Earlier this morning, I was casting about for something to write about, so I took this photo of the Capitol building from the east to west centerline of the Washington mall.
I think it's a pretty striking photo, and it's clear that the restoration of the Capitol Dome has made quite a bit of progress over the last several weeks with some of the staging and Tyvek coverings coming down. On the other hand, this is not the first time you've seen me lead with something like this, so you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled across this seven ounce container of rosemary in the international food aisle of a local grocery store.
A little background is probably in order. Recently one of my roommates ordered the Anti-Arthritis, Anti-Inflammation Cookbook: Healing Through Natural Foods by Gary Null, PhD as a change of pace for our diet. It turns out that the book is a vegetarian cookbook which was not clear to me when we ordered it, but nevertheless, it's a really good book.
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| Capitol Building from the Washington Mall looking east. |
I think it's a pretty striking photo, and it's clear that the restoration of the Capitol Dome has made quite a bit of progress over the last several weeks with some of the staging and Tyvek coverings coming down. On the other hand, this is not the first time you've seen me lead with something like this, so you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled across this seven ounce container of rosemary in the international food aisle of a local grocery store.
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| Large seven ounce container of Rosemary |
A little background is probably in order. Recently one of my roommates ordered the Anti-Arthritis, Anti-Inflammation Cookbook: Healing Through Natural Foods by Gary Null, PhD as a change of pace for our diet. It turns out that the book is a vegetarian cookbook which was not clear to me when we ordered it, but nevertheless, it's a really good book.
I was at a local grocery store that I've found has a good selection of produce at reasonable prices and also has a very robust international aisle with a large selection of beans and legumes I was interested in perusing for incorporation into some of the recipes in from the cookbook.
During my browsing, I came across this large seven ounce jar of rosemary that was selling for $2.49. That seemed like a very low price for me, so before I bought it I double checked the baking needs aisle. What I found there was truly stunning. Both the store brand and major national spice brand for spices were peddling a small jar of rosemary for $5.99 for one ounce of rosemary.
That price differential equates to about a 1600% premium being charged for the smaller quantities in the non-ethnic section of the grocery store. Needless to say, I went back to the international section to fill my order.
The situation where there could be that sort of pricing disparity, in the same store, surprised me greatly. Not only are immigrants (legal or otherwise) coming to the North American continent to pursue economic security and take away jobs, they also have the audacity to be importing the affordable...much more affordable...price structure from their country of origin. I think it's great, and I welcome the change. There is a lesson in looking past brands, never assume price parity for similar items in a grocery store, and this is a place I will return to for any additional spicing needs on my vegetarian journey.
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