2 Cans Westbrae Natural Vegetarian Organic Salad Beans (15 oz. each)

Item Purchased: 2 Cans Westbrae Natural Vegetarian Organic Salad Beans (15 oz. each)
Location Purchased: Dominick's / 1340 S. Canal St. / Chicago, IL
Price: $1.45 + tax ea.

Review: It has been a while since I have set foot in a Dominick's grocery store. I remember while visiting my Godmother in Skokie when I was a little Wisconsin tyke, my mother would insist on going to a Dominick's. There was nothing inherently different about this supermarket chain when compared to the Pick N' Save and Sentry we had back home except that they had the most delicious cookies. As I walked into Dominick's today, I was blown away by how fancy and modern it looked. I am told the other locations in the city don't reflect the upper bread crust like the south loop location does, but all I could see from aisle to aisle was ethnic this, veggie that and organic the other thing.

Which brings me to these organic veggie beans. Westbrae Natural is a company dedicated to producing fresh organic foods for people who still rely on the staples of modern convenience. They are a fairly young company and haven't had too much time to become corrupt or questionable. In 1997, they were acquired by the Hain Celestial Group, another natural foods company that seems to be on the slightly jagged and narrow.

Despite all of this warm fuzziness, the fact is that this mixture of garbanzo, pinto and kidney beans is still kept in a can full of fluid. Call me crazy, but fresh and natural don't exactly coexist comfortably with canned. Despite the beans' firm demeanor and better taste, there is still that formaldehyde taste. All the organics in the world isn't worth the dollar more you pay for liquid soaked beans. The bean salad I made with these "fresh" delights was tasty, but probably would have been tastier if the beans had been fresh or made from dehydrated beans. One reason to aim to end my homelessness: Fresh beans.

Rating: 2 / 5