I still haven’t decided if organic is any better, but thanks to you, I had a good laugh trying to figure it out!

Hey, have you ever seen the section for Fruitarians out there? It is some mangy, nasty ass looking fruit and vegatables.

The only time I dont feel ripped of buying organic stuff is at Trader Joe’s. Everywhere else it feels like I am being screwed.
But I do know that part of the reason organic food is more expensive is that right now is that the demand way outweighs the supply. For all of the farmers who are switching to organic to meet the demand, they have to let their fields/orchards/etc. go without pesticides, etc for three years first. So now they are growing organically, but they cant sell it as organic, so its non-organic buggy stuff. No market for that.

As for bugs in vegetables, I agree with the Queen of Spain. Vegetables from your own garden would contain some bugs, it’s only normal. We always used to have a garden when I was a kid, and we also always washed the stuff before eating it. How else would you get that rabbit pee off of it anyway?

But here’s what I can’t figure out: If the organic farmers use no or less pesticides and cheaper fertilizer (assuming that natural fertilizers are indeed cheaper) and generally do less to their stuff, i.e. less work is being performed for each piece of produce, why the heck is it more expensive? Okay, the yields are smaller (is that the right way of saying it?), but shouldn’t it even out? But I also heard that without pesticides, the yield is actually better. Something’s not adding up right.

This is already way too long, but one more thing. There is a very noticable difference between the way apples look in stores in the US and over here in Germany. The stuff you guys have is sparkling and shiny and you need some of them shades just to look at it compared to our dull apples over here. And I know that apples on trees don’t sparkle. Just something that made me wonder. About health aspects as well as customer behavior. Why are we more attracted to food that looks artificial?

So here is my 100th try. If this does not work, I give up.

We try and buy organic when we can. But we do not buy organic exclusively. Some things you can totally taste a difference in, but it depends on the season, store, etc.

We also have a farmers market with a large organic supply.

As for the bug issue…I pick what we grow in our garden and sometimes it has bugs. So I just assume all things that are grown in the great outdoors in dirt, encounter bugs. Many of them are very beneficial to the plant.

Since I wash my fruit and veggies, we don’t eat the bugs.

I think it sucks that organic is more expensive. And while I’m not sure there is anything wrong with pesticides and whatever else…I guess I just think that the less processed and chemical laden my food is, the better.

Maybe I’m an alarmist, but I can’t help but think something we’re sticking in our food or on our food will bite us in the butt one day. Cancer? Maybe. Allergies? Maybe.

It just seems like common sense to me. But I am certainly not militant about it.

If I had to really go off on something here, I guess it’s the hormone issue more than anything. The whole hormone in milk and meat thing really, really, really creeps me out.

I won’t buy regular milk. It must be hormone free. But I also don’t give the stink eye to mom’s buying the regular stuff.

I know there is a list somewhere that tells you what really matters when buying organic. Like what really makes a difference. I’ll try and find it.

as for health benefits, there have been several published studies showing a big decline in pesticides in the bodies of children who eat organic foods.

and as for taste - i can taste the difference in SOME organic foods - apples and bananas primarily. organic cheese often tastes worse.

i try to get all organic and it does cost more, but we have this amazing farmer’s market here that has super fresh and a huge supply of organic produce. i won’t even think about getting organic produce from the big supermarkets. it’s way overpriced and usually not fresh. that sucks.

i don’t think it matters really - we all die eventually. i guess since some organic foods taste better to me, i get all organic. and i’m broke.