On eating organically

I was reading an article by Margaret Wente in Saturday’s Globe and Mail entitled “Organic tastes good, but better for us. No.“  While I read her columns regularly, I find that Wente is prone to starting out with a pre-conceived idea, and then trying to justify it in a way that is not, journalistically speaking, honest.  Her sarcasm can also be a bit thick.  Whatever.  I rarely agree with her, but that’s not the point. I give her full points for writing articles that get tremendous reaction.  There are almost 200 posts that have been written in response to this column.  Of course, you can dismiss extreme arguments from both sides in this debate, but I find that I learn more from the well-reasoned comments, than I do from the column itself.

The major premise of this article is that Farmers Markets are great – but only if you are “well-heeled”.  “Designer varieties” of produce may taste fantastic, but their high cost is out of reach for the average person.  Really?   This seems to me to be an overly simplistic argument and it doesn’t quite ring true.  It hasn’t been my experience, and I see a great cross-section of society at our local market each week.

Personally speaking, the fact that locally grown organic produce tastes so much better than food that is conventionally grown is enough.  The quality of the fruits and vegetables that are field-grown, picked at their peak, and then sold within a day or two from harvest taste so much better than food that is engineered to travel long distances before being sold.  These fruits and vegetables speak for themselves.  And I listen.  For me, taste is everything, and this produce is worth the additional cost.  The premium that you pay for this quality can easily be made up by making smart choices with your other food purchases.

Wente references sources and studies (cherry-picked to be sure) that suggest that organically grown food is no more nutritious than conventionally grown food.  I will concede it is possible that in some cases this may, in fact, be true.  Nutritionally speaking, a freshly-picked organically grown apple and a freshly-picked conventionally grown apple may offer the same value.  This, however, does not take into account the possible negative long-term consequences of a diet that has a high concentration of food that has been sprayed and modified.   The jury is still out and it may take years of studies to settle this issue one way or another.  I guess we’ll see.

Having said that, I don’t think that you are “poisoning’ yourself or your children when you eat food that is conventionally grown.   There is no need for hysterics.  Trace amounts of herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides present in these foods, consumed in moderation, are unlikely to dramatically reduce your life span.  However, it also makes sense to me that children could be more susceptible to the adverse effects of a diet composed entirely of conventionally grown food due to the fact that they eat more in relation to their body weight.  Do your own research, and then make your best decision.  To me, it seems both practical and possible to strike a balance in terms of your weekly food choices.

In response to her point that organic produce is priced out of the reach of average families, well, you have to be creative.  Don’t be a victim.  There are ways to make this happen, including reducing your consumption of expensive, over-processed, tasteless, and nutritionally devoid food products.  If you shop intelligently for the majority of you pantry staples, you can plough the rest of your food savings into buying quality fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat and fish that is offered by people who care about what they are providing.

I won’t address the environmental argument for local, sustainable, organic farming in this post.  I will say that in addition to the superior quality and taste, for myself and many others, patronizing local farmers markets also has to do with re-establishing a connection to where our food comes from.  As an added bonus, there is also the sense of community that permeates the market, something that is in short supply these days, particularly in large cities.

How can it be a bad idea to have a better understanding of where your food is coming from, and at the same time, support the continued existence of locally grown food?  What is the true “cost” of not having a strong, diverse, and local food-chain?

Do yourself a favour this summer and enjoy a field-ripened pepper, some garlic, or a heirloom tomato that has been picked at its peak and brought to market within a day or two.  Taste is paramount.  The argument surrounding the “high cost” of quality organic produce is just a distraction in this debate.