Vote organic
I was in Tesco's the other day, and overheard a very old man ask his equally ancient wife if she wanted the organic broccoli, as there was none of the 'normal' broccoli left. 'Organic? Ooooh no! I don't want any of that stuff!' she said, as though he had offered her pink sprouts from the planet Zarg.
I was stunned. Did this woman not realise that for probably the first fifty years of her life, she had eaten nothing else, because back then, there was only 'organic' produce?
This just confirmed to me that organic produce has had probably the worst marketing campaign since the Sinclair C5. In reality, it should need no marketing at all - it's just stuff grown as it's always been grown, for hundreds of years, until scientists discovered pesticides, allowing farming to become big business. Instead, it is thought of as the food of sandal-wearing hippies, or neurotic filmstars.
I always buy organic produce, not just for the taste, but for ethical, environmental and health reasons. I just object in principle to the direction farming is taking, with intensive farming, and GM crops, and the only way I can try to change this is to buy organic produce.
I'm aware of all the negative press, about how goods from abroad can't be guaranteed to be organic, etc. etc., but we all need to pressure the supermarkets to stock 'real' food, which has been produced in the way nature intended. I come from a farming background, so I do know what I am talking about. I know that the spray commonly sprayed on vegetables was so toxic that one needed radiation-style protective clothing to handle it.
I know it's expensive, but at the end of the day, we're just to used to having cheap food, clothes etc. Clothes are cheap because they are produced in third world sweat shops, food is cheap because it is factory-farmed. I prefer quality, and would rather go without than eat rubbish.
I believe a chicken should cost a tenner to produce - when I was a child, chicken was a treat we had on high days and holidays.I happen to think a chicken's life is worth more than £1.99, and would rather have an organic chicken once a fortnight, than a battery farmed bird two or three times a week. Also, if you cook as our grandparents used to cook, ten pounds is quite reasonable: roast on Sunday, curry on Monday, then use the carcass for a stew on Tuesday. Ten quid doesn't seem quite so bad for three family meals, does it? A lot cheaper than a pizza each, anyhow.
I make no apology for getting on my soapbox about this - it's my blog, and I'll moan if I want to!
But I would urge everyone to look beyond the price, and realise that food is probably the single most important purchase we make, so don't we deserve to buy the best we can? Buying organic, or free range from supermarkets may not be the perfect solution, but not all of us have access to local organic farmers, or can grow our own veg. At least when you buy an item of organic produce, you are effectively casting a vote, to say: I care about what I eat, I care about how it was produced, and I care about animal welfare, and I care about the environment.'
The quality of the food we eat is of paramount importance. It's all about the transference of energy. If a chicken has been raised in a cage the size of a shoebox, and had a miserable existence, what can its flesh offer you if you eat it? It certainly won't enhance your own existence.
Food doesn't have to be 'organic', but just look for food that has been grown in a way that Nature intended. Try buying from a local farmer, and yes, you will taste the difference, and feel it too.
Ignore the negative propaganda churned out by non-organic farmers, and MP's taking back-handers, and don't forget how much money some of the 'high-rollers' in intensive farming would stand to lose if we all went back to farming organically. If enough of us do it, maybe we can turn the tide, and return farming to the wholesome picture of rural industry that it used to be.
Vote with your food, now.
posted by Majic at 10:50 AM
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