How a Chicken Changed our life

That chicken.  I remember that day.  How can a chicken have such an impact on our lives?  How can it make us go from a family that did not have a worry in the world about what we ate to what we are now?  I am not sure what we are yet, all I know is that we ARE concerned about what it is that we actually eat.  Where did it come from?  How is it raised/processed or produced?  What is actually in it?  Where did it come from?  What impact to the environment does it have?

Whole Foods.  Whole Foods caused this.  Whole Foods is responsible for what we are about to do.  A few years ago the first one opened in Baton Rouge, LA.  Whole Paycheck is what it seemed like the first time we went in there.  I loved the variety and selection that they had.  Up until that time we were average consumers gladly spending all of our money at Walmart.  Not fully understanding what it was we were eating (besides seafood and that is another story).  I had never seen a more beautiful produce area, and CHEESES!!!!  I had never seen anything besides sliced cheese and bagged shredded mozzarella.  What an experience...  Oh yeah, and the kids LOVE all the samples.

So we picked up a few things, I couldn't tell you what everything was, except for one thing.  You guessed it, the chicken.  It was just a prepackaged whole organic chicken.  It was more expensive than any other chicken bought at Walmart.

So the time came when I was going to cook it.  As soon as I opened it, I noticed something was different.  It didn't have the same smell as any other chicken I have cooked.  You know the smell like it is just about to go bad, even though you just bought it.  I thought all chicken smelled that way.  I didn't do anything special, I just roasted it whole in the oven with a little seasoning, no big deal.  

But when we ate it, OMG.  It was the BEST chicken I have ever eaten.  It tasted better than I ever thought chicken did.  It actually tasted like chicken is supposed to taste.  I was amazed at how much I enjoyed eating that one chicken.

So that chicken, bought at Whole Foods a few years ago, slowly put in motion a chain of events that would lead us now to where we are.  

Accepting the No Grocery Store Challenge!!!  Effective August 1st 2011.