Trader Joe's

I recently discovered a granola at Trader Joe’s that I like a lot: coconut almond. It’s affordable, low in sugar, and I’ve always enjoyed the texture of coconut flakes.

When I mentioned I had a new favorite granola to a friend of mine, adding that it was from Trader Joe’s, he stopped me, 

“Which one?” 

As I started to describe it, he stopped me again,

“Oh yeah I like the coconut one. You gotta try their peanut butter protein granola though. So bomb!” 

I tried the peanut butter protein granola and I agree, it is bomb. With Trader Joe’s plain European style yogurt, honey, and strawberries, my yogurt bowls taste a lot like pb&j. And I love pb&j. 

What I don’t love is the taste our conversation has left in my mouth. 

My friends, my roommate, and my mom all shop at Trader Joe’s, too. Everything bagel crackers and Salt and Pepper chips have been staples at every beach day, park hang, and birthday party I’ve attended for as long as I can remember. 

And lately, I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. 

My friends from college and I recently started a book club. It’s a fun way to keep in touch and engage with one another beyond the occasional weekend visit.

Our first book as a club was Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, a novel about a dystopian world in which every aspect of citizen’s lives, from embryonic development to death, is structured and optimized to keep people happy and satisfy the needs of the World State. 

Brave New World is a fascinating book and a quick read. It also makes you think… about everything.

There’s so much to take away from what Huxley puts forward in so few pages. And the ideas Huxley puts forward apply to so many aspects of modern life that the book almost feels like it was written by a prophet. 

If you haven’t read Brave New World yourself, there’s a strong chance you’ve heard soma referenced in passing, in the Strokes song by the same name, or elsewhere — it is the miracle drug of Brave New World, offering the euphoria of heroin without any withdrawals, and everyone’s on it. 

When a character in Brave New World expresses that they’re not in the mood for Soma, they’re met with blunt confusion,

“How could that be? Soma is simply the most wonderful thing there is!”

Growing up, my mom loved Trader Joe’s shawarma chicken thighs, but only when their mango jicama slaw was in season. She always mispronounced the word shawarma, usually by swapping the ‘w’ with another ‘m’, resulting in her saying the word “shmar-ma.” 

Before moving to San Francisco, where frozen dumplings are abundant, Trader Joe’s dumplings were a staple in my freezer. For a long time, I enjoyed them with Trader Joe’s sweet chili sauce until they introduced the dumpling sauce, which I prefer. 

And although it’s been years, I can still taste Trader Joe’s salt & pepper chips with caramelized onion dip. 

For most of my life, Trader Joe’s has been behind the scenes developing flavor combinations for me, my family, and my friends to enjoy. Flavors that they produce and control and combine to keep us coming back. 

They know what we like, they know how to keep us happy, and they’re only getting better. Lately, Trader Joe’s flavor combinations have been speaking to my tastes on a deeper level — banana pudding ice cream is an eerily precise combination of flavors I’ve loved since the moment I tried them as a child. 

I wonder what Trader Joe’s learns when I purchase and consume and repurchase this item that satisfies my deepest childlike cravings.

How does Trader Joe’s know?
How could anyone not like Trader Joe’s? 
Or question if there’s anything suspicious about old Trader Joe? 
It’s simply the most wonderful store there is. 

I don’t mean to be so hard on Joe, but the company and their vested interest in studying their own sales data and using that data to nurture our cravings makes me question if we are headed in the right direction. 

If Trader Joe’s ends up being the only affordable grocery store, are our palates at the mercy of the lowest common denominator — those products that sell so well that Trader Joe’s feels incentivized enough to research dishes that either compliment them or mirror their flavors elsewhere? 

I don’t want it to be that way. Where everything wonderful is available at Trader Joe’s and everyone can afford whatever they like as long as it comes from Trader Joe’s. 

Traveling from North Beach, where I work, Trader Joe’s is on my way home. It's the first grocery store South of Market on Third Street, as you enter into the neighborhood colloquially referred to as SOMA. 

And although this may feel a little too on the nose, it is what made me think more about Trader Joe’s and Brave New World… and everything.