Comments on: Pesticide, organic and other dirty words

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:39:14 +0000

Sorry to come so late to this post. Eating organic is perhaps not possible for us all, all the time. It’s expensive. It’s hard to find in some places. There is green-washing going on, true. Still, what is important is to know regular American food and many other regular American products contain toxic chemicals that are bad for people, and even worse for small children whose systems are not ready to detoxify in the same way, and to get militant about stopping the chemical industry. Please get a copy of Slow Death by Rubber Duck. Also, join the movement to overhaul the Toxic Substances Act. This is SO important. I’m going to blog about it tomorrow. You’ll find more info at Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families and do watch the Moms Rising video.

By: Christina

Christina — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:50:50 +0000

That’s an impressive commitment. Not one we all can (or want to) make, but it does show what’s possible when we try to live by our priorities. Thanks for sharing.

By: Viki

Viki — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 20:13:04 +0000

Just found your blog.
eating organic is expensive, it really is, but so is eating out.
I have a friend who decided a few years ago to not buy anything processed or canned. Cooked her own beans from dry, put up her own food in the summer. Bought from the bulk section at whole foods…made her own reusable bags to carry the bulk foods…Only bought organic, or raised her own. (oh yeah she has 5 kids) She saved so much money in the long run!
They didn’t eat out. They did enlarge their garden. They did put up more food. She made her own bread. It was hard. Her kids would beg for bean buritos from taco bell at first…she held firm. They got used to it. They are more healthy for sticking to it too.
It was MUCH more work for mom.
She learned so so much. She now makes her own tortillias. Her freezer is full and her car runs on cooking oil.

By: Christina

Christina — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:17:01 +0000

Absolutely true. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. For a lot of people, yes, eating mostly organic is cost-prohibitive. But for many people, it’s not a question of can’t — it’s a matter of won’t. The people I hear complaining about organic prices are the ones who happily pay for premium cable channels and luxury cars and other non-necessities. But they suddenly cry poor when it comes to food. And these are the same people who — if they voted with their dollars and did choose organic, sustainable food — could help prices come down for those who truly can’t afford it now.

By: Nipa

Nipa — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:05:21 +0000

The comment I hear most is “I can’t afford organic food, it’s so expensive!”, yet many of them can afford to eat out every week, or drive a BMW or own a Gucci purse. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of priorities.

By: Christina

Christina — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:47:30 +0000

You’ve actually inspired me to write a follow-up post, so stay tuned. In the meantime, the short answer is that we buy almost exclusively organic anymore. There are lots of reasons for that, which I’ll get into in that post, but we’re as concerned about the environmental impact of conventional agriculture as we are about the health effects. So even if something is likely to have little pesticide residue, if there’s an organic option, we choose it.

I understand everyone has different priorities and budgets, though, so if I had to pick only a few things to buy organic, I’d definitely make sure all my animal products were organic (and preferably local, pasture-raised and, in the case of milk, not ultra-high-temperature, or UHT, pasteurized). And I’d use the EWG’s guide to prioritize produce purchases. I’d also avoid packaged products with non-organic soy, corn and canola ingredients, since those are almost certainly genetically modified and, in the case of soy, processed using a toxic solvent called hexane.

There’s much more to say on this (hence the inspiration for a new post), but that’s the quick version. Thanks for raising the question.

By: Christina

Christina — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:32:41 +0000

Yes, why is that? I suspect it’s because food is a necessity, whereas the others are not. So being an elitist in the Gucci sense doesn’t really make a (perceived) statement about anyone except the person carrying the bag. Choosing organic food, however, can be seen as throwing down a gauntlet: “I pay more for my food. Therefore I eat better than you. Therefore I am better than you.” Right or wrong, that’s often the perception.

By: Beck

Beck — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 05:03:10 +0000

Nice post.
why is it that it is OK to be an elitist and get granite counter tops, leather car seats and big screen tv’s, but it is not OK to be an elitist and refuse to eat poison food? Seems odd. If you are an elitist who buys things produced by big business- that is good. If you are an elitist who refuses to buy things produced by big business, that is bad. Who do we suppose is behind that movement?
I wouldn’t worry about being called an elitist for eating organic- unless maybe you are at the farmers market in your Jimmy Choo high heels stuffing your Gucci bag full of organic caviar.
PS- I’m a fan of Kelly the Kitchen Kop who also participates in real food wednesdays.

By: Nipa

Nipa — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:45:53 +0000

Chris,
I think the little notebook you gave me sums it up. (The cover has an illustration of two thin, fashionable women ready to eat huge pieces of cake, with more goodies on the table between them. The caption reads “It’s ok, it’s organic”). Organic seems to have become a nice excuse for lot of things; to eat more junk, to sell more, to make a statement.

Like you, I use it as way to weed out the really nasty stuff like HFCS and food colouring and my kids also learned to read “organic” before any other word. Lately, I haven’t had the time to do the research to figure out what to buy organic. For produce, I’ve been following the Environmental Working Group’s shoppers guide. I always buy organic milk and eggs, peanut butter, meat and poultry, canned goods and a most prepared foods… but a lot of times I just reach for the organic version of something because it’s conveniently located or because I don’t know how much the non organic version is sprayed/ modified etc.

So I’ve been meaning to ask you for weeks now, what do you buy that’s not organic? Say you were stuck shopping at a grocery store with a limited budget?

Nipa

By: Marie

Marie — Tue, 25 May 2010 13:34:36 +0000

Great food for thought ha ha
It does make sense to consider one thing at a time and move through that…first organic, then type of sweetener…
My dietary changes were like that. First no meat, then organic veggies, then cutting back on dairy. I think that doing a bit at time makes it easier to learn about and easier to maintain. Thanks for the post.