Why Organic?

Is organic food really better?

I get quite a bit of shtick for choosing to buy organic over regular food. People are not convinced it's better. Most folk  believe organic food is way overpriced. Here's what I think.

Local organic produce

I often ask people if they would take a slice of bread, or any food item, and first spray it with a can of domestic cockroach or ant killer spray. And they are horrified. Of course not!

We all know those cans come with a warning that the substance is highly toxic. So why then are people so accepting of pesticides on their food? The same or a similar agent is applied to our food!

And it's not just pesticides. Food producers apply a good few of the following: - herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, termiticides, molluscicides, piscicides, avicides, rodenticides, predacides, bacteriacides, fungicides. That excludes various kinds of sanitisers also commonly used.

I have no way of knowing how many different biocides my food has been subject to. Or how many times it has been exposed to poison. Food producers are not required to label with this information. Which is weird as food label legislation is getting so tough on other ingredients like salt, sugar and fat.

The argument that the toxins are washed off also doesn't hold with me. Farmers need pesticides to work. Biocides are made to cling to produce through rain and irrigation. But yes they do leech into the soil killing all the organisms that would normally nourish the soil.

That means the soil has less to give the growing food. Chemical fertilisers usually have a ratio of three minerals - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. But we know there are a LOT more minerals required by the body than that.

The word -cide means death. Actually intended death. Think homicide, suicide or genocide. These chemicals kill of heaps of beneficial creatures too. Like bees. Without bees and pollination we would have almost no food. And we are eating this stuff on our food?

Organic doesn't have to be more expensive. Actually it can be the same or cheaper. I buy from Woolworths, Wellness Warehouse and Rodgers Fruiterers at the City Bowl Market in Hope Street.

If you can't find organic produce easily, you can either start growing your own, or buy the Clean Fifteen and avoid the Dirty Dozen.

When we get going with our restaurant, you can be sure as much of the food as possible will be organic.