Seaman's Cardinal Supermarket

It’s impossible to eat sustainably if you haven’t got the right food.

In Athens, the Farmer’s Market is definitely the best option for honest, fat-of-the-land, local ingredients. Unfortunately, they only operate from 10 am – 1pm on Saturdays during the cold months, and as a college student without a car it’s always a challenge to make it there on time. This week, we arrived just a few minutes late.Time for Plan B. I'd heard of Seaman's Cardinal Super Market through a Google Maps search of grocery stores in Athens, and all of the reviews ranged from three to five stars. I wasn't sure how the selection would hold up, but I knew that Seamans's was locally owned, which was enough. As we cruised down Union, a cardinal shot by our windshield. My roommate exclaimed that this happened to him often, but I took it as an omen that this trip was meant to be. The sign in front of Seaman's, which sits across from the cemetery, looks like it was assembled in two different eras. The giant cardinal looks lends a nice old-school air to the brick storefront, and a banner that reads "Welcome to Seaman's!" hangs over the checkout as you enter the store.

The produce was decent. The selection was adequate, but we used what we gathered to make an incredible wedge salad for lunch with iceberg lettuce, roma tomatoes, sugar snap peas, and bocconcini mozzarella balls which we crumbled Wasa "hearty" crispbread over. We ate the whole thing raw. It was a great meal that left us with plenty of lettuce to pack into Ziploc bags for healthy snacking.

The cheese selection was the highlight. We ended picking up a few bars of Heini's Amish milk cheese from Millersburg, the heart of Ohio's Amish Country just three hours north of here. Just a few minutes ago, I cut a long slice of the Amish Milk Can Cheddar over a slice of the Wasa crispbread. That snack comes from me highly recommended.

Their meat selection was primo as well, though I clearly didn't have a chance to sample any of it. I've heard you can get local and grass-fed meat here, and that the butcher will custom cut it if you call in ahead of time.

I do love good meat, and one of the things I really wanted to locate was the vegetarian meat so that I could try and judge it accordingly. It was difficult to find, and as I circled the store aimlessly, I realized that I was entirely too embarrassed to ask anyone for vegetarian meat or hummus. There is a certain stigma attached to vegetarian meat, something emasculating and snooty. I'll admit that it wasn't located until I sent my roommate's girlfriend to ask for me.

The selection was standard by every definition. Three burger patties from Boca and veggie beef or sausage patties from Morningstar. I picked up the sausage patties, but I've yet to try them.

The prices are slightly higher than what you'd get at a corporate grocer, but only in a few cases were they too high to grab what we wanted. For a few cents on every item, you get to feel drastically better about what you're putting into your stomach though. That was worth it to me.

The service was good all around, but what really surprised me came at check out when the cashier asked me, "Paper or plastic?". It's been so long since I've shopped at a local, wholesome grocer that I forgot that classic question. Wal-Mart doesn't offer paper, and I was glad to have the opportunity to carry my groceries away in a biodegradable, paper bag for the first time in years.

All things considered, Seaman's is gunning to become my new favorite grocery spot.

The Plan

In my introductory post I said that I'd attempt to learn through experience what it takes to live sustainably in Athens, and if there is one bad habit that's threatening the well-being of our planet, it's my nearly insatiable thirst for blood.

I'm talking about meat. According to a 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations's Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department, "livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, a bigger share than that of transport."

On the same topic, GoVeg.com, a site operated by PETA, claims that eating one pound of meat is releases as many greenhouse gasses as driving an SUV 40 miles. It should be noted, though, that I'm not far enough into my sustainability quest to have any trust for PETA yet.

That said, no one can deny how bad meat consumption is for the environment. I never thought I'd say it, but I'm going to give vegetarianism a try. There are a few things I'll need to do if I am to prepare properly.

The first hurdle in my quest are the two pounds of meat I purchased from Wal-Mart shortly before turning against everything that implied.

Sure, $8.97 for a huge bag of multiple meats piled on one another indiscriminately is a great deal, but I'll have to find a way to get rid of the goods before my quest can begin. This makes me feel like a junkie, vowing to quit after this dose is gone. In spite of this, I'm not flushing my ham down a toilet.

I'll also have to set some ground rules. Green Daily put up a great post on becoming a vegetarian this week, and they broke down the options for aspiring vegetarians into three categories. From their post:

• A lacto-vegetarian does not eat any meat products or eggs, but does eat dairy products.
• An ovo-vegetarian does not eat meat products, but does eat eggs and dairy products.
• A vegan does not eat any meat, eggs or dairy products at all.

I'm not planning on going full vegan, so the real decision is whether or not I will give up eggs. It's something I'll need to decide soon, before I go to buy groceries this week.

I love eggs. As a food, they are both cheap and incredibly versatile. However, I recently watched Baraka, a great film from 1992 without dialogue that juxtaposes nature and society. Here's a clip from it that shows, among other things, a chick factory.



So what do you think, America? Can I give up Eggs Benedict?

Welcome to the Gaiathenian!

My name is Niklos Salontay, and this is my fresh new blog.

It’s about sustainability, green culture, and the environmentally conscious shakers of Athens, Ohio. It’s a topic that interests me, but one that I’ve never been thoroughly invested in. I fall into perhaps the largest classification of people in today’s environmentally challenged society — those who believe sustainability is a worthwhile pursuit but do little to pursue it.

With this blog, I will attempt to change my ways. I’ll explore what it takes to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle in Athens. I’ll meet the people who lead sustainability movements in our city and research what’s at stake in the ecosystem that we call Athens.

I hope you’ll enjoy this undertaking. Maybe you’ll learn something too!