Organic Food

[[Syl]]

Speaking of organic food, what's everyone's thoughts on it? I generally don't think it's worth the cost and prefer to support local agriculture (if they're organic, all the better), but my wife, a hardcore environmentalist, buys it quite a lot.

If you are a fan, it looks like Food Lion is closing out their entire organic/natural section. They were at my store, anyway. At half off, a lot of the stuff was worth the price.

[Zarathustra]

I voted a waste of money, but I still buy a few organic things. Sometimes it's higher quality, or at least looks prettier. I don't really care about the environmental angle. I don't want to get into a political debate here (just trying to answer the question), but if all food was produced organically, without pesticides, we'd have to cut down all the forests to have enough room to produce what we now produce with pesticides. That wouldn't be good for the environment. Pesticides save the world.

[aliantha]

I almost never buy organic. It's too freaking expensive. And somehow I missed the overwhelming body of research that says all chemical additives are bad for us/cause cancer/etc. </snark>

I'll buy something that's organic if it has other attributes I'm looking for -- low sodium/low fat/high in fiber/what have you. But I don't go out of my way to look for it.

[Menolly]

The only thing I insist on purchasing organic, and that may just be because of what is available here in Florida, is organic carrots for juicing. To my palette, the taste difference is definitely noticeable; organic carrots producing a much sweeter, less woody tasting juice.

[Vader]

I mainly buy organic food. And if possible regional and seasonal. It's not that more expensive over here (but that's probably highly subjective). And if there are no fresh strawberries around why buy some that have seen more of the world than I have?

To me organic tastes a lot better an dthe quality usually is better as well. Even the meat. I never had orgamic meat that got all watery in the pan.

The increasing amount of allergies and stuff (at least over here) must have a reason. I blame it on chemical treatmemnt of food (and this includes flavor and color enhancers and all kinds of artificial ingredients.)

[High Lord Tolkien]

I would like to but price usually wins in the end.
There's a new thing going on though.
The traditional products like milk are now labels with no hormones.
So it's not "organic" but they've removed some of the things that made people move to organics in the first place.
That's good!
Bread is getting more natural with more and more using whole grains rather than flour that the body treats like candy.

Hell, even my kids Froot Loops, have more vitamins and fiber than Wheaties or Cheerios and many bran products.
I recently learned that a lot of the fiber in Raisin Bran comes from the raisins and not the bran, wtf?

It's all good.

Organic honey puzzles me though.
Organic honey?
Organic bees?
lol

[rdhopeca]

Only thing I buy local like this is strawberries...from a local stand...nothing compares in the stores

[Vader]

Organic honey is made from organic plants. The bees are only being send to places without pesticides. How that works and how you tell a bee which plant is good is beyond me.

And the bees probably have to take drug tests first ....

[stonemaybe]

Waste of money imo. If you want to make a difference to environment, look at country of origin and buy local produce.

As for taste, I'd say it's intensive farming that affects that, rather than specific fertilisers. And just because it's organic, doesn't mean it's not intensively farmed organic! Organic is big business now!

And I seem to remember reading somewhere that the scientific reasoning behind 'organic' allowing certain fertilisers and not others, is dubious.

[Menolly]

As far as honey goes, it is far more important to me that I buy local honey, not necessarily organic honey. Local honey works for me in resisting local allergens. No organic honey can do that, unless it is also produced local to Gator Town.

I do purchase locally produced honey in Lake Wales when we go to spend a week or two at father-of-love's house in Indian Lake Estates. That house is so beat up from the three hurricanes that passed directly over it several years ago, that I am usually in dire straits allergy-wise from growing mold by the end of our second day here. It is there that I found consuming local honey works for me.

I have also found that I can tell if the honey is local when I have some. My body does get a mild energy rush when I do. It may be all placebo effect; I am willing to admit that. But even if placebo effect, it works for me. So my money goes there.

[aliantha]

Makes sense to buy local honey. I do shop local farmers' markets for produce, the main advantage being that it's not picked green and then gassed or otherwise manipulated to ripen on the way to market. It's the natural ripening process that makes the difference in the taste, I think. And I totally agree about strawberries -- I'm just about done buying the ones grown in California and shipped here in the winter. There's no taste to 'em.

[matrixman]

I totally agree about strawberries -- I'm just about done buying the ones grown in California and shipped here in the winter. There's no taste to 'em.

Yes, they're very bland. Just pretend you have stuffed sinuses when you eat them.

[Zarathustra]

And the bees probably have to take drug tests first ....

Dude, I almost spit out my beer. Don't do that!

[Vader]

It also helps to know where food comes from. I never buy veggies from Spain because they use really huge amounts of pesticides.

Take for example grapes. I love grapes (who doesn't?) and you cannot buy them locally over here. I try to buy the ones from South Africa (Sultana or Thompson seedless) if no organic grapes are around becausye consumer tests seem to show that SA uses less chemicals in traditional production processes then, say Turkey or Greece.

[Harbinger]

According to Men's Health, if you only buy one organic product, make it potatoes. Potatoes are heavily sprayed with pesticides. They remain underground until harvest and absorb a lot of contaminants. They also warned of farm raised salmon esp. from South America, and peaches from South America.

[Orlion]

I've found that I really like organic salted butter. Organic pasta also tend to be superior (pasta like macoroni or that have substance. Angel hair doesn't matter).

[drew]

I try to only eat organic food.
And more importantly...local foods.

buying foods that are not in season and cannot be grown anywhere near your location doesn't really make a lot of sense if you think about it.

I stopped eating imported foods as much as i can. For example I dont buy those cute little clemintines oranges at christmas. Guess what, you cant grow oranges in Nova Scotia...and if you could, you couldn't in the winter.
I think trucking foods halfway across the world is silly, when there are local food that can be grown in just about every climate.

Maybe, its because I was dating an organic farmer this past summer...but I can't think of any worse way to ruin food, than to spray poison all over it. And/or pack it with preservatives. You can preserve food without chemicla preservatives...you can store many foods for a long time if you do it right.

I realize not everyone is in a position to start growing your own food...but I'll bet there are many farmer who live within a hundred of you who do, and they would love to sell it to you!!

[SoulBiter]

I buy organic foods when it makes sense. I have noticed with bananas that if I buy non-organic, they ripen and go bad faster (possibly due to a chemical they spray on some fruits and veggies so they can pick them green and chemically ripen them. The Organic bananas dont go black as fast and even when the peels do, the banana inside is still in good shape. Also tomatoes. If you note the color, if they are pink, they are chemically ripened. Look for RED tomatoes. There is a difference.

Lastly, this is an old thread. I wonder if any of you have changed your mind about organics?