Do you buy organic?

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I can't resist a good produce stand either. I'm lucky to have one kind of on the way home from work.

 

[Lady Day]

Me too me too me too!

There is an organic farmers market that hosts 20+ produce stands twice a week. Where else can I get butter lettuce the size of my head for$1 bunch! Whole Foods? $2.50 a bunch and its small and not organic! HA!



LD

 

[ClassicIsBetter]

I go organic/vegetarian quite often. I am not a vegetarian though. By changing/adding a few things like that to my appetite, I've been able to eliminate almost all of the symptons to I.B.S. I had that so bad I thought I had Crohn's disease. Pretty much a free man now. If lack of food = death, then what you eat determines the quality of your life right?

 

[Haversack]

One way that cuts down the price of eating organic is to eat high-quality, but less of it. Organic ice cream, steak, chops, etc. are expensive in comparison to their non-organic conterparts. But if you have only a small portion, it cuts the expense down. Another advantage of eating in season is that freash fruit and vegetables are then at their cheapest.

Haversack.

 

[Caledonia]

Me too, cept' for the garden part. WISH I could get a garden stared, but I dont life close to any community garden plots, and I have no space in my apt

LD

Try a few herbs on windowsills through the summer. I swear, if you like spring onions, you will get a ton of them on a sunny windowsill. All you have to do is plant the seeds and leave them to it. No thinning, just plenty of water. Have a shot!

 

[Caledonia]

The organic thing got going in the 60s with the hippy movement. "Far out man!" lol We may get some organic stuff but not much. My wife has little time to seek it out in assorted stores. She can make one trip a week and that is to a major name chain market.

We don't eat much red meat at all and buy something outside of the home only once a week. No junk food tacos, fries etc. My favorites are brocolli and califlower. I can't stomach the tart sweetness of fruit any more but my wife eats tons of it.

What is that about fruit? I'm the same. Just went off it a few years ago. Blueberries, blue berries, and melon. That's my lot now with the occasional banana. Vegetables coming out my ears, but fruit. Nuuhhuuh! Very strange.

 

[Pilgrim]

My wife's bachelors degree is in nurtition, so she brings a set of skills to shopping. We really don't go out of our way to buy organic, or GMO-free. We're not convinced that the cost is worth it.

On the GMO side, my observation is that eating food with a given genetic makeup had a big impact on me, I would have started looking like a tuna fish long ago. I've worked directly with many researchers (including a Nobel prize winner) who have been working in genetic modification for decades. Unless a modification makes a food undigestible, I have no fear of it in terms of human consumption. Allergies are a consideration, but none of my family have food allergies.

And although no one else has mentioned it, I sure wish food irradiation to kill bacteria would be used more widely. It's a great tool that doesn't get much respect due to people thinking their food will be radioactive.

 

[Girl Friday]

That is very interesting Pilgrim. I have wondered about that as well. I used to take irradiated food on backpack trips, I think the meals were called Top Shelf? I can't remember, but I haven't seen them around in ages. Very convenient, kind of like an M.R.E.

 

[mysterygal]

I'm not real picky about whether something is organic or not. I just try to eat as healthy as possible. I do make a point of buying all my fruit and veggies at a local produce market where (at least in the Spring and Summer time) all their produce comes from local farmers. I can taste a difference between what I would get at a grocery store, produce being shipped.

 

[jake431]

This is an interesting thread. My uncle, a food chemist, rants about organic food, though he never offers specifics, mentions that in no way is organic food healthier for the eater, and that it is advertising that has changed the perception of organic food. I don't tend to buy organic, but that is mostly economics. I figure that non-organic produced veggies are healthier than the junk food I would buy in it's stead. I do like hormone free milk though, and would buy free range meat if I could afford it.

-Jake

 

[skwerl-hat]

this is a thread after my own heart
i am a big eater of organic foods im also an herbalist and vegetarian
i did so much damage to myself on the non healthy foods
something had to give.

 

[Tourbillion]

I am a long time vegetarian, and I prefer organic food.

I also work for a food wholesale company, we do have some organic products.

However, there is something about organic and it's pricing that kind of leaves me PO'd. The only reason that it is higher priced is because it is organic. In order for food to have an organic label it has to be certified by the organic food association. They charge "fees" which are in turn supposed to go into research and support for farmers. I don't know too many farmers, but the few I have talked to online are not entirely happy with the situation.

It seems that the money isn't really going to the farmers, and the one I chatted with (from Canada) said that organic should cost less because there is less inputs (i.e. chemicals, fertilizer) needed to farm it. But you tend to lose more crops with organic methods which makes it harder for the farmer to make money. My company sells to both traditional supermarkets and ones like Whole Foods. We do not want to risk our reputation for quality, so we do not sell unsafe or inferior products to anyone (not all companies have this ethic though). Even so, the only difference between the products that we sell that I can see is price.

Then there is the question of food safety. The pesticides and chemical fertilizers aren't safe. Unfortunately, sometimes organic produce is not safe due to bacteria, and you can't wash it off. Of course this is true for traditional methods too. It just makes me mad that I have to pay more not to have pesticides on my food.

 

[Lady Day]

It just makes me mad that I have to pay more not to have pesticides on my food.

Thats becoming a trend too, not just with food. Ive seem 'memberships' or 'clubs' pop up at specific places that of you pay x dollars, you get a 'vip' membership for faster service, etc. Gee, paying EXTRA for stuff you should already get. geeze :eusa_doh:


LD

 

[katiemakeup]

This is perfect timing! Last week on a shoot there was a beautiful fruit plate and the strawberries were literally perfect in every way a strawberry could be. I asked the gal how come when I buy strawberries they taste like crap and she said 'they're organic!' So I am a convert!

 

[Retro Grouch]

I get my veggies from http://www.doortodoororganics.com.
What's left of a 1/4 side of beef is from http://www.longfamilyfarms.com.
The free range, hormone and antibiotic free, chickens and lamb are from a local source.

Carnivore

Tom

 

[Lincsong]

I've been drinking organic green tea.

 

[thebadmamajama]

I just try to eat the healthiest, purest foods I can wherever I can with whatever means I can. If that means organic, that's great, but for now I can't afford it for the most part. But total health is my goal.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

This is an interesting thread. My uncle, a food chemist, rants about organic food, though he never offers specifics, mentions that in no way is organic food healthier for the eater, and that it is advertising that has changed the perception of organic food.

-Jake

This is probably true. But organic is certainly healthier for the animal, should animals be involved (not eating feeds containing God knows what; living on the land, not a feed lot/battery barn). And healthier for the soil (mother earth) if NPK fertilisers are done away with - as they must be for a vegetable to truly be described as organic.

bk

 

[vonwotan]

I buy local or organic where possible. There is quite a lot of debate over the health benefits but, in some narrow examples certain benefits have been demonstrated (i.e. commercially produced Florida oranges measuring vitamin C in micrograms while organic producers in the same state have vitamin C measured in milligrams). I also find that most local or organic products from small producers taste better.

With the boom in organics large commercial producers have entered the scene and the USDA organic standards have been introduced allowing quite a bit more leeway than the older local standards. When forcing crops, picking early, etc. some of the health benefits of organic produce may have been lost - complicating the discussion.

Part of the reason I support small local farmers and local growers is that their practices are easier on the land. From experience with organic gardening and working with some of the organic farmers in Northern Virginia there is a discernable difference in the quality of the soil. The soil is alive with a more robust and diverse ecosystem of beneficial insects and fungi. Once established the introduction of thin layers of compost and occasional removal of pests from the crops (quite labor intensive - too much so for large commercial farms) is generally all that is necessary to maintain the fields. If you have crops that are especially demanding going back to the old crop rotation methods can be necessary.

 

[Lincsong]

My company began offering organic coffee about 8 months ago. A couple restaurants that have switched to it have seen their coffee sales jump.