Post # 6: Cheese, crisps, sushi, chipotle and their significance in 21st century Kensington

I am sorry I haven't blogged for a while. They keep flagging my "GREAT NEW BLOG" in the Standard, and it isn't very great at all, and it's certainly not very new.

So, what have I been up to? Let's see. Went to the hairdresser. Went to see the very excellent Bob Lind at the Luminaire in Kilburn. Had my mum down for a few days. Went to the new Whole Foods Market (several million times).

There has been a lot of stuff written about Whole Foods Market since it opened on June 8th, not least in the Evening Standard. Our offices are directly below it, you see (never let it be said that newspapers don't cast their nets far and wide when it comes to sniffing out stories). "Sniff" being the operative word. Turns out that being in such close proximity to London's largest selection of organic food has a downside: namely, that the cooking smells from all that freshly prepared takeaway food waft directly up and into our offices. Personally, I don't mind onions, and think it's quite funny that the Standard now smells like a Moroccan souk.

Obviously I have been into WHM every day (sometimes twice) since it opened, and am rapidly hurtling towards bankrupcy. Food always has been what I spend most of my money on, and while I am no Fay Maschler, I feel duty bound to present, in a fashion hits stylee, my Top Ten Buys from Whole Foods Market this summer. It being such a vast place, I've handily included some directions:-

1) Four cheese bread (bread counter, as you go in on the right)

2) Cream cheese brownie (as above)

3) Ribblesdale goat's cheese (cheese room, back of the ground floor)

4) Five year aged mature gouda (as above)

5) Brown rice spicy tuna inside out roll (chilled counter, left of takeaway section, ground floor)

6) Pak choi with oyster sauce (takeaway salad section)

7) Sag chicken curry (takeaway salad section)

8) Pork and apple sausages (from the fresh meat counter, handmade on the premises every day, lower ground floor)

9) Chipotle dip (same aisle as crisps, lower ground floor)

10) Tyrrel's sea salt and cider vinegar crisps (as above)

This is quite a cheese-heavy list, because cheese is my favourite thing to eat. I would be really interested in anyone else's experiences of Whole Foods Market, so if you leave comments I promise I'll reply. Do you think it's expensive? Have you even been? Would you bother going to Sloanesville (aka Kensington High Street) to check it out as a Shopping Phenomenon?

I love food, me. I can't imagine spending a day at work and not rewarding myself with loads of treats. Wednesdays - the worst day of our week - are "Cookie Day", where one of us will go to M&S and buy chocolate chip cookies all round. At the moment, my favourite breakfast is a decaf cappucino and a savoury muffin with pine nuts, parmesan and basil from Pain Quotidien. For lunch, some Tom Yum soup, a couple of pakoras and some pak choi from Whole Foods that costs the same as a Chloe handbag.

Is a blog meant to be this mundane? I dunno. I am a fairly boring person, though, so why hide it?

One thing I have noticed about Whole Foods is the high concentration of women with eating disorders who seem to shop there. I can see why. I suppose it is like porn for them.

I do worry about the wastage, though. Americans love choice but Brits are intimidated by it. I don't think our tastes - even in mega-rich Kensington - run quite so sophisticated and eclectic as John Mackey is hoping.

Whatever happens to WHM, you can rest assured I'll be monitoring the situation closely. With my stomach.