Freedom

I told Gabriela that we were going the market but instead we went to Market City.

She was thirsty. So we went to the closest freezer and we bought a purple smoothie because purple is our favourite colour and we thought it might taste as good as purple pop. But instead it was BLACKBERRIES, BOYSENBERRIES, RED RASPBERRIES, STRAWBERRIES, BLUEBERRIES, APPLE JUICE, and BANANA (obviously, that would of been our next guess). The was a little note on the bottle that said "no sugar added" - is there anyone (besides the 6 000 000 000+ people who don't make up elite North Americans) that doesn't know yet that sugar is BAD. The juice was good anyway. We weren't completely sure how we felt about the smoothie not until we read the side panel under "Why you should feel good about what's in this bottle." And then we were feeling real good. So good that we didn't even read about why but we did momentarily ponder what "flash pasturized" would look like as we sipped some more "100% juice/puree Smoothie." It was an "ALL NATURAL" experience. Luckily it's recyclable if we would ever want to feel that good again.

We drank more until we felt like we had been blasted by "a wellness that only Mother Nature could provide" (must have been the B6 or B12 or vitamin A or vitamin C or the WATER) and we decided to do some more shopping. We were very careful to buy organic, free range, green and unbleached, cage free, healthy, low fat, sugar free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free, fairly-traded, and local with added Acai and/or kombu and whose labels started with "on our farm. . . but not from Earthbound Farms (because Michael Pollen told us in his book that it's a mega farm and also we heard a news program about how California is running out of water) and without any high fructose corn syrup, or transfats, or razor blades. Gabriela helped out by bring everything that was just in her reach over to the cart: Koolaid, organic fruit loops with natural dyes, bonbons, other boxes of stuff too trendy for me to remember or say in public.

Then we looked around for a treat.
Then we looked around for a treat #!#)*()*&*!!@$

The checkout was cashier free so we pushed the button that said "call cashier". She helped us scan our items and get the total so we could pay with our credit card because our pockets were cash free. Had the cashier still been there, we would have told her that we don't need plastic bags because we want the world to be plastic bag free world and why she should be too but she was already back at her podium.

When we got home, I made a vegetarian, gluten-free, lactose-free, free range dinner without any added transfats or sugar, MSG, broccoli or raisins or any food at all which served me well because I've kind of forgotten how to cook. Instead I had a cigarette, well I wanted to, but it was a smoke free zone.

this is freedom in the true north strong and free
this is freedom and the home of the brave

we can only move as fast as we all can move Ram Dass

market observations
from our travels in Canada and the USA

EdG July 2008

a note to our many hosts in North America: this is my official rant about the big O and not a comment on the GENEROSITY with which shared with us from your gardens, fridges, and snack traps for which we are eternally GRATEFUL. If we were living in North America we'd be buying organic-cranberries-sweetened-with-apple-juice too, in fact WE DO and that's one of the ways we really miss NA when in Haiti!