Tonight, Whole Foods Market in Kahului, Maui, Hawaii offered a delightful event called the “Ono Dinner.” Ono, if you don’t know, means delicious/scrumptious/etc.

This was a great opportunity for those in The Industry (aka the food industry) to view the store, view products from local business that will be sold at Whole Foods Market, and to network.

By sheer luck, thanks to Twitter and Facebook, I won two tickets to tonight’s events. While I’m not a fully immersed member of The Industry, I do have my toes in the water. I am a culinary student and I am a gluten free blogger (which means I am a part of the media/press).

My first thought when entering the contest wasn’t, “I’ll go network for my future career.” My thoughts were on bringing you all a sneak peak of what possibilities are in your future because of the opening of this new store.

Being gluten-free is hard, and it’s even harder when you’re left out of so many foods you remember and see around you every day. Because of this loss, gluten free flours and ready made products can be such a nice treat for us. But, when you live somewhere that is more rural, or out of the way, you often miss out on a lot of the products that bigger cities with bigger stores carry. I know that even with the opening of this new store there are many brands of gluten free products still out there that we don’t have direct access to on Maui. Pick up a copy of a gluten free magazine and you’ll see what I mean.

When I arrived at the event my first stop was the pasta aisle. I wanted to see if they were putting the gluten free products right in there with the gluten containing products or not. Well, they are, but I think that this is useful and makes people who shop for gluten free products feel a little less outcast. I think it also makes those who aren’t gluten free take a little notice of alternative products to what they’re used to.

A smile sprang to my face when I saw the pasta selection. My oh my, just see for yourself:

Yes, that is spelt pasta looming over my head. Avoid it at all costs if you’re gluten free.

I also sought out the gluten free flours, cookies, and crackers. Here’s an end cap of nothing but gluten free cookies:

I did see that Whole Foods Market’s Gluten Free Bakehouse products (quite pricey really, but good if you really just are a terrible baker) were available in the freezer section, and that there were also other gluten free breads in the same case.

I was disappointed by the refrigerated “Alternative Breads” section over near the beers and prepared foods. There were NO gluten free breads there. There were also NO gluten free tortillas.

I scoured the magazine racks for Living Without or another gluten free publication, but was left living without any of them.

I was bummed by the lack of a bulk spice section too. But, I must remember that this is literally the smallest Whole Foods store ever (at just under 27,000 sq. ft.).

The produce section definitely left something to be desired. It felt like 1/2 to 3/4 of the size of the produce section at Safeway and perhaps the same size as the produce section at Foodland. I guess Whole Foods knows what the average consumer wants. Ready to eat, lazy dinner. And, you’re going to pay big bucks for those frozen lazy dinner pizzas and lazy dinner Glutino meals (9 dollars a piece for small pizzas, and 8 dollars for a TV dinner). You could pay the same price and eat out. While I know that eating out isn’t always an option, you could then make yourself a much nicer dinner for the same price and end up with leftovers. Nine dollars per person for a meal at home is outrageous when you could spend 3 dollars.

While the prices were really good on some products (like eggs), they were high on others (especially some of the Bob’s Red Mill products). Other health food stores on Maui are still less expensive than Whole Foods by far on certain products. I can’t remember them all, so you’ll just have to shop around. And, in this economy it does pay to shop around.

I’m glad in some ways to have Whole Foods Market here as it will support some local businesses quite a bit, but it will hurt others. Whole Foods Market gets people to eat more organics and sometimes more healthily than the standard grocery store, but it’s still all a matter of personal choice. You can still eat quite terribly on health food. Whole Foods has a lot of variety, but that variety comes at the cost of carbon emissions from transporting the food thousands of miles. It’s still all a matter of the hippie’s dilemma, paper or plastic.

It’s your choice, and it’s always been your choice. You vote with your credit card every day. Do your best. Do what’s pono.

Whole Foods Market Kahului
Opens Wednesday February 24, 2010 9:00AM
70 Kaahumanu Ave #B
Kahului, HI 96732 USA