Diving In
Posted in The Life of the Historian and tagged with Food, Organic on October 12, 2009
First, Happy Birthday to my mom!
While I still can’t shake the feeling that the organic/natural food industry is one big scam, I have decided that I was going to start choosing to drink organic milk.
The bowl on the right is my first taste. Of course, I chose the chicken route and decided just to have it on my cereal for the first time. I couldn’t taste a difference, though the Raisin Bran didn’t taste very good (it was a store brand, though I haven’t had any Raisin Bran in a long time, so maybe I just forgot how hard it is.)
This has been a decision that has been a long time coming. Over a year ago, I wrote about how my anti-organic attitude was changing. While I was no longer compelled to ignore organic foods (I really should say foods labeled organic, as foods that are labeled organic legally can, and often times do, still contain non-organic ingredients), I hadn’t yet come to place of preferring organic items if it meant paying more.
Yet last weekend I bought my first ever half-gallon of organic milk, the first organic item that I bought though there was a cheaper alternative. The irony is that I’ve chosen to go organic in the one organic item that makes me giggle (I have a strange sense of humor, but when I read “organic milk” I imagine someone feeding the cow manure and withholding it pesticides). The reason why I’ve chosen milk is that I believe that there is some validity to the connection of dairy cows given hormones and girls maturing at much younger ages. Perhaps we’re wrong, but I can’t see what it hurts to pay maybe $25-50 more a year on going organic on this one item.
Have your thoughts changed towards going organic? Why do you choose organic/non-organic items?
October 12th, 2009 at 11:27 am
I buy organic Peruvian Quinoa. Love that stuff.
I thought about milk, but at $6 a gallon decided against it.
My kids only drink about one cup a day.
I only drink milk if its on cereal and now I don’t eat cereal too much. It just doesn’t stick with me. I like proteins if I eat breakfast.
♥
Joy
October 12th, 2009 at 11:27 am
It’s really expensive, and I’ve heard and read interviews from people who work at places like Whole Foods who said that a lot of the things aren’t actually organic.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:29 am
I do not buy organic across the board, but I have started buying some organic but only because of the expense. I just didn’t realize what is going on in our food industry until I read this article (http://kellythekitchenkop.com/category/milk-healthy-options) and then read the books “Real Food” by Nancy Planck and “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan. I don’t think organic food pushers are scamming us. I believe that our FDA and whoever else the powers-that-be are have messed up our diet badly all for the sake of raking in the mighty dollar.
I never would’ve imagined 3 months ago that I would be where I am today, but I eat whole foods now, organic if possible.
October 12th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
My girls drink about 2 cups of milk a day and I cook with it so I would love to buy organic milk. For us it would be more than $25-$50 extra and even though that’s still not huge, in the short term and on a weekly basis it’s a big difference for us.
Twitter: barwal1
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October 12th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
My family drinks about 6 gallons of milk a week. I haven’t taken the time to calculate what that would cost me in a year, but it would be a tad bit more than $25-50!
October 12th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I don’t generally buy organic products. From my experience there are some organic products that tend to taste better than their counterparts (generally in some fruits and meats). If I am going to buy these products it’s as a treat as I can’t afford to pay the extra as of yet. Perhaps once my fiance and I have our careers going this will change.
October 12th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
We buy organic milk at our house, and it does end up costing us more with four kids. We go through about a gallon of milk a day, but we felt like this was one of the areas where it mattered. We also try to get a few organic fruits and vegetables when we can, like strawberries, lettuce, grapes, and some of the others where the pesticides would be most likely to be on the product. I’m horrible about sugars and stuff like that.
October 12th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I drink organic milk because ironically, I find that it lasts longer. I noticed that when I bought regular milk, it would go bad within 3-4 days…or at least would change smells to where it would bother me. Organic milk stays the right smell for longer. I don’t know why, but I’ve been drinking it for a couple of years and I can tell the difference when I drink regular milk now. I will say that I can do this because I live alone and don’t have any kids. I think that if I had to raise kids, I would struggle to be able to pay for it, although I would like to.
Twitter: mayangelstar
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October 12th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
I love Raisin Bran and don’t eat it until it’s soggy! Don’t go organic in anything. I usually buy what’s the cheapest, and now that I play the grocery gsame, I buy what’s on sale.
The only one in our family who drinks milk on a regular basis is Alex. We try to get our calcium in other ways..
October 12th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
honestly,i have not considered going organic. as a single mom every penny counts. so i guess if it costs more, i really dont consider it.
October 13th, 2009 at 12:28 am
How is the taste? We haven’t gone organic anything. We need a nutrition make over here in a bad way.
October 13th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Kristina: It really is appalling. Apparently the idea originally was that not everything was able to be organic yet, so some things were allowed, but instead of the list of allowed things decreasing as technology increases, it’s actually increasing.
Liz: I’m not quite a conspiracy theorist, because I know why the FDA has done what they’ve done historically. I think we need to be careful not to throw out technology that has saved thousands of lives through the years and helped us get to where we are today.
Elizabeth, Barry, Emma: I do realize that the cost to me is much less than it would be to a family! One more advantage to being single, I guess!
Christy: Me, too. Lots of the decisions I’ve made now could change for practicality reasons if/when I have kids.
Veronica: That’s just gross! It about killed me to take the time to take the picture before I dove in because I don’t like soggy cereal. Once the milk is poured, the clock is ticking!
Jennifer: It doesn’t taste different to me. Maybe tastes a little thicker? It does seem to be a little different, but I can’t place the difference.
October 13th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
I’m more of an “eat local” fan, because you can meet the farmers and see what they’re doing to care for the land/animals. Most, at least in our area, farm organically yet can’t afford to get official organic recognition, so when I buy from local farms, I don’t sweat the organic designation.
Good for you for switching to organic milk! That’s one switch I haven’t made yet…it’s so hard to prioritize cost/benefit. I’ve been kind of keeping an eye out for a local dairy farm that wouldn’t require ridiculous driving times for me, but I don’t exactly live in dairy central in the ‘burbs of Boston :) Not a lot of cows out this way!
I really enjoyed The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan if you’re looking to read more about the issues. It was very eye-opening for me (though fair warning, I haven’t been able to think about food in the same way since reading it. Sometimes I miss the ignorance!)
October 15th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
For some reason, I’m rather lax about what I eat – meaning anything – so I’ve never been one for organic. However, I only give my dog natural and organic food. I guess it makes me feel better about not knowing what’s going on in her body…