FoodforThought Wichita

This was my main grocery store from 2000 to mid 2009, when i lived in Wichita. Since moving out of Kansas, i make it a point to stop by to shop when i am in town visiting relatives. The family owners and the staff are very friendly and helpful. They continually make improvements on the already great inventory of items they carry and on the layout and organization of the whole store. The first time i walked in to shop, i felt very much at home -- and i still feel this way on my yearly visits. This is by far, the best health food and grocery store in which i have shopped -- and i have been in many health food stores, from Arizona to the East Coast!

Food for Thought drinks a little bit too much of the organic Kool-Aid made with cane sugar and all natural flavorings: the amount of times I saw the O-word along with a series of tidbits on why organic foods are better for you was bordering on delusional. Still, forty years is a pretty good amount of time for a grocery store, and while I continue to reassert that there's little inherently "better" about organic food, I can't fault a place for carrying fresh, local, and minimally-processed wares. There's always an air of discovery in these smaller groceries, too; you're never sure what you're going to find. My first visit had me walking out with a bag of teff - a grain I had no idea existed prior to me entering the building. One thing I did expect to find at FfT was a small cafe, that serves a small organic lunch during the work week, along with some organic smoothies. Organic. In for a penny, in for a pound, so why not try the Rawcos raw tacos? I'll tell you why not: the romaine leaf "shell", walnut "meat", cilantro cashew "cheese", and jarred salsa didn't go far enough. It was a leaf topped with some goop and chopped walnuts. Make your own salsa, throw some avocado on there, get a little more creative with it. Kudos for not using soy as a crutch can raw diets eat soy? We need to preserve that portmanteau, but for being located fifteen feet from some of the best organic produce around their words, there was certainly room for improvement. The smoothies were better. The Green Dragon had kale, spinach, ginger, green tea, coconut milk, and mango juice. If anything, I wouldn't have minded more green leafy vegetables, but I'm weird like that. If it was just the deli, Food for Thought would probably score lower. Fortunately the deli is just the icing on the cake. Even if you're not an organic vegan star child, Food for Thought has enough fresh, local, and niche products to keep things interesting.