People ask me all of the time about my take on organic versus non-organic.
I take people on supermarket tours and they are most are amused when I point out the fact that their apple is from Honduras. They never even thought of where it originally came from. Have you?
Do you know where that mesclun salad mix was grown? When was it picked, then packaged, then shipped to the store? How many hands touched your banana and how long has it been sitting on the shelf? Why choose organic vegetables and fruits over those that are grown conventionally? Why choose local over organic or organic over local? Why choose vegetables in season? Why shop at farmer’s markets? There are so many questions, so in short, here are a few answers.
Below is the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen 2011 List which lists which 12 vegetables and fruits you should definitely purchase organic and which 15 you can go non-organic.
EWG’s Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen 2011 List
To top it off, here is a GREAT article about the controversy between local vs. organic – Practical Locavorism- Bananas in Winter.
And here is Peggy Bourjaily’s “Practical Locavore’s Top 3 Survival Tips”:
Don’t Deny Yourself: Do your best year-round. Buy as much as you can from local purveyors and fill in the gaps. I find using mostly local ingredients in my cooking and then adding in more exotic fruits and vegetables as accessories helps me get in a new fresh flavor without buying a million lemons. Coffee, lemons and chocolate are all nonlocal foods I can’t live without.
Get As Close As You Can: Oranges will never be local to New York City or blueberries to Florida, but wait until they’re at their peak to buy, and then source them as close to home as you can. As an Easterner, I buy oranges from Florida.
Read Supermarket Labels: Believe it or not, even at the supermarket in the center aisles, you can find locally produced goods. Read labels closely and you might find baking flours that are grown and milled within a few hundred miles of your home or peanuts grown a few states away. Think in quadrants of the U.S. — North, South, East and West — and you’ll probably be able to track down some great local products within your quadrant to stock your pantry.
To sum it up:
– Read the signs in the supermarket and do your best at choosing foods based on how far they’ve traveled. Is your pepper from Holland or upstate NY?
– Pesticides are toxins. Eat organic foods to minimize the pesticides that you intake into your body.
– If you’re going to buy organic, buy these 12 (see left hand side of list above).
– If you decide to purchase non-organic, buy these 15 non-organic (see right side of list above)
– Shop at a farmer’s market near you to support your local farmers and ensure that you’re eating the freshest possible foods. Talk to the farmer – ask how he grows his items. And bring cash because most don’t accept credit card!
– Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to support local farmers and receive a variety of fresh vegetables every week (usually from June to September). Go to Justfood.org/csa to find a CSAE near you.
– Eat in season. Sweet Potatoes are grown locally during the cooler months because they naturally warm us. Watermelons are grown in NY in the Summer because they are very hydrating and cooling.
Be as educated as possible so you can be the smartest shopper and healthiest person you know! Don’t be fooled – know what you’re putting into your body, especially if you’re the one at the supermarket choosing what is going into your cart.
Check out more thoughts on organic and what dairy, meat and nuts you should buy organic here.
Be a Smart Shopper. Be Educated. Be Well.
xo
be well,
arielle
