Tampa-St. Pete's, Sarasota...? I have family there and am wondering about produce availability. Specifically the prices and quality of young coconuts, avocados from CA and NOT FL (I don't like those kind at all), and more ethnic items. I would be much obliged as I may be moving there within two years! Thanks in advance!

I live in south florida and it sucks, exept for one farmers market in hollywood. You do have WFM but it's hit and miss imo. Hopefully you will be near one. I am not near the Tampa area though and I feel sorry for you that you have to move there lol. The seene for raw organic is horrible but probably not as bad as some places in this country. There was one year that we had the most awsome Florida avacados from one supplier but no more it must have been the particular year things were just right.

I don't have to move there; I am thinking about it because I have family there and it might be nice as a change of pace, especially in order to maintain high-raw. And I was specific about wanting CA avocados because they are more tasty to me. FL ones are too watery.

I lived in Miami and it was beautiful for raw foods. Coral Gables too

I think the Florida ones are good with a little salt. I lived near Cocoa Beach/ Titusville area for awhile. I liked it.

I should ad that the closer you are to CA. the better off you are. I had some awesome vegies at the local health food store in CO. than WFM anywhere in Florida. Sorry to be such a downer but high quality vegies are hard to come buy but when you get good ones it makes you realize what could be.

I have good quality access to everything I need, but have always wondered how difficult it would be for others who live in different areas. I think there's always a way to live a great raw food lifestyle, so you may need to make some changes to get what you need.

Check out my raw food review blog at rawfoodland.com!

Lived in Miami when I was 8,so was probably gorging on total junk food at the time.
Vinny

nrothgarden Wrote:
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> I have good quality access to everything I need,
> but have always wondered how difficult it would be
> for others who live in different areas. I think
> there's always a way to live a great raw food
> lifestyle, so you may need to make some changes to
> get what you need.

I looked at your blog but couldn't determine where you live. Are you actually in FL at the moment? If so, would you mind sharing where?

We live in Coconut Grove. I work in Key Largo. I visit a little fruit/veggie stand in Key Largo where I can get locally grown fruits/veggies for about half the price of the grocery stores!!

Also, Winn Dixie on Coral Way just re-vamped their store. They have the freshest greens ever! Good prices too.

Do pickles grow in Florida?

Hello and welcome to our area! I came here from San Diego and now live in Redington Shores. There are two raw food restaurants near me: Vida De Cafe in Pass A Grille and Leafy Greens in St Pete. There is an organic coop that is very popular in Tampa: Sweetwater Organic Farm. Here is the URL [sweetwater-organic.org] You can grow pretty much anything here and it's not difficult. Having come from California where I had 5 avocado trees in my yard, I must say that the avocado choices here are disappointing at best. Sometimes I can get good Haas ones but usually they are extremely overpriced and brown inside. Remember, even though Florida is full of transplants, this is the south and with that, a different attitude toward vegans and vegetarians in general. This is the home of barbecue meat everything! Some people don't even believe that organic food is "real", that it is in the same category as the tooth fairy or Santa. Also, this is air-conditioned hell here. People rarely go outside and love to stay indoors and freeze. I love it here, though! I love the weather and the birds and storms. There are veggie co-ops you can join, which I have, and they are great. Just search for them online and ask around and you will find them. And with them, you will find an accepting and loving community

Thanks! I'm still in the Chicago area, though, LOL. We've had an amazin non-winter so I am not as concerned about escaping here. B-b-cue in the Deep South?! Who knew? Sucks about the Haas avocados...But I have a question about storms: are there lots of them? (I'm not a fan..)

Keep in mind that people here say that this is the lightning capital of the world. I have no idea if this is true, but in the summer the storms can get scary and the news always records the number of lightning strikes on a map that shows lots and lots. Remember, hurricanes do come here, although there hasn't been a direct hit in many years. I think the last was 1985. I am originally from the Chicago area, too. I lived there, then moved to San Diego, then here to Redington Shores. I was just up in Chicago last September and was excited about how clean Lake Michigan was. My friends and I rode bikes along the LSD bike trail. They told me that the one advantage to the zebra mussel problem was that they cleaned up the lake. I was really shocked to see palm trees down on Oak Street Beach! It cracked me up! Well, good luck! If you end up hating it here, Chicago isn't such a bad place to go back to and I hear there are some great resources for raw food there

Angelpie: LOL, just to show you how neurotic I am about it, I actually know that about lightning strikes because I Googled it! I am afraid of lightning and thunder and what's really freaky is that we have had some fierce storms in the Chicago area the last couple of years, including hurricane-force winds. A tree crashed thru a roof across the street last summer and completely demolished the house! I believe there have been tornados that were not really reported or microbursts.

Yeah, Lake Michigan is very clean and I have gone swimming several times within the last few years (although you have to wait until July and sometimes even then it's unbearably cold!). Those palm trees on Oak Street Beach? UGH. I couldn't figure out why they would do such a thing--maybe pretend it's an ocean? It's funny because I don't like palm trees; I like "regular" trees. I don't know if it's a past-life thing but I really dislike them! Wonder if it's a sign that FL is not for me? (Another one would be no Haas avocados! Those Florida ones are yucky to me...)