Whole Foods Paramus: A Spy Report

Vegans will be in foodie heaven at the new Whole Foods Market in Paramus. My first impression, it's huge, at 63,000-sq. ft. They have much bigger offering of vegan food than their Ridgewood counterpart, but I could not shop here regularly. Stores of this size are too cold and overwhelming to me.

The have a sizable vegan baked goods section, including these slices of cake and this Moo-Cluck un-cheesecake that would make the Golden Girls proud. I also eyed pre-packaged donuts and brownies. The mark-up is considerable on any processed food.

Vegan chicken salad! We've come a long way. This is $4.49. Or make your own. Try VegCooking's recipe. Right by this, there was a vegan avocado sandwich for $4.99.


Penne Lane Pasta Company vegan artichoke ravioli, $7.99 for a 12-count. A bit pricey, but consider what you'd pay at an Italian restaurant. You could probably get two portions out of this, paired with a green salad and garlic bread.

They also have a gelato bar where there was one soy flavor that I sampled, chocolate chip cookie dough. There were no vegan offerings at the pizza bar, but the counterperson said sometimes there are.

Miss mac & cheese from the pre-vegan days? Me too. Road's End Organics makes a good vegan version, which you'll find at Whole Foods.

It was also great to see signs everywhere indicating which products are locally produced. Visit Whole Foods Market, 300 Bergen Town Center, Paramus, NJ.

That said, I'm sticking to the more intimate and budget-friendly Trader Joe's for general shopping and Old Hood Farm, Emerson, NJ, for local, organic produce.

Want to find a farmers market for fresh local, produce? Search here.

Someone loves Trader Joe's even more than I do, and started a website, TraderJoesFan.com. Check out this recipe for Spicy Pineapple Vegan Meatballs. Yum!