues, but it is terrific for bulk items. (Especially dried spices, if you use them—you can buy them in small quantities for incredibly cheap prices and that way you always have a fresh supply.) Bulk goods were how WF got their start, and they continue to be the best buys at the store. I grew up around the corner from the original (tiny!) location, and fondly remember sniffing all the burlap sacks when my parents would buy coffee. Even though I don’t drink coffee now, I still love to smell the beans!
I have seen all this items at the Whole Foods I have been too EXCEPT the coconut butter. They do have Coconut OIL though.
Their Raw Almond butter (actually ALL of their raw butters) are outrageously expensive though!
I run a bulk department for a WFM in Massachusetts. As in terms of selection, it’s really up to the descretion of the buyer as to what we decide to sell. We can bring in and discontinue products as we see fit so every Whole Foods will be as varied and unique as the people that run them. If you can’t find something you’re looking for, we can special order a case for you if it’s available through one of our distributors. Some inner-city stores don’t have self serve bulk departments due to sanitation issues but most things come packaged anyway.
When I’m rawing, I can find all the dry goods there for a much lower price than any conventional supermarket (nuts, seeds, dried fruits). 365 brand bagged nuts are often cheaper per pound than in bulk. For the northeast region anyway. Remember that!
The only raw tahini I’m aware of is by Maranatha but they’ve recently had a recall on it for possible salmonella contamination. I haven’t seen any new product come in. We do have raw almond butter by the same company although I’ve heard it isn’t really raw due to the jarring process but you can use your own judgement on that. Same thing with coconut oil. There are quite a few brands to choose from (all organic, cold pressed) both in the Whole Body department and Grocery. Braggs is a huge seller so there should be no problem finding that.
Sorry if this is a bit long.. I stare at labels all day!
awesome! thanx for all the info!! well since you guys seem to know quite a bit on the subject i have one more item i would like to see if its sold there
dry shreaded coconut? crosses fingers – hoping not to have to buy off line
Let’s Do Organic! Shredded Coconut and also Coconut Flakes. These are unsweetened, not sure about being truly raw. Some stores have a small raw foods section that carry Go Raw and Himilayan Harvest. The latter have a shredded coconut that’s actually labeled raw but it’s crazy ‘spensive.
Magdi, I buy it all the time at mine!
Mooky, it’s so interesting to hear an inside view! I always assumed the reason for no bulk bins in the inner-city locations was to prevent too much “sampling.” But sanitation issues make much more sense!
you guys rock .. thanx for all your help .. now i dont have to worry about buying those simple things off the net! yay!
well its a long weekend here in Canada soooooo if you live here have a great long weekend .. and if you dont then .. have a great 2 day weekend! lol :P
whole foods is great,but i get most of my goodies at my co-op.. i goto whole foods for agave and olive oil cause they are cheaper there. the whole foods by me sells The Living Tree brand raw tahini. I actually buy my shredded coconut from sunfoodnutrition(rawfood.com) because it is the best and is very fairly priced. at the end if you are having trouble buying bulk items it might be best to research the best prices on line and order once a month or every other month depending on your consumption.. i order a few bags of shredded coconut and they last me a month so..
I like WF for their awesome selection of greens and for their ready made section of raw foods including raw flax seed crackers. They do carry a brand called Rejuvenative that is supposedly raw and sells ready made almond butter and other nut butters. However, they are outrageously expensive. A large jar was $30 by me. I normally shop at my local fruit market or at the general grocery store because the pricing is much less expensive and usually go to WF 1 or times a month.
My Whole Foods does have:
Raw Almond Butter Raw Coconut Butter (with the Coconut Oils) Braggs Raw Seeds Nama Shoyu Raw Nori and other Raw Seaweed Raw Agave Nectar Unpasteurized Pickles, Olives, Miso, Saurkraut Kim-Chi
I have not been able to find:
Raw Tahini Raw Cacao Butter
I just went to whole foods today and spent over 200.00. I haven’t seen any raw foods there other than produce. It’s pretty over whelming to go in there I didn’t get several things I needed! One heirloom tomato was almost 4.00 and it took the lady a long time to ring me out because she had to hand type in most of the numbers. I only go a couple times a month as it’s over an hour from my house. I wish they had a map so you knew where you were going in there!
I’m a big fan of Whole Foods. They have a great selection AND….whenever I need something, I ask them to order it for me. So, if there is something that you want and don’t see…ask them if they can order it for you. They probably can :) Cheers!
Chef Kristen Suzanne