While I've had had my differences with Chronicle Notes And Errata columnist Mark Morford in the past, today -- in his trademark shrieking, hyperkinetic style -- Morford really nails the ambiguity many people feel about Whole Foods, that "glorious hellbeast grocerypalooza ... this otherwordly vibration, this wickedly overblown slice of succulent, obnoxious, must-have lifestyle nirvana ... "

Please God, tell me you're getting paid by the word for this shit.

At any rate, one thousand adjectives later, Morford does arrive at something like a firm stand on Whole Foods: "We should fall on our all-American gluttonous knees right this minute in a devout collective wish, a giant wail of hope that more corporations follow in Whole Foods' footsteps."

The truth seems to fall somewhere in between, because while Whole Foods is easy to love, it's even easier to love to hate, if you know what I mean. For a more level-headed discussion of the Whole Foods organic equation, check out Slate's excellent The Dark Secrets of Whole Foods.

Whole Foods world pic by Klieger on Flickr

-- Brian Bernbaum