Local and organic is a romantic myth [aeon.co article]

https://aeon.co/essays/is-sustainability-sold-at-supermarkets-or-farmers-markets

quite rather most of the “media” organic hoopla is utter BS.

“organic” is about what is NOT on your food.
from a “health” perspective.
organic growing methods from a “take care of the earth” tree hugging perspective is a completely different question.

take any heirloom tomato that happens to be - it can be grown organic or non-organic.
multiple thousands of tests, articles, citations, etc. maintain taste wise there no difference.
multiple thousands of tests, articles, citations, etc. maintain there is no nutritional difference.

my opinion, true. but the lack of a long list of unpronounceable indecipherable chemical compounds used as ‘pesticides’ and residual on the crop could affect your health.

last week I made chili. bit late for garden tomatoes, so I bought some organic on-the-vine tomatoes at the store - because they were the best looking of the lot on offer, that’s why…

the skins were thick as buffalo hide. tough, flavorless, really really bad. so bad I put a note in my recipe file: out of season use canned tomato.

local? curiously and to my surprise - from an organic grower about 30 miles from my front door.

local does not automatically mean “better” - I except from that statement stuff I grow within 50 feet of my back door…

and whether local does mean better there can be quality issues.

when sweet corn is in season, I have a favorite farm stand. you have to be there before noon - otherwise you’ll find ‘it’s all gone.’ they pick their corn every morning, the sap is still dripping off the stem ends of the ears. other farm stands I find dried up stems, kernels that won’t pop - wretched stuff picked last season methinks . . .

I’ve never been sold on commercial organic foods. It’s one thing to grow your food in your back yard and know what went into caring for your crops. Organophosphates are commonly used and can be some of the most toxic poisons around. Think Sarin. Not saying sarin is used, just that the class of poisons allowed that are organic would scare the crap out of you

after commercial interests discovered “organic” there was no ‘list of allowed’ stuff.

now, to be labeled ‘organic’ there are government ‘regulations’ - which you can be assured are followed to the letter. right.

the list of ‘allowed’ chemicals for ‘organic’ does not include “classes of poisons” or in fact classes of anything. the list is item by item specific.

not that I agree with most of the list, but just keeping things honest…

Whenever I can I choose to buy certified organic fruit and vegetables and organic (or free range) meat. It’s about caring for the environment - in terms of this thread, yes, that’s a romantic consideration and one I am entirely content with.

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The EU also has much stricter guidelines as to what can and cannot be called “certified organic”, compared to the US.

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