Organic Food

[Zak33]

I have been experimenting with ORganic food for a few months now...and I have to say.....

Organic Eggs are fantastic but lots of the other stuff is not quite all its cracked up to be

Organic meat frankly falls a bit short....BUT lots of the organic egetabels taste sublime

Any one else tried/dabbled/ full time.....into Organic ?

[DaBeeeenster]

I try to buy only organic meat or dairy. I've read a few pretty horrific articles about the state of non-organic food processing plants and it's done enough to put me off. Organic food does taste better, it's not got chemicals all over it and it also helps support farmers.

Food in the UK is TOO CHEAP. People have got used to paying 90p for a chicken fillets. THEY COST MORE THAN THAT. Same goes for a load of other stuff like coffee and a lot of fish. Intensive farming is bad, mmmkay. Yeah I know it costs a bit more but it's worth it IMHO.

BTW. Zak. Thoughts on adding balsamic vinegar to a bolognaise sauce?

[SIRUS]

we get most our veg/eggs from the farm up lane
its not to bad its all organic and prices arent to steep from what ive seen from places like sainsbury,s there just taking advantage of peeps trying to eat healthy food the prices are way to much
and your right the eggs do taste alot better

[Skii]

I don't normally touch the stuff, too expensive really. I have had some Organic produce in the past, didn't taste as nice as the normal stuff IMHO

Eggs are nice though , pricey, but nice.

[Nick]

AM at work so too busy to reply properly except that Zak, you're right in some respects, Beenster, you're wrong in some respects.

Having now peed you all off I'm gonna retreat and then post the why's and wherefores later when I get home.

ps. USed totally organic produce and meat for 5 years... and was heavily involved in the Soil Association, certification of Organics etc etc... I'll pull some of the data from there for a start!

[DaBeeeenster]

Aye, be interested to hear your views Deckard.

Basically, I like to avoid putting carp (other than Pete Tosh ) into my body.

Living in Australia is a bit of an eye opener. They put crap in everything! It's VERY hard to buy fruit juice (even fresh) without flavours added. I mean, wtf?!?!?! Organic meat other than organic chicken is very hard to come by . It's really frustrating...

[petrefax]

i'm a fan - u can't beat organic veg. lived with my grandparents for a few years as a teenager & they grew a lot of their own & it tasted divine - living in a city theres not much scope for growing ur own tho, so have to make do with growning herbs & chillis on the windowsil

did some on organic & sustainable food production as part of my degree too (a few years ago now tho) and ever since being able to afford it have stuck with organic where possible

IIRC tho, when studying this in some instances i felt the "organic" label could be...not abused...cos thats too strong a word, but some of the guidelines (and their loopholes ) could be manipulated to suit - dunno if this is still the case, eagerly await deckard's input on this

[headbrace]

We get some organic stuff and some not- Had some excellent organic brown bread from M&S.
The best eggs we ever had were from Waitrose- Columbian Blacktail ones. Sounds Poncey, but tasted really good

[Stringent]

Had a bar of organic chocolate. Dairy Milk is still much better

[Swafe]

i was taught

organic = normal food + 50p

[Knoxville]

Originally posted by Swafeman
i was taught

organic = normal food + 50p

thats the general view of it, but its not true, some organic stuff is much nicer imo

i await deck's input on this, but the best example i've got is from where i work, go try some jamie oliver 21 day beef, and then try some proper organic stuff thats also cheaper, its soooo much nicer

[DaBeeeenster]

It's not just that it's nicer, it's the fact that it is not fully of ****.

It's like, I'd prefer my beef without the injections of steroids and growth hormone, thanks very much.

[Anders]

Well they still use natural pesticides and herbicides on products, some of which can be more harmful to humans and the environment than the artificial alternatives. However, I think overall that the soil association guidelines, despite whatever loops holes there might be, do more good than harm. I can’t say that I notice a real taste difference though. Do you think you could tell the difference in a blind trial?

Cheap food in this country has a lot to do with government/E.U. subsidies. Plus supermarkets sacrifice profit on basic items, like bread, to make you believe that all their items are cheap. However they charge a premium on items you buy less often, like washing powder, in order to make their profits.

[Nick]

Sorry guys, my cookery school starts later on today, hence why I'm up so late... been working my bum off trying to get everything ready for it.

Will post about this tomoz.

Basic things are:

Organic costs more as it is less productive due to lack of pesticides, growth hormones etc etc. Not only does this give a lower yield, but also it takes longer to get the yield.

Another expense is reflected in the costs incurred switching to organic, especially for crops. The soil has to be untreated for 2 years during which time crops can be grown but not sold as organic, but due to not using pesticides you already get the lower yield but cant charge the organic price.

Organic animals have to have organic feed, which costs more (see above).

Treatment for diseases in organic animals is not normally preventative but curative. ie, treat after it shows symptoms, there are exceptions but in general terms an organic farmer wont routinely treat animals unles they are ill. This costs more than just adding antibiotics etc to the feed for the whole herd.

Flavour.

In general, organic food has a more earthy, stronger flavour. Thsi is most noticable in lamb, pork and beef, less so in chicken, turkey and duck. Nearly all veg have more flavour, this is due to them being in the ground longer and being given time to develop flavour, not being force grown to absorb moisture, get the weight and size up and thus dilute flavour.

Price.

Incredibly high demand keeps prices very high. From the moment a farmer decides to go organic it will be a MINIMUM of two years until he is certified. During this time he will suffer lower yields and higher costs. Not many farmers can sustain that so relatively few have switched, therfore output stays low compared to demand.
Organic farming methods will never be able to support this country's needs, not unless all the fallow land around now is worked, which just isnt economical in many cases.

Do the math... one organic farmer could produce roughly 100 chickens a week at a serious push, with output falling off during winter. One guy running an automated battery farm can produce MINIMUM 1000 birds a week, with no seasonal drop off.

Organic isnt as safe.

Load of rubbish. To maintain an organic certificate, that food has to come to you with as little done to it as possible. This means no detergents used to clean the veg and fruit. It is YOUR choice whether or not wash it before eating, but it is strongly reccomended that you do. Just cos its organic dirt, dont mean its any safer than 'ordinary' dirt, or any worse, for that matter. Common sense this one, but a favourite of anti-organic eaters.

Why switch to organic?

We're the top of the food chain, yeah? Theres this thing called toxic build up. Some chemical toxins, heavy metals etc are present in minute amounts in non-organic produce. Not enough to harm us of course, but the body doesn't excrete it. So it sits in your liver, or in your gut and each day you eat a little more. You've heard about the health warning over tuna, shark, swordfish and marlin yeah? These predators now have high levels of mercury in them from where the bottom feeders THEY feed off have picked up the mercury from dumped stuff on the seafloor. The toxin becomes more concentrated the higher up the food chain it gets. Eating organic is one way to break the circle.

Theres loads moe to this, but I'm absolutely knackered.. apologies for spelling and grammar errors. I'm done in chaps.

More tomorrow. maybe about beens food being too cheap.. I reckon its too damn expensive for what it is to be honest...

[spikegifted]

Originally posted by Anders
I can’t say that I notice a real taste difference though. Do you think you could tell the difference in a blind trial?

You'd be pleasently surprised... I can bet that if you go on the organic stuff for 1 month - every meal; then go and cook yourself a meal using non-organic stuff... You'll taste the difference.

[BoB_DoG]

I'd have to agree, I worked for a restaurant that was fully organic, also had RSPCA "freedom food" on their salmon, only 1% fish compared to the size of their movement area. I have to say that their salmon, compared to tescos etc. tasted far better, as does most organic veg and seafood