In Whole Foods grocery store, located in an upscale neighborhood in northwest Washington, DC, wooden crates brim with fresh oranges, apples, and plums. Bell peppers are neatly stacked in rows against the wall alongside carrots and heads of lettuce. Every minute or so, sprinklers spray them with a fine mist of water, ensuring that the vegetables stay cool and crisp. Beyond the produce section, fresh cuts of meat and fish chill on beds of crushed ice. The rest of the store consists of twelve aisles stocked with whole grain cereals and breads, organic milk, yogurt, cheese, dried fruit and nuts, and a wide assortment of cookies and chips, including varieties made with whole-grain and organic flour. A little boy sits in the front of a shopping cart pushed by his mother, swinging his legs idly as she tosses in a package of lean ground beef. The cart already holds a few packs of pre-washed carrot and celery sticks and a bottle of organic fruit juice.

Meanwhile, about twenty minutes' drive south and east, Euclid Market occupies the space of roughly one and a half aisles in Whole Foods. Two of the four walls are lined with refrigerators holding sodas, fruit juice, energy drinks, and water in single-serving bottles; a third wall is lined with alcoholic beverages. Stacked crates in the middle of the store hold larger, 2-liter bottles of soda. No milk, organic or otherwise, can be found. The rest of the store sells chips, ramen noodle bowls, crackers and cookies, Wonder bread, and a wide assortment of canned food. There is no fresh produce for sale anywhere; also lacking is whole wheat bread, although some whole grain crackers are offered alongside the boxes of Ritz. A little boy and his mother purchase a loaf of bread, a bottle of Coca-Cola, and a packet of Slim Jims.