Paradise lost: Eden Foods facing a boycott from the Park Slope Food Co-op

We’ll give this to the Park Slope Food Co-op: they really commit to their crazy experiment with retail democracy, whether it’s their giant arguments over stocking Israeli goods or their giant arguments over providing plastic bags, no issue is too big or small for the co-op. It sounds like they’re wading into another heated fight this month, according to a Fucked in Park Slope mole who leaked plans to debate a boycott of Eden Foods, who are seeking a Hobby Lobby-like birth control insurance exemption.

According to what the FiPS tipster sent, Item 3 on the agenda for the July 29 general meeting is a discussion on whether the store should “Discontinue Eden Foods due to anti-contraceptive policy.” As it turns out, there are more companies than Hobby Lobby that want to get out from under the ACA’s healthcare mandate, including organic food giant Eden. Eden sued the government for the right to not pay for insurance that covers “lifestyle drugs” like birth control, lost the case but then the loss was vacated by the Supreme Court after the Court’s Hobby Lobby decision.

So, the lawsuit that is either about deeply held religious beliefs or libertarian posturing is back in federal court, but the decision made by Eden’s president to continue with the lawsuit now puts it in a more important court: Park Slop Food Co-op Court. Not that it’s a sure thing that the co-op will go for the boycott, given that both the Israeli food boycott and the plastic bag ban were both defeated. The only thing we’ll count on from this is a whole lot of entertaining livetweeting.