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Do you do the organic thing?
Lately there’ve been a few really stupid articles in the media about organic food.
Here’s a sample headline: “Just Because You Are Buying Organic Doesn’t Mean It’s Fat Free!” Uh, duh, OF COURSE. It kinda goes without saying. You’re not going to get thinner by stuffing yourself with globs of organic cashew butter on organic bread, organic ice cream, or organic crackers spread with organic butter and hunks of organic cheese. Especially if you eat it all at the same time.
Organic foods won’t help you lose weight, but it is the better choice to make.
A few months ago we decided to notch up our ratio of organic to non-organic grocery purchases. We’re lucky that our local Superstore carries a wide variety of organic products. We could practically do all of our shopping in one small area of the store. They carry things such as organic cereals, soups, cookies, dairy etc. The one thing they seriously lack is an organic meat department.
Farm Boy on Merivale Road has a decent selection of organic meats. Awhile back I bought two packages of chicken – one organic, one non- as a sort of taste test. There was a huge difference. Before cooking, the organic chicken was pink. PINK! In comparison, the non-organic was its distant sickly pale cousin who never saw the light of day. It was beige. The organic chicken tasted like chicken. I cannot describe the chickeny taste of the chicken. This was vividly-flavoured chicken. It’s the disco ball vs. a 40W lightbulb. It was juicy, even though it was white meat which tends to be drier. The non-organic was tasteless in comparison, with a mere hint of it’s chickeny origins.
And don’t even get me started on organic bacon. I have promised myself not to buy regular pre-packaged bacon ever again. I cannot go back. The organic stuff is too good. We get ours from Saslove’s on Wellington.
In terms of taste, think of it this way: there is ice cream, and there is ice cream. There is the el cheapo stuff that is mostly sugar and flavouring. And then there’s elite ice cream like Haagen Dazs, which is also chock full of sugar but since it probably contains more cream (I didn’t say this was a low-fat argument) and tastes like real ice cream should taste.
We also started buying organic milk. It’s a fairly regular purchase now, and it’s not cheap. But it tastes wonderful. This will sound strange but I find the organic tastes milkier. Mark said it best… it tastes exactly like the milk you remember drinking as a child.
You’ll read some news articles that argue organic foods are actually healthier for you. And for every one of those you’ll read another one that insists the studies are inconclusive. It’s hard to know what to believe anymore. But all that aside, by making an organic purchase you’re supporting an important and growing industry, you’re supporting a farmer (or more than one!) who doesn’t use pesticides or hormones or fertilizers. Did you know that the agricultural industry is among the world’s worst polluters? The chemicals they use to grow their foods gets into the soil, the air around us (i.e. crop dusters) and pollutes our water. It is not a sustainable way of farming.
Here’s my challenge for you: next time you’re grocery shopping, buy at least one organic product. If you’re frugal, or brand-loyal, this might mean leaving your comfort zone and spending an extra dollar on a product you’re not familiar with. BUT, think of it this way: by buying an organic product you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want to live in.
Not everything we buy is organic, but we’re trying.
You might be wondering how Emma and Sarah have taken to this change. Well, it’s been explained to them and they certainly understand our rationale. And in the process we’ve discovered a few new products we really like. They’ve taken to Cheetah Chomps, a kiddie cereal made by Nature’s Path. It’s mildly, naturally, strawberry-flavoured and surprisingly (for a kiddie cereal anyway) only contains 6g of sugar per serving. It doesn’t quite compare with regular Cheerios (which is practically sugar-free) buy did you know that Honey Nut Cheerios have 9g per serving?
I do wonder what Emma will think of the new organic ketchup I bought.
p.s. for more info, check out the Wikipedia entry about organic farming.
