It is no secret that Jake Gyllenhaal likes his food, enjoys cooking and is good friends with a chef. Very possibly, if Jake's acting career had not worked out (impossible to imagine, I realise), he may well have gone for one of two alternative options: celebrated basketball player or chef. As it is, he must make do with being an award winning and highly sought after actor/movie star who can recognise a good film script when he sees one. Such is life and the choices we make.This week the Star includes a recent photograph of Jake shopping at one of his favourite stores, Whole Foods Market. While this is probably prompted by the 'oh look, a star is out shopping just like me' factor, it's of interest to me because this week a UK newspaper, The Telegraph, announced that the Whole Foods Market phenomenon is continuing its break out from Calfornia and the US, and is about to be launched in London. 'America's most aggressive and successful "natural" supermarket' will open its branch in Kensington, London, on 6 June. Astoundingly, it will be 80,00 square feet, 'the size of the new Wembley Stadium'. I also find it interesting that the store intends to be active in the local community and wishes to become a 'neighbourhood gathering place'.
Of course, it won't have Jake as a regular shopper and that will be a disadvantage, but 'it will offer an extraordinary superabundance of choice and an eco-idealism found nowhere else on such a scale. From the chickens on the butcher's slab to the shelves of hair conditioner, there will be no trans fats, no parabens, no E-numbers, no cruelty,' I have no idea what a paraben is but I don't like it.
The article lists Jake as a frequenter of Whole Foods Market, presenting a positive association between Jake and an organisation that, although vast, 'claims to put principles before profits'. However innocently, when Jake goes shopping and is photographed, the contents of his shopping basket (can I mention double cream at this point? Correct me if I'm wrong) and his choice of store are all scrutinised and filed in our minds and we remember.
The puzzle of why Jake is holding the phone to his left ear still occupies me...
Photos from Star and IHJ.
12 comments:
If you want to mention Double Cream, you go right ahead....you actually lost me when you mentioned the contents of Jake's Basket!
I know, dirty mind
*slopes off*
I just KNEW that someone was going to pick up on Jake's Basket! I should have know it would be you, ATD!!! :D x
Hey! I resemble the implication...anyone would think I had some sort of reputation...oh yeah...I do!
You 'resemble' the implication? Yes, I think you do :D
WDW, if you do get to shop at Whole Foods, I warn ya -- don't go in the door hungry. You'll buy out the store, trust me! Fabulous place. Of course, we know Jake has great taste.
P.S. I'm trying very hard to ignore the "Jake's basket" remark. :-)
Hi Beckela, I'm lucky enough to have shopped at Whole Foods and I'm a big fan. I've never seen a seafood salad bar quite like that anywhere else! Also the widest selection of fresh fruit and veg I've ever seen in a store.
Just give in to the Jake's Basket comment - it's no good fighting it! ;D
"Fresh and wild" in London is owned by Wholefoods. I hope the new larger store brings more natural and ethical products. I am vegan so I think Wholefoods/Fresh and Wild is a fantastic supermarket. In spite of selling animal products, at least they are organic/free range.
BTW, I adore Jake but I can't get over his pig comment on GQ. I can't believe someone so sensitive, intelligent, open-minded and political aware (and with Buddhist beliefs!) could say something like that :(
I'm still chuckling over the "basket."
I'm a vegetarian myself and so the more stores that promote a wider choice of, one hopes, more organic and ethical produce has got to be a good thing. It's about time it became more 'fashionable'.
As for Jake's pig comment, I have some theories about that. As I say, I'm a vegetarian but I wasn't offended by it because I think it was just another example of some of the strange things Jake can say at times - he's after a reaction. I think he likes to confuse and puzzle on occasion, like a game.
I do think, however, that Jake does care where the food he eats comes from, including meat. Maybe that's what he was trying to say?
Yes, it could be. Perhaps he was trying to say he buys ethical produce/meat. But I think he should have explained it better if that was his intention. He is a public figure and what he says reach people so I think it was irresponsible to say he “enjoys” looking the slaughtering of a pig without explaining the context. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect him to be a vegetarian or hear him talk about animal rights. I credit him for not being hypocritical and knowing exactly where the meat he eats comes from, but what I wanted to say is that I was very surprised that someone as liberal, intelligent, sensitive and with a history of commitment to political rights could say something like that without explaining his point better.
I can definitely see your point, 11:46. If Jake was intending to say that he cared about eating animals that had been ethically raised and slaughtered, then it would have perhaps been wiser if he had said so with more clarity, instead of wanting to sound controversial just for the sake of it.
The idea of watching animals being slaughtered as if for a fun day out is offensive to many - vegetarian or not. I don't think that's what he intended to say but I do think that's how it came out. He was trying to be clever and this time it didn't work.
Fortunately, we have plenty of other evidence that Jake can be a thoughtful, sensitive and intelligent human being, committed to causes. I suppose we all say things we wish we'd phrased differently. Can't be pleasant knowing you've said something stupid in a high profile interview like that.
Oh dear oh dear. If you accept as fact Jake enjoys watching animals being slaughtered as stated in his GQ magazine interview (pg 110) than you have to accept the statement on page 177 that he was "going to have the electrical components removed" from his new Toyota Camry Hybrid car.
He loves to through interviewers curve balls. He's been doing this for years. Today he was wondering publicly if guards would stop him if he tried to sneak out of the showing of "Zodiac" at Cannes. See?
Hope you feel better. Jake pulls our collective leg as a hobby. I've learned to enjoy it.
And the phone in his left ear? Right ear could well be occupied by his iPod ear piece.... maybe.
Relax and keep up the good work and see you at Whole Foods - bring lots of money though.... Jake? Basket? It's warm in here!
Gulliver/iwishiknew
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