In Manhattan, Whole Foods’ latest store offers customers a “produce butcher” to cut up vegetables in real time — and for a price. According to the store’s sign, the produce butcher will “julienne (long, thin matchsticks), mince, dice, chop, and slice” produce for a dollar a pound, says Modern Farmer.
According to a Nielsen study, sales of value-added produce (i.e. that has been washed, bagged and/or chopped) rose 7.1 percent for fruits and 8.7 percent for vegetables in the last five years. Some critics, though, aren’t so sure that the advent of a produce butcher is anything but a sign of national laziness. “Response to the produce butcher has ranged from “PURE happiness awesome” to “our generation is doomed,” says Modern Farmer.