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Since the big guys are now peddling organic, there is a small part of me that feels I've been profiled by the marketing team and am being duped when paying more for organic.
I wonder about that occasionally, too. I once bought some "organically grown" green tea that was produced in China, of all places. Talk about labeling with nothing to back it up. My friends and I got a good laugh out of it and we drank it anyway. It could have been coated with paraquat, for all I know.
I'm a cynic at times, but not paranoid, if that makes sense.
I'm a cynic at times, but not paranoid, if that makes sense.
Yeah, that's the best way to operate IMHO.
We have a wonderful organic farm nearby and I try to support that couple as much as I can. They are growing amazing things like this special variety of romaine that looks like a red and green Jackson Pollack painting.
I also grow my own tomatoes, squash and basil in season, and other herbs year round.
The rest of the time, I pretty much shop Publix.
I don't always pay the extra money for organic. I just can't justify it 100% of the time.
I try to eat as local as possible because I like to support the local small farmers, their food tastes so much better than any of the stuff from supermarkets. I wouldn't have a problem buying conventional local produce, if it is a crop that isn't heavily sprayed. I would not however buy conventionally grown peaches or strawberries, for example, because they tend to be sprayed heavily. If I can't get them organic, I just don't eat them.
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The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. ~Henry David Thoreau
The "organic/green" family had much higher levels of lead and BPA in their bodies. Between the two families, everything evened out. It's only a comparison between two families, but I'm sure more will volunteer now.
Interesting article!
As it explains in that article, the lead most likely comes from water pipes or paint dust and has nothing to do with the food they eat.
BPA can come from dental sealants, from plastic containers and liners that leach, but not the food itself. Good lesson though to pay attention to those things!
Most of the things tested for had nothing to do with food itself, but household stuff, like pans (Teflon), cleaners etc.
It would be intresting to do tests on people that live in the same building, such as acondobuilding, and test between people that eat organic, versus conventioinal for pesticide residue.
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The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. ~Henry David Thoreau
Yes, the BPA is found in many recycled materials, including and especially plastics. So "green" families almost always have a higher level. On the show, their pantry showed a lot of canned Amy's products as well as canned organic beans, and the steel cans actually can contain trace amounts of lead.
The main advantage with Organic has always been.....pesticide free fruit and produce. With the big boys jumping on the bandwagon, I wonder about that. I wouldn't be surprised if that is no longer the way it is. The big boys can toss alot of money around to get the rules changed to their advantage, without the general public having any awareness of the changes.
A few years ago, another advantage of organic was better taste, but that is certainly no longer true. Some of the organicaly grown food that I've eaten in the past few years has been as tasteless as regular supermarket food. Size is another issue. Up until recently, organically grown apples for example, were normal sized entities or slightly on the small side. Nowadays, even organic apples are monster size. My observation...the bigger the size, the poorer the taste, and the higher the likelihood that some un-natural growing technique was used to manufacture the monster, organic or not.
I'm leaning more and more toward locally grown food. The best of both worlds is locally grown, organic fruit and produce grown by a small scale organic farmer who loves organic farming.
Last edited by CosmicWizard; 04-21-2008 at 12:32 PM..
The main advantage with Organic has always been.....pesticide free fruit and produce. With the big boys jumping on the bandwagon, I wonder about that. I wouldn't be surprised if that is no longer the way it is. The big boys can toss alot of money around to get the rules changed to their advantage, without the general public having any awareness of the changes.
A few years ago, another advantage of organic was better taste, but that is certainly no longer true. Some of the organicaly grown food that I've eaten in the past few years has been as tasteless as regular supermarket food. Size is another issue. Up until recently, organically grown apples for example, were normal sized entities or slightly on the small side. Nowadays, even organic apples are monster size. My observation...the bigger the size, the poorer the taste, and the higher the likelihood that some un-natural growing technique was used to manufacture the monster, organic or not.
I'm leaning more and more toward locally grown food. The best of both worlds is locally grown, organic fruit and produce grown by a small scale organic farmer who loves organic farming.
In the Carolinas we have quite a few farms who used to gro tobacco but converted to organic. If you go to a place like Earth Fare, it shows you some of the local farms where they get their organic goods. The nearest organice farm is about 90 minutes north of where I live (Charlotte Metro), but we do have a few local conventional farms nearby, even with all the farm to pavement around here. The locally grown strawberries are awesome and in season right now. Find a farm near you:
As far as size, I think it may just be people learning. organically grown tomatoes have almost always been larger than their conventional counterparts.
I am pretty skeptical though when I see "organic" soybeans from China.
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