“You Aren’t What You Eat” (1/21) suggests that Fresh Fields is in the business of selling overpriced “fruffy” and exotic food and health-care products for the burgeoning elite, under the guise of social consciousness. There is nothing exotic about homeopathic remedies in Europe and Asia, or a product like tempeh (fermented soy beans, rich in protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals) in a country like Indonesia, where it’s a specialty. As a vegetarian, I’m real clear why I shop at Fresh Fields, and it has nothing to do with status.

What Fresh Fields offers me is a plentiful and wide selection of groceries, produce, bulk products, vitamins, and health-care products that have been a part of my chosen lifestyle for many years. The size and buying power of a chain like Fresh Fields enable them to sell a greater variety of these products than the average health-food store or conventional grocery store. I often pay less, or a competitive price, for many products that are hard to find elsewhere.

Granted, the yuppie count and money wasted on unconscious buying are high in Fresh Fields. However, I welcome the new Fresh Fields that will open in my neighborhood later this year. At the very least, more Americans will be awakened to healthy lifestyles and products that are more commonplace in other parts of the world, so those products won’t have to be labeled as “exotic” anymore. “Honey!… What am I supposed to do with all this bok choy you bought at Fresh Fields?”

Silver Spring, Md.