Since Chris does a weekly Whole Foods grocery now, I don’t go into Whole Foods at Columbus Circle very often anymore. Occasionally if I forgot to ask him to buy something, I will go pick it up. I also do this if I need to get something and I don’t think he will get me the right thing. Before picking up Kaia today, I went over to Whole Foods with the intention of picking up King Arthur organic bread flour (on sale!), as well as pumpkin seeds (aka pepitas) and buckwheat groats by weight.

Unfortunately, I had a rude awakening while at Whole Foods: the wall that used to have a massive line-up of dried goods you could measure and pay for by weight… had been reduced by at least 70 to 80 percent. And what was left was the tiniest selection of dried beans, oats, and seeds. The pumpkin seeds were completely emptied out. Buckwheat groats were not even an option. So I went to the dried beans/grains aisle and picked up a package of buckwheat groats, which was the only available brand and type there.

I used to love that self-serve dry-goods wall. Every now and then when I just wanted a small amount of buckwheat groats or a specific type of seed or nut for a recipe, I’d go to that wall, pour out, measure, and then add a price label to the bag. This whole concept eliminates household waste and ensures you get just what you need, no more, no less. Since the pandemic, people get all grossed out by self-serve, and so a lot of these options have either been reduced or eliminated. I suppose it was inevitable and now an end of an era of one of the things I liked the most about Whole Foods.