Is there a place here like Whole Foods in the US which is all organic food?

WHere I can shop online possibly?

Thanks

Globus and Jelmoli both have 'gourmet foods' sections which would contain some (i.e. not all of it is) organic foods. Also, I think the Migros and Coop Bio lines are organic (I don't know for sure, because I don't like paying the upcharge on those brands). Lastly there are speciality grocers throughout that have organic foods. As to the online part, I don't know of any offhand.

Hope this helps!

You just made me spit my coffee out on my keyboard.

The short answer is, no, there is nothing like WF in Switzerland. I visited one when I was back home over the autumn break and just tried to take it all in without crying in aisle 6.

I say we all chip in and open a WF franchise. We could even sell Bagels and Brown sugar.

Does it have to look like Whole Foods (mall-y) or is it more about organic food?

In Biel, try these:


Bio-Fachgeschäft Phönix
Bahnhofstrasse 4, 2502 Biel

Verse
Nidaugasse 14

Epicerie Macolin Coopérative
Hauptstrasse 226
2532 Magglingen/Macolin

A Whole Paycheck in CH would have to be renamed Whole Yearly Income.

I'm in! Can you just imagine the pricing on stuff though?! Holey moley, I'd do it just for the sheer entertainment of watching folks from the US come in and react on the security cameras. For everything else, there's the Swiss Gold Platinum Master Card....

WF is great but man I REALLY miss Trader Joe's......and to think TJ's imported goods probably cost more here at their origin!

I prefer my organic food to be local and not trucked across the U.S. from California or flown in from abroad.

I've not had a problem getting organic food here.

What exactly is it that you can't get?

Bagels
Brown Sugar
KiwiKwisine (meat pies)
Baby Spinach
WF Deli items (I really miss the vegan chicken)
WF Hot Bar
WF Salad Bar
WF Gelato Bar
WF grind-yer-own nut butter
WF organic / enviro friendly soaps / bath salts / toiletries

I guess what I really miss is that I could go in there and buy everything and never have to actually cook and still eat mostly vegetarian. Here in CH I can't do that.

That and always something new, possibly exotic to try. And the deli/meat/fishmongers (and the free-range turkey for t-day that remains the best I've ever cooked) that few could compare to. Quality. Selection. Variety. Novelty. It's a foodie wonderland.

If I was concerned about 'local', I'd grow it myself. I think what's more to the point is 'seasonal' as anything that isn't in season but is in your grocery has probably been flown in. But if you're in the US and it's trucked, trained or flown in from CA, that's a lot closer than elsewhere. Also, a lot of the small farmer's markets in the US are closing down due to high prices and low/variable quality so WF is often the best choice in terms of a grocery that actively tries to source as much produce locally as possible.

But where's the fun in doing that?

Tom

I guess what I really miss is that I could go in there and buy everything and never have to actually cook and still eat mostly vegetarian.

In Basel we have a place called I think Hohners. Its near the unspellable Schutzenmacherpark I haven't been to WF but from what I read this isn't going to be a patch on it. Its quite small but all organic.

Now, be prepared for the prices: Even for Switz these are, lets say, demanding. I got a goose last year. It was a nice goose, had clearly come from a good family, been educated at the finest of schools and had all sorts of luxuries lavished upon it. The price was 240 CHF Ouch!

I don't know how useful this is, but in Konstanz (which is not Switzerland, but pretty close) there's a big organic supermarket called Alnatura. They have everything from food to cosmetics, and they're part of a chain, so you might also find other ones in Germany. They don't seem to have an online shop, but the prices are so much cheaper (e.g. Beluga lentils 2 euros vs 8 chf) it could be really worth a visit.

I can imagine the Swiss version of WF: clods of dirt and cow dung still stuck to everything. What!? It's ORGAAAAANICKKKKKSCHCHCHCH!

Will you voluntarily surrender your man card..or do we need to come and get it ourselves?

Same here I miss Trader Joe's. They're owned by a German company so
there might be an equivalent in Germany.

I love their business model of selling Trader Joe brand items that are cheaper
than a regular branded item. Coop has the Naturaline brand but it's high end
organic stuff.

We used to buy a lot of Trader Joe coconut milk, tortilla chips (no salt!),
brown sugar, etc.

Yeah, I miss TJ. WF too, though I don't like some of their labor practices in the US, though maybe TJ's aren't so great either. Plus, WF stopped selling prosciutto from Italy .... The stuff from Iowa doesn't cut it.

In Chapel Hill, we used to have the Wellspring, local earthy crunchy organic cultish place for all the displaced non locals like me ... Chapel Hill had the Wellsping, a food co-op, also organic, and Southern Season, sort of like Dean and DeLuca. This is how they recruited the out of towners and foreigners to North Carolina. That and the schools...but I digress.

But then WF bought out the Wellspring and enlarged them, but kept lots of its local character (characters?). For Thanksgiving and Christmas, they'd make a fowl run to central Pennsylvania for really excellent fresh turkey, capon, etc. I miss that. Interesting that they didn't source NC fowl, however.

As I have never been to this US store I might not be able to help you but if you want organic products you should be looking for a "Reformhaus". The biggest chain in Switzerland is Müller. They have many stores in the German part of Switzerland and also some in the Italian part but based on their homepage do not operate in the French part.
They also sell things like soap etc.
Check http://www.reformhaus.ch/verkaufsstellen/index.php

Please do not confuse the Reformhaus Müller with "Müller" which is a German chain and not organic.

Hope that helps!