What prompted my Sunday morning excursion to the Market Basket in Biddeford was that all of Hannaford’s stores stopped carrying a product that I’ve purchased there for years.  I immediately researched all of the likely stores that could conceivably carry it.  No luck at Shaw’s, Walmart (even the supercenter), IGA Pond Cove Market in Cape Elizabeth and Smaha’s in South Portland.

Sunday morning at Market Basket in Biddeford

The Market Basket is the only store in Maine to carry the almighty, if not elusive, Benecol.   It’s in the dairy case next to the butter and butter substitutes like Earth Balance and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and other locums of limited appeal. When I would do Google searches to find the product all that would come up was Beneful, the dog food!

Two types of Benecol at Biddeford Market Basket

What is Benecol and why have I—a dedicated foodist—chosen to substitute something else for the glories of real butter?  Well, I haven’t given up on butter by any means, but I consume a few tablespoons of Benecol slathered  on toast in the morning.  It spreads easily, melts quickly and tastes pretty good unlike other butter substitutes, none of which are as heart-healthy as Benecol.

Benecol, as stated on its website and package, is proven to lower your cholesterol, boosting the good HLD levels and suppressing the bad LDL levels.  It’s further described as “Plant stanol ester, the cholesterol-lowering ingredient in Benecol products…supported by over 70 published clinical studies and more than 15 years of safe use of as a food ingredient, and strongly recommended by a number of scientific and authoritative bodies.”

I spoke with an assistant manager at Hannaford who revealed that management removed it without explanation.  A move like that  usually occurs when a product doesn’t sell well

But isn’t ridding the shelves of a heart-healthy food product irresponsible?  I spoke with Hannaford’s corporate office and the rep on the phone said, “Yes I know that product and recently saw an ad for it.”  But she had no explanation for its removal and said she’d get back to me.

The light version of Benecol at Market Basket

The trip to the Market Basket held a curiosity factor as well ever since the 2014 battle of wills amongst the Demoulas family, of Demoulas Supermarkets, erupted over the running of the Market Basket.  What was all the fuss about?  The store has survived a family spat and seems to be as busy as ever.

The buzz is that it’s a great store with great products at lower prices. And, I thought, mightn’t it be time that Greater Portland had more of a choice beyond Hannaford and Shaw’s?

At 107,000 SF it’s the largest supermarket in Maine

It takes about 25 minutes from Portland to get to the Biddeford Market Basket, located in a vast shopping plaza off Route 111 or Alfred Road.  The plaza is complete with turnabouts and giant chain stores–Market Basket on a ridge all its own.

On a Sunday morning the store–which clocks in at 107,000 square feet, the biggest supermarket in Maine—is teeming with shoppers.  There are countless check-out counters.  And the loud-speaker system shouts to shoppers, telling of up-to-the-minute specials.

The aisles are a little narrow but the shelves are stocked with thousands of items that make stores like Hannaford and Shaw’s seem like corner bodegas. Every imaginable package size of products fills the shelves.

From prepared food, bake shop and produce, the store is well stocked: a row of McCormick spices marked “organic,” one of the few such items in their stock; produce is fresh but not local

One friend told me she loves the store—get this—for its supply of octopus.  They’re frozen but big and much cheaper than at Harbor Fish or Browne Trading.    Octopus  may not make the typical shopper slap-happy silly but, as my friend said, the selection of other items like dried pasta is amazing and there’s more choice of everything at cheaper prices.

But if you’re strictly a farm-to-table shopper, the Market Basket is hardly a locavore’s temple of delights. Don’t look for bottled milk or local products.  As is, a nice- looking bunch of fresh beets in the vegetable case, for example, held a tag that gave its place of origin as Texas.  Of all of the bags of potatoes, none were from Maine (at least I didn’t see any) and everything else in the vegetable department most likely came off a long-distance truck or box car.

Store made take out food, similar to Hannaford; stored-baked cookies

No local sourcing going on that I could tell.

The meat counter held the usual suspects of cuts with a few that said natural or organic.  But sky’s the limit on price breaks. Chicken cutlets at $1.29 per pound were the buy of the day.

But mission accomplished: I bought two containers of Benecol, and I praise the store for that.  And I also picked up some well-priced laundry supplies, which Hannaford sloppily stocks at will. It’s a great middle-of-the-road store where you’re most apt to find in great quantity everything that a supermarket typially sells.

Over 20 cash registers; 28-ounce bottleGreek extra virgin olive oil for $5.99; convenience microwave potatoes

After all this I needed a hearty breakfast, and with the help of my GPS I found my way to 18 Franklin St., to the famous Palace Diner in downtown Biddeford.  By now it was nearly 11 AM and—no surprise–it was SRO, with a long wait as a sea of millennials at the counter were more interested in gabbing than finishing their breakfasts.

SRO at the popular 18-seat Palace Diner on Sunday morning

I got back on the road to Portland and headed straight to Caiola’s.  I had one of my favorite brunch dishes there, The Bird’s Next, a glorified hole in one with rich sausage gravy and crisp sweet-potato fries.  I couldn’t resist a side order of maple bacon and thought bacon has such an affinity with maple syrup.  Oh those crisp, smoky sweet rashers are delicious cloaked in maple syrup.

Brunch at Caiola’s, The Bird’s Nest, hole in one with sausage gravy, crispy fried sweet potatoes and a side of maple bacon

After such a heart-stopping breakfast I’ll wait until tomorrow before resuming my daily dose of Benecol. And if I can’t convince Hannaford to re-stock their shelves with it then I’ll most likely go back to the Market Basket for no other reason than to buy the product.  This time I’ll leave early in the morning so I can get a seat at the Palace Diner.

Benecol spread on toast (The Good Shepherd’s Farm sour dough)