When I started talking to natural food junkies at the beginning of the month, they would rave about particular organic fruits or vegetables I had to try, as if I'd recently been dropped here from the barren Planet Zoron. David Lively was obsessed with a California orange that only came around once a year; Tilth's Karen Luetjen carried on about homegrown tomatoes at their annual tastings; and PCC's Goldie Caughlan had a food-gasm over Nash Hubor's carrots from Dungeness Valley. Thing is, it's true: At times, organic tastes better. Way better. And isn't flavor a huge part of the eating experience?
The final tally had me losing 3 pounds and more cash than I was comfortable with. My family of four's food budget is usually around $800 per month; this month, thanks to several $6.99 pints of raspberries, $13 wedges of cheese, $21 steaks, and $7 grapefruits, our grand total was $1,372.51—a 58 percent increase.
Photo by David Belisle
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— Michael Stusser is on
KUOW, 94.9, today at 2 p.m.
Listen to a conversation with Michael Stusser about what his body, wallet and pets went through during his month on the wagon.
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All in all, organic food isn't always affordable, or even healthy. (Try living off Tostitos Organic Tortilla Chips and Natural American Spirit cigarettes.) And the more you think about the social issues surrounding the food on your plate, the more complicated things get. How many miles per gallon does the tractor on the organic farm get? Do you need apples from New Zealand, or is there a localalternative? What's the relationship between farmhand wages and farm owner profits? Are you cool that Kashi is really Kellogg's, or would you prefer getting your granola from Gary in Gold Bar? And if your corn is husked by some kid in Bangkok for 4 cents an hour, then shipped over on a nuclear submarine, is organic really the most important part of your purchase?
I had wanted my choices to be black and white: Organic equals good, everything else equals bad. But now the gray is all around me. The growers aren't necessarily families, friendly, or in the business for politically correct reasons. The products aren't always local, regional, or even national. The whole thing made me angry, confused, and jonesing for a Twix bar.
Still, some organizations are trying to address issues beyond land stewardship and ecology, paying attention to socially just food systems: the communal utopia that counterculture types established in the 1960s. These hippie homesteaders understood that eating right is as simple as knowing where your food comes from; and if that's an organic garden in your backyard, more power to you.
Next month, I've actually decided to kick my diet up a notch for an entirely different reason. Turns out, cooking food —organic or not—destroys much of its protein, vitamins, and minerals, making your immune system work overtime, aging you faster, and increasing the chance of deadly disease. Well, no thanks! I'm now eating truly old-school: 100 percent raw. Bring on the fresh seaweed, egg yolks, and celery juice. It's go time.
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