Wednesday 19 September 2012

Food for Thought

'Food for Thought' is such a great name for a whole foods mini market, don't you agree?

We found them, for the first time, on Saturday in Guildford, following a bit of online research by The Hub. And what a find they were!

Tucked away in a side street, literally not much more than a few steps away from a main city centre shopping street, I can't help wishing that every town had one of these. Unfortunately, at the moment they have only two stores, one in Guildford and the other in Kingston.

Not quite as big as The Whole Foods market, that I visited, in Clapham, the other week, they nonetheless make good use of the space they've got and stock a pretty extensive range of specialist foods. In fact, it was a real Aladdin's Cave of goodies, I really had to restrain myself, from spending too much of The Hub's hard earned money!

The staff in the shop were quite friendly - one helpfully suggested that I might like to leave my cold purchases with them (whilst we shopped elsewhere) and return to pick them up later.  Bonus!! Being in town for the day, I happily accepted this offer.

However, I passed up the chance to buy more dairy free ice cream, - I've still got some in the freezer and was uncertain about getting it home. 

Co-yo's chocolate yoghurt soon found its way into my basket, though, closely followed by a larger tub of its natural version. I was delighted to restock my fridge with this dairy free yoghurt and was keen to try the chocolate flavour.

Another familiar face - Lucy's was in stock, as well. This time I bought a packet of mini cookies,  for taking out and about.

Amy's dairy, gluten and soya free macaroni cheese followed soon after - the first time I had seen this stocked any where, other than Goodness Direct or The Allergy Show. Its dairy and soya free version is not to be confused with their solely gluten free version, which seems to be much more widely available. Unfortunately, it's no good for us at all, as that version does contain dairy!

From the States and hard to find over here!

Joy of joys, their chocolate range was pretty good too - they stock my favourite chocolate bars, by Organica. Baby spotted their 'hamster chocolate' (Mini Moos by Moo Free) and, being a girl after my own heart, she made sure that also made it into my basket!!

All-in-all, it was a successful shopping trip. And now I know where they are, I'm sure that sometime or another I'll be back for more!!

Update:
This cream substitute really is quite yummy!
Just to let you know, I have been back. This time my top find was Soyatoo Rice Whip. Just like the squirty cream, I loved as a kid, this stuff is truly amazing! 

If you can't find it in your local health food store, try Amazon, or the Vegan Store

Okay, so I know, it's made with rice and there's a whole debate about rice going on right now (generally I avoid it as a daily milk substitute - just to be on the safe side) but I still eat rice, and being gluten free as well, have little choice but to consume it in baked goods too. Therefore, I think that in an occasional treat, like this hot chocolate (made with hazelnut milk) it should be alright.




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