Whole Fools
Okay, so there’s a controversy. It’s about Whole Foods stripping oranges naked and putting them in plastic containers.
People were pretty much agreeing that this was a pathetic way to jack up the price of a damn orange.
That was until even naked oranges became a victim of political correctness. A person from the disability community speaks.
“Preparing food with limited mobility is both hugely time consuming and potentially dangerous. While adapted cooking tools do exist to help offset those issues, they are really expensive, ” Sauder explained on her blog. “Anything that helps make my regular acts of daily life safer and more convenient is always a plus. So I was one of a number of disabled people who pushed back against the wholesale shaming of preprepared foods.”
I think “wholesale shaming” might be a little over the top. Just a tad. Tiny bit.
I’m not talking out of my patootie. I represent Disabled Democrats on the State Democratic Executive Committee. I am well aware of disability issues when it comes to the marketplace and lifehacks.
I am blessed that I am able to cut an orange. I can even peal one. Do you want to know what I cannot do? Open one of those containers from Whole Foods. I can’t do that and my disability has nothing to do with my hands.
I have been known to stab one of those hermetically sealed like Tut’s tomb containers and then cut around the edges, risking opening the veins on my wrist with the cut edges or the knife. They are far harder to open than a damn orange.
I am willing to bet that if you buy an orange at Whole Foods, they will cut it for you without charging double the price for the orange.
Bananas? Already tried that.
Ain’t it great to know in Texas,if you open a vein opening a sealed product,you are prevented from suing and if you could sue and win,you could only collect minimal damages. Don’t want these businesses to have to worry about faulty product liability. It is hard on the campaign contributions,doncha know.
1OK, I get the objection to selling peeled oranges entombed in plastic at premium prices, but I don’t understand the objection by the handicapped lady. Amazon.com sells orange peelers of various sorts, some of which are less than $2 each, with free shipping. They’re easier to use than trying to break into that !*)&!@! plastic box.
2And for an additional charge, the store will have someone eat it for you! Anything else ya’ need lazy, stupid America? Sheesh!
3Since my dis-ability is in my hands, and every other joint in my body–I can see both sides. The real problem for me is the nasty plastic–doesn’t recycle well…and because I travel a lot, my foot print is too big already. I do the old fashioned thing–ask for help. Once I explain (embarrassing as it may be–I have learned to be shameless around myself) most people are more than kind and generous. I highly recommend human interaction–it makes the people behind the counter feel more appreciated, too!
4I’m with Elise above. If it comes to pass that I become disabled in a way that I cannot, for example, peel an orange I hope I retain the knowledge that human interaction is to be preferred over this sort of inane “help”.
That said, Whole Foods has lost its way. This attempt at a value added product is a death rattle. WF here’s an idea, ask your customers, those you have left, what they would buy in your stores. Otherwise, the local jurisdictions are going to be working overtime deciding how to retask all those closed WF stores.
5Hopefully, anyone with a type of disability that would limit them from cutting an orange into quarters, or being able to peel one, would have someone right handy who could do that for them … at home or wherever they reside … and not someone at Whole Foods.
6The stores all think the convenience will outweigh the price hike. Some folks will buy into that!!
How about this……If the product doesn’t sell it will disappear from production. If someone is willing to pay this price I say let them. You have the choice to buy or not , complaining about the morals of the product is a waste of time…
7Now that I’ve found Trader Joes I avoid WF entirely. Can’t blame them for wanting to sell fruit that is appealing…..
8Waiting for some wingnut pols to tell us how easy it is to “peel” a church bell. They be dumb bees.
9I’m holding out for the peeled grapes, Fatima.
10In my kitchen are a couple of things ….. without which, I could not survive. (2) pairs each…….. scissors, and vise grips. And…. an excellent corkscrew for wine…..I can, even at my age, peel an orange.
What I hate….. more than anything are those G.D. twist ties.
add to the scissors, and pliers, and corkscrew………. lots of clothes pins.
Getting old, being disabled….. really sucks.
11Sauders can’t afford the $2 orange peeler, but $5.99 per pound for an orange is hunky-dorey? Someone needs to help her organize a budget. Remember WF’s Asparagus Water for $5.99? A small container of water with 3 stalks of asparagus in it – for $5.99. WF is just trolling us.
12This is a First World problem. Them that are in the Third World only wish they had our peeled orange problem.
13Don’t know about grape peelers but there is a kit of “useful” stuff including a (tada) grape cutter.
14I’m gonna go try to write an understandable book review about how falling water (Niagara Falls) turns into electricity to run an electric car. This book is supposed to easily explain electricity. I’m only 76. I may be back. I’m not sure I’m smart enough to understand this.
Use a quality steak knife and cut the damned orange in half, and depending on the size of the halves, cut them in halves or quarters. Much easier to eat too. Quality steak knives beat the hell out of regular knives for many such tasks, and don’t have to be resharpened. I have had screaming, throwing, swearing that would make a sailor’s jaw drop, events in my kitchen, trying to open some [expletive] plastic containers.
15Cut the orange in half and let the Orioles eat it. They like oranges and jelly of all kinds.
16The plastic containers bother me more than the fact that they’re selling peeled oranges. Plastic is a huge problem. Tossed away plastic stuff is everywhere you go and the oceans are teeming with it. Even without a peeler (and I never knew there were orange peelers!) you can cut the orange into wedges and eat them like you did when you were a little kid. Including the orange smiley thing you can do with the peel. It makes me sad to think a company that should be as enlightened as Whole Foods is contributing to the plastic problem.
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