Just visited the Berkeley Bowl supermarket, which has to be one of a kind in the world. This is an iconic Berkeley business and one that that to some degree symbolizes the way of life we associate with this part of California - organic, vegetarian, free trade, co-op, sustainable, recycle ... you get the idea.
Started in 1977 as a neighbourhood vegetable shop, it has grown into an immense emporium of fresh food, organic products, and bulk dry goods. The variety and choice can only be hinted at by the photo of the fridge display above (one of 2 or 3 in a row tucked into a corner of this huge retail space) dedicated essentially to root vegetables (and a couple of types of cabbage). Stunned by a display of about 9 types of radishes and 4 or 5 varieties of beetroot, I couldn't resist taking the photo.
Somewhat bewildered, we wandered from the organic vegetable section (larger than the vegetable section of most big supermarkets) to the normal vegetable section - the size of a 3 or 4 tennis courts. Just when I felt I had seen it all I would stumble on some new section with more surprises: fresh chick peas or fresh turmeric root, 20 kinds of African root vegetable or Chinese greens, a whole section dedicated to fresh herbs, a meat counter offering buffalo, venison, kangaroo, elk, and camel.
I won't even start to talk about the rest of this supermarket. The whole enterprise would be too challenging.
We walked home loaded down with supplies - six short blocks that take us from the edge of Berkeley back to North Oakland - crossing the invisible city line marked only by a change in the colour of the street signs from brown to green.
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