Fresh start: The closer your food is to nature the better for you and the planet. Picture: Ekaterina Starshaya
Organic is one of the buzz words of the moment, right up there with global warming and carbon offsetting.
Only a few years ago it probably only registered with those who really understood the meaning. Now the word is everywhere. It’s used to sell clothing, cosmetics, baby gear and gardening products.
And food. The global organic food market alone grew by 10.9 percent in 2007, reaching $43.5 billion, a figure tipped to jump more than 53 percent by 2012 to more than $66 billion. Wander up and down the aisle of any supermarket and there will be labels aplenty boasting their organic credentials. Nary a grocer exists without an organic section, usually much more expensive than regular fare.
If you’ve already discovered the pleasures of organic consumption, you’re probably au fait with what it really means – and why it’s a healthy, wholesome and, let’s not forget, tasty choice for you and your family.
If you haven’t bought organic food before, you may have looked at those labels in passing and wondered why there were so many different ones. Or picked up and examined the vegetables and tried to work out why they cost that bit more than the potatoes or cauliflower on the other side of the table.
What does organic mean?
To help you take those first steps down the organic path, there are a few things worth knowing. Well, more than a few, but we’ve all got to start somewhere…
Organic literally means “of, related to, or derived from living organisms”. Organic food is food grown and prepared organically, that is without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or fertilisers.
Crops must be grown on land that has not been exposed to synthetic chemicals for at least three years, and they cannot be sprayed with pesticides to kill bugs or weeds, either. When the food is processed, such as turned into jam or chutney, artificial additives and preservatives can not be added.
Animals must be fed only on organically grown crops or pasture, can not be given growth hormones, and can only be treated with limited medicines. They must be allowed to graze or forage naturally, the antithesis of factory farming where animals are typically caged or housed for long periods without natural light or air.
Why does all this matter?
Well, the main reason is quite simple really. What goes on those crops and what is fed to those animals eventually finds its way to you, via breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Eggs on toast take on a whole new meaning once you know that the eggs came from caged chickens piled one on top of one another for months on end and fed growth hormones to fatten them up. And the toast? For starters, the wheat used to make the bread has been grown in fields regularly sprayed with pesticides to fight bugs, herbicides to keep weeds away and synthetic fertilisers to help it grow. Let’s not even start on how it is stored post harvest.
Then there’s the taste.
While arguments continue about whether organic actually tastes better or not, few people who have made the switch will go back. The proof is in the pudding, or breakfast. Why not buy a few organic eggs and an organic loaf of bread and try it yourself (add some organic bacon or a touch of organic ketchup for good measure).
Taste is surely tied up with the level of goodies, or nutrients, in any given food. A 2006 study comparing USDA data from 1950 and 1999 found a decline in nutrient levels in the 43 fruit and vegetable crops measured. The University of Texas study found six out of 13 nutrients, including iron and calcium, had declined, some up to 16 percent, over the period. A British study comparing the mineral content of fruit and vegetables from 1930 and 1980 turned up similar results.
Your grandmother will probably tell you she doesn’t need a study to point out what is bleedin’ obvious to her – fresh food tasted so much better in her day. What was different? Farming had not reached the scale of industrialisation that proliferates the world over today. With large-scale monoculture farming, assisted by fertilizers and pesticides, ever-increasing in volume by virtue of soil degradation, not only did farms lose biodiversity over time, they were gradually bleeding nutrients.
Organic farming is a return to old-fashioned, but sustainable agricultural practices (not that some small farmers ever abandoned them). Crops are rotated to re-generate soil, green manure is used to keep it rich and nothing artificial goes near either crops or animals.
So why isn’t everyone buying it?
Until quite recently, a fair portion of organic farming has been low-scale, carried out by dedicated producers interested in not only the welfare of their animals, but the environment around them and the health of their communities.
But as the scale of their production is usually not great, most have tended to sell in their local areas. And those that have bigger farms still lack the marketing budgets of the powerhouse conglomerates dominating the food industry (and we use the term “food” loosely here).
One solution has been for many small farmers to work together, to form co-operatives that enable them to work together on everything from resources to planning and marketing. There have been some great success stories, such as the Organic Valley co-operative, which recently celebrated its 20th birthday with more than 1200 farmers in its fold. Without such an initiative, many, if not all, of these farmers from sun-drenched California to the foothills of the Rockies may not have been able to stay on the land. As more of these kind of groups get their message heard in mainstream society, the better the future of organic produce.
Another factor that has held back the average consumer from stocking up on organic is cost. The supply-demand ratio, as well as the fact that it is a more labour intensive way of farming, generally (although not always) means higher retail prices.
Take it slowly.
But if you find a whole trolley packed with organic goods prohibitive, don’t despair. Start slowly and look hard at what you buy on a regular basis. Choose organic for those items you eat a lot of (hopefully, we’re talking fruit and vegetables here). Cut back on meat consumption so that when you do buy it you can afford to buy the best.
Saving up for an organic leg of lamb from pasture-fed sheep or a few tasty drumsticks from birds that have been roaming as free as, well, birds will bring its own rewards. Apart from knowing you’re eating the best you possibly can, it encourages the discovery of something many of us in the fast food nations of the western world have forgotten – the joy of food. Something to savour, rather then simply grab on the run between appointments.
