What my wife and I are doing now is participating in a bi-weekly organic produce box delivery service. What happens is that, every two weeks, we pick up a box of organic produce - veggies and fruit. It's all local and seasonal. Costs us about $20 a box (or $40 a month). Not super cheap but we think it's worth it. The veggies are really fantastic and the fruit's not bad (but if you're used to gi-normous sized peaches and plums, the organic equivalents tend to be much, much smaller).
There's some organic milk that's very good, to the point where the 2% tastes like whole milk. So if you do consume milk, try them out. I am sure there's some organic soy milk brands as well.
most soymilks seem to be organic
jom, the best vegetarian/local food restaurant ive everbeen to is in seattle: cafe flora...not cheap, but truly fine dining.
There's some organic milk that's very good, to the point where the 2% tastes like whole milk. So if you do consume milk, try them out. I am sure there's some organic soy milk brands as well.
most soymilks seem to be organic
jom, the best vegetarian/local food restaurant ive everbeen to is in seattle: cafe flora...not cheap, but truly fine dining.
I'll have to look into that when I get up there again, hopefully before the end of the year.
What my wife and I are doing now is participating in a bi-weekly organic produce box delivery service. What happens is that, every two weeks, we pick up a box of organic produce - veggies and fruit. It's all local and seasonal. Costs us about $20 a box (or $40 a month). Not super cheap but we think it's worth it. The veggies are really fantastic and the fruit's not bad (but if you're used to gi-normous sized peaches and plums, the organic equivalents tend to be much, much smaller).
There's some organic milk that's very good, to the point where the 2% tastes like whole milk. So if you do consume milk, try them out. I am sure there's some organic soy milk brands as well.
most soymilks seem to be organic
jom, the best vegetarian/local food restaurant ive everbeen to is in seattle: cafe flora...not cheap, but truly fine dining.
Damn Tony! You know all the good spots out here. What did you live in a van under a bridge in Seattle for like a month or something? LOL Cafe Flora in Madison Park is THE THRUTH! The portabello mushroom wellington is FANTASTIC!
And yet even more articles, I found the ones I was looking for. It was the cover story in the Seattle Weekly three years ago, a series of articles on simply eating better. Worth a read. It took me awhile to find these but here we go:
processed food wise: soy and corn, go organic. if they are not organic, they are most likely genetically modified. eating GMO will include you in a nation wide experiment to test some laboratory invention. have fun!
It's particularly revealin' when you realize that most of the major companies promotin' GMO - e.g. Monsanto - used to be ballin' large when it came to pesticides; w/ the scrutiny (and rightly so) bearin' down on the hazards/effects of pesticides, these businesses shifted their model to another aspect of the food chain in an attempt to maintain their revenue streams: do they have your best interests @ heart? And there's no tellin' what the long term repercussions of GMO foods will be on people consumin' them given the extreme lack of conclusive data...
jom, the best vegetarian/local food restaurant ive everbeen to is in seattle: cafe flora...not cheap, but truly fine dining.
Damn Tony! You know all the good spots out here. What did you live in a van under a bridge in Seattle for like a month or something? LOL Cafe Flora in Madison Park is THE THRUTH! The portabello mushroom wellington is FANTASTIC!
And the U-District farmer's market! All of the markets are pretty good nowadays (Ballard, Cap Hill, Columbia City) but the U-District still kings it. Dress bummy and shop after 2pm and you can get seconds for pennies on the dollar. I got a bunch of heirloom organic tomatoes for 50 cents a pound last week - better than $5/lb at Whole Foods.
i went to this organic food place to grab something to eat yesterday (first time i went there) and the owner was talking to this couple about how there's some farm here that anyone can go to and just grow shit there. sounded pretty cool even though i'm not really into all of this stuff.
Matthew Herbert (weird electronica guy) just released an album where he tried to inform about these problems. You should check out his website, at http://www.platdujour.co.uk/.
I think it's strange people don't understand most of what their eating today is plain unhealthy. The food industry is just like the music industry, really. They don't care about quality. They care about selling their products, and sorry to say.. but the people are easy to manipulate.
Matthew Herbert wrote an essay on his site. You should all read it:
Ever since being fortunate enough to travel the world with my music, my palate has changed. The familiar English rituals, textures and tastes have been undermined at every turn. The inevitable consequence has been a growing obsession with the international language of food and how almost every choice we are being asked to make about what we eat is laced with deadly compromises. For example, at a restaurant, do you choose white bread, which may be nutritionally poorer for you than brown bread - or do you choose brown bread which contains 5 times the amount of pesticide residues?
Why are we expected to make that decision? At the very point we need clear advice and leadership, we are set adrift by governments afraid to criticise such large companies. At the same time, radical shifts in eating habits have taken place in the last 20 years. Food that used to be considered treats, for special occasions or one-offs, have become staples. What children's menu at a restaurant doesn't contain chips? Whereas frosties used to be the exception in breakfast cereals, sugar-coating has become industry standard. Standard frosties now containing 38% sugar. The unholy trinity of the cheap restaurant - the freezer, the microwave and the deep fat fryer - has replaced the family mealtime. The industry's unholy trinity for cheap food - sugar, salt and fat - has replaced the traditions of locally grown, seasonal produce from grocers, markets, butchers and bakers, squeezed out of high streets by supermarkets.
We have handed over control of what goes in to our bodies to faceless transnational companies, operating in a geographical no-man's land. It is no surprise then that world health is in crisis, with over-eating in the west becoming more of a problem than under-eating. In America, children have a lower life expectancy than their parents. And yet, the American template for modern food has long been at the front line of its empirical ambitions: McDonalds went to russia long before the tourists did; Starbucks has been successful in many countries previously thought impervious to its homogenised view of coffee; the hamburger, designed in part by a man who thought vegetables were to be avoided, is now a staple part of so many global menus.
Wherever such huge physical and spiritual distances are involved between what we eat and where we eat it, there are bound to be so many difficult and equally depressing stories in between: from the early new england salt cod production feeding sugar plantation slaves in the west indies, to the hundreds of Tesco lorries sat in traffic jams up and down europe; from the british farmers paid to grub orchards, to the coffee farmers of vietnam and colombia, struggling to get by with such a devalued commodity.
It is in stories such as these, if we care to look, that we can begin to see the hidden factor behind all of today's evils: oil. The global agriculture industry is the biggest consumer of oil: from the power needed to run the factories, to the manufacture of the packaging and the transportation. Now our food comes from further away, the engines of planes and trucks bringing it spew forth the same carbon dioxide that is warming the planet, making crop failure more likely and altering the fundamental structure of indigenous environments on which we rely. Norman Church has kindly agreed for us to reprint his article on the effects of oil consumption on our food chain. To read it in full, please click here.
I am tired of having to tolerate the international language of cheap convenience food - convenient mainly to those that make and serve it. The bright pinky orange of farmed salmon in aeroplane trays, the branded waters 1000 times more expensive than tap water, the dismal spread of the hotel breakfast buffet, with its pre-formed meat slices, pasteurised juices, mechanically produced bread and nestle yoghurts full of sugar and potassium sorbate…
This record then, aims to tell some of the hidden stories behind the overly-elaborate and wasteful packets. It looks at what's on the menu and asks you to makes decisions based on criteria other than taste. The album will include tracks made from a grain of sugar, 30,000 chickens, a salmon farm, the sewers below London and water.
Plat du Jour has been researched for 18 months with the help of Polly Russell from the British Library and numerous other helpful specialists and authorities.
For the live performance of such a project, the emphasis must shift away from the attempt to tell some of these ambiguous and complex stories in literal ways, and instead aim to enliven the music in ways that allude directly or indirectly to the friction within the food itself. On stage we will be bringing a chef with us who will be attempting to alter mood and enhance the music with smells. There will also be a drummer playing a drum kit made only from items brought from Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket. There will be three renowned jazz musicians - Dave O'Higgins, Pete Wraight and Phil Parnell - capturing live samples and triggering them though midi controllers. Finally I will be attempting to bring it all together sonically, technically and hopefully musically. There will be visuals presented by fine artist Lenka Clayton, who has attempted to interpret the process by which I have created the music, rather than simply document it. My aim is for the music to be the document, rather than relying on images as is so often the case; the music will be something akin to documentary fiction. The images we will use therefore will examine our peculiar relationship with food, rather than creating a visual document of the factual or scientific basis for the project. It is after all, an artistic performance.
The structure of the live shows and the way it will tour will have at its core the same principles of the record. We will ask local promoters to source local food producers to create a small market before and after the show. It will also require a committed absence of pre-packaged and processed food from the backstage area. No more cheap sandwiches, crisps or cans of coke.
Another way is possible. We just need to know the recipe.
I agree organ ic is probably better on the whole BUT you have to use your own judgement really.If you're growing food commercially you have to use some kind of pest control.Standard growers use chemical pesticides,any idea what organic producers use?Any idea how many cases there are annually of food poisoning from organic foods? Quite a few.You gotta see both sides.In this day and age nothing is black and white.You have an organic farmer producing produce in his field next door to the standard farmers field.Standard farmer sprays his crop with chemicals on a windy day...same deal as GM...there are cases where food labelled as non GM was tested and found to contain GM ingredients.....there was a recent case in the u.k. where a seller was prosecuted for labelling standard food as organic in order to hike the price up...i read in an earlier post that Free Range meat means the animals were reared in fields and free to roam....not always the case by any means....maby the animals were reared in a barn with a door open at one end that opens onto a dirty crap filled muddy area....different countries have different standards that have to be met in order for food to be labelled as organic...huge differences from country to country...sometimes animals can be fed a certain percentage of antibiotics/hormones etc and still be labelled organic...and what happens if an animal being reared on an organic farm falls ill? Often it'll be injected with antibiotics. So many variables nothing is black and white...don't believe the hype!
I think it's strange people don't understand most of what their eating today is plain unhealthy. The food industry is just like the music industry, really. They don't care about quality. They care about selling their products, and sorry to say.. but the people are easy to manipulate.
YES! the thing is that processed corporate food is now entrenched in our food culture. there are several generations, since the 50s, that have been raised on it. thanks for the article
Chan- i did. lived under the fremont bridge across from the library, near the troll. never moved the van from that spot, just cruised around on my bike. you got a nice city man.
Everything that has to be said has been said so far, so I will just add that CSA groups are dope. I joined one 5 years ago an am now the site manager for the 74th and York Ave CSA in NYC. The produce for our CSA group is picked the day before its delivered, super fresh, really good, and a large variety. Just this week we got new fire red lettuce, louisiana long green eggplant, red and orange tomatoes, sugar snax carrots, escarole, scallions, summer squash, edamame, lipstick peppers, lillac peppers, cucumbers, and mint. We also have optional low spray fruit shares (can't grow organic fruits in NY, too many bugs) , and optional meat deliveries once a month. The meats are all pasture raised and grass fed, you can buy almost any type of cut. We have vegetable fall shares available that go from this coming Tuesday up to the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. For all of you in the NY area check out justfood.org to find a CSA in your neighborhood. I can't stress how great the CSA programs are, support your local family farms!!!! Here is a link with more info on the CSA programs and where to find a CSA in your state. A link to more info on CSA programs and where to find them in your state.
"They say you are what you eat So I strive to eat healthy My goal in life is not be rich or wealthy 'Cause true wealth, comes from good health and wise ways Better start taking care of yourself"
I agree organ ic is probably better on the whole BUT you have to use your own judgement really.If you're growing food commercially you have to use some kind of pest control.Standard growers use chemical pesticides,any idea what organic producers use?Any idea how many cases there are annually of food poisoning from organic foods? Quite a few.You gotta see both sides.In this day and age nothing is black and white.You have an organic farmer producing produce in his field next door to the standard farmers field.Standard farmer sprays his crop with chemicals on a windy day...same deal as GM...there are cases where food labelled as non GM was tested and found to contain GM ingredients.....there was a recent case in the u.k. where a seller was prosecuted for labelling standard food as organic in order to hike the price up...i read in an earlier post that Free Range meat means the animals were reared in fields and free to roam....not always the case by any means....maby the animals were reared in a barn with a door open at one end that opens onto a dirty crap filled muddy area....different countries have different standards that have to be met in order for food to be labelled as organic...huge differences from country to country...sometimes animals can be fed a certain percentage of antibiotics/hormones etc and still be labelled organic...and what happens if an animal being reared on an organic farm falls ill? Often it'll be injected with antibiotics. So many variables nothing is black and white...don't believe the hype!
good points. one crucial aspect of trying to eat locally grown foods is fairly easy access to the grower. you can find out specifically what is going on at the source.
there are many organic forms of pest controls and sprays
but also some crops that would get ravaged by bugs if a little spray wasnt applied.
theres no need to be a fundamentalist when it comes to shopping...awareness is first, most important step
Am I the only one who thinks "organic" is a really dumb label for pesticide free veggies/fruits. Technically, anything with a carbon molecule in it (meaning all food) is organic. I know it's just semantics, but serriously, couldn't they have found a more accuralte label. Also, the whole genetically modified fruit/veggies thing is kind of a weird fear too. We've been doin it for quite some time through selective breeding. I know that these days its a little bit more intense then that, but still.
However, there is nothing better than fresh fruit and vegetables from your backyard. that would be my reccomendation. At my old house we use to have a big garden and about 12 fruit trees all in a small suburban backyard. We could have lived off of that alone if we really need to. It was great.
Am I the only one who thinks "organic" is a really dumb label for pesticide free veggies/fruits. Technically, anything with a carbon molecule in it (meaning all food) is organic. I know it's just semantics, but serriously, couldn't they have found a more accuralte label.
Yes - its called 'minimally treated'. Many co-ops and organic markets use this term. This refers to minimal use of agents/pesticides etc.
Also, the whole genetically modified fruit/veggies thing is kind of a weird fear too. We've been doin it for quite some time through selective breeding. I know that these days its a little bit more intense then that, but still.
this shit is untested for the most part, yet it winds up on our grocery stores. GMOs are scary - you can't predict their long term affects, let alone the damage they do the related farming industries.
Am I the only one who thinks "organic" is a really dumb label for pesticide free veggies/fruits. Technically, anything with a carbon molecule in it (meaning all food) is organic. I know it's just semantics, but serriously, couldn't they have found a more accuralte label. Also, the whole genetically modified fruit/veggies thing is kind of a weird fear too. We've been doin it for quite some time through selective breeding. I know that these days its a little bit more intense then that, but still.
However, there is nothing better than fresh fruit and vegetables from your backyard. that would be my reccomendation. At my old house we use to have a big garden and about 12 fruit trees all in a small suburban backyard. We could have lived off of that alone if we really need to. It was great.
i think the term refers more to the treatment the produce is given i.e. non man made treatments....'organically produced' as opposed 'chemically produced'...? Quite apart from the obvious human health issues involved...or not as you say...possibly the real problem with GM produce is the companies (or company) that produce and supply the seeds etc.....selling cheaply to african farmers with the promise of a bumper crop resistant to pests...it's all about exploitation i'm afraid....
worse yet, monsanto is cornering the market on seed that only grows once, so annuals have to be purchased from them (doesn't seed, or seed doesn't grow, genetic bs) of course the thirld world is the first place they atr pushing these
Am I the only one who thinks "organic" is a really dumb label for pesticide free veggies/fruits. Technically, anything with a carbon molecule in it (meaning all food) is organic. I know it's just semantics, but serriously, couldn't they have found a more accuralte label.
Thats a good point , but a little misguided. The large Agri-Business interests throughout the world are actually trying to "dumd down" the term ORGANIC, so that it has no more meaning than the word "natural" on labels. There has been a HUGE fight in the US for the last decade about Organic labeling since natural/health foods have become a billion dollar industry. And, as always, what BigBusiness wants is very counter to what is probably best for the consumer. I've been in this business for 15 years, so Ive seen it all. Its very sad.
Everything that has to be said has been said so far, so I will just add that CSA groups are dope. I joined one 5 years ago an am now the site manager for the 74th and York Ave CSA in NYC. The produce for our CSA group is picked the day before its delivered, super fresh, really good, and a large variety. Just this week we got new fire red lettuce, louisiana long green eggplant, red and orange tomatoes, sugar snax carrots, escarole, scallions, summer squash, edamame, lipstick peppers, lillac peppers, cucumbers, and mint. We also have optional low spray fruit shares (can't grow organic fruits in NY, too many bugs) , and optional meat deliveries once a month. The meats are all pasture raised and grass fed, you can buy almost any type of cut. We have vegetable fall shares available that go from this coming Tuesday up to the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. For all of you in the NY area check out justfood.org to find a CSA in your neighborhood. I can't stress how great the CSA programs are, support your local family farms!!!! Here is a link with more info on the CSA programs and where to find a CSA in your state. A link to more info on CSA programs and where to find them in your state.
"They say you are what you eat So I strive to eat healthy My goal in life is not be rich or wealthy 'Cause true wealth, comes from good health and wise ways Better start taking care of yourself"
dope!!! my group (urban nutrition initiative) has built in the past with justfoods. do you know if the "be healthy" group is still operating?
on the subject of the dead prez song, me and my interns teamed up with system D128 and threw together a last minute music video for that (which we had been journaling about and discussing for a long time). i'll try to link it up...its fun
actually, anyone have any contacts with dead prez?
worse yet, monsanto is cornering the market on seed that only grows once, so annuals have to be purchased from them (doesn't seed, or seed doesn't grow, genetic bs) of course the thirld world is the first place they atr pushing these
Comments
dope o
thats a CSA (community supported ag)
normal sized fruit
most soymilks seem to be organic
jom, the best vegetarian/local food restaurant ive everbeen to is in seattle:
cafe flora...not cheap, but truly fine dining.
I'll have to look into that when I get up there again, hopefully before the end of the year.
Here's another that might be of interest, same idea:
http://terrafirmafarm.com/
Damn Tony! You know all the good spots out here. What did you live in a van under a bridge in Seattle for like a month or something? LOL
Cafe Flora in Madison Park is THE THRUTH! The portabello mushroom wellington is
FANTASTIC!
http://www.wsffn.org/
http://www.washingtonorganic.com/
http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0240/food-downey.shtml
http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0240/food-staff.shtm
Which lead to this place:
http://www.foodsecurity.org/
It's particularly revealin' when you realize that most of the major companies promotin' GMO - e.g. Monsanto - used to be ballin' large when it came to pesticides; w/ the scrutiny (and rightly so) bearin' down on the hazards/effects of pesticides, these businesses shifted their model to another aspect of the food chain in an attempt to maintain their revenue streams: do they have your best interests @ heart? And there's no tellin' what the long term repercussions of GMO foods will be on people consumin' them given the extreme lack of conclusive data...
Other good Seattle spots:
Bamboo Garden (vegetarian chinese)
Araya (vegan thai)
Carmelita (more flossy vegetarian)
And the U-District farmer's market! All of the markets are pretty good nowadays (Ballard, Cap Hill, Columbia City) but the U-District still kings it. Dress bummy and shop after 2pm and you can get seconds for pennies on the dollar. I got a bunch of heirloom organic tomatoes for 50 cents a pound last week - better than $5/lb at Whole Foods.
I think I know where you went.
I think it's strange people don't understand most of what their eating today is plain unhealthy. The food industry is just like the music industry, really. They don't care about quality. They care about selling their products, and sorry to say.. but the people are easy to manipulate.
Matthew Herbert wrote an essay on his site. You should all read it:
So many variables nothing is black and white...don't believe the hype!
YES! the thing is that processed corporate food is now entrenched in our food culture. there are several generations, since the 50s, that have been raised on it.
thanks for the article
Chan- i did. lived under the fremont bridge across from the library, near the troll. never moved the van from that spot, just cruised around on my bike. you got a nice city man.
jomojo- wassup!
HAZ- recipes on the way
also "food" for thought -
So Coffin, do you have any specifics on what Organic foods the lobbyists are trying to ban/outlaw?
i'll try to dig up the link
but it was kinda like this
i think erlich in MD was pushing something to do away with certification there
"They say you are what you eat
So I strive to eat healthy
My goal in life is not be rich or wealthy
'Cause true wealth, comes from good health and wise ways
Better start taking care of yourself"
good points.
one crucial aspect of trying to eat locally grown foods is fairly easy access to the grower. you can find out specifically what is going on at the source.
there are many organic forms of pest controls and sprays
but also some crops that would get ravaged by bugs if a little spray wasnt applied.
theres no need to be a fundamentalist when it comes to shopping...awareness is first, most important step
Thanks!
& this
feds are tools
polotiks
organic is not better........not
organic but not vegan
weaken
a silver lining !
However, there is nothing better than fresh fruit and vegetables from your backyard. that would be my reccomendation. At my old house we use to have a big garden and about 12 fruit trees all in a small suburban backyard. We could have lived off of that alone if we really need to. It was great.
Yes - its called 'minimally treated'. Many co-ops and organic markets use this term. This refers to minimal use of agents/pesticides etc.
Dude, we're not talking about selective breeding here.
We're talking about splicing fish genes into tomatoes to make them frost resistant , building mutant corn that produces its own pesticide, and pesticide resistant plants.
this shit is untested for the most part, yet it winds up on our grocery stores. GMOs are scary - you can't predict their long term affects, let alone the damage they do the related farming industries.
more here: organic consumers and here: biotech info page
i think the term refers more to the treatment the produce is given i.e. non man made treatments....'organically produced' as opposed 'chemically produced'...?
Quite apart from the obvious human health issues involved...or not as you say...possibly the real problem with GM produce is the companies (or company) that produce and supply the seeds etc.....selling cheaply to african farmers with the promise of a bumper crop resistant to pests...it's all about exploitation i'm afraid....
that only grows once, so annuals have to be purchased from them
(doesn't seed, or seed doesn't grow, genetic bs)
of course the thirld world is the first place they atr pushing these
Thats a good point , but a little misguided. The large Agri-Business interests throughout the world are actually trying to "dumd down" the term ORGANIC, so that it has no more meaning than the word "natural" on labels. There has been a HUGE fight in the US for the last decade about Organic labeling since natural/health foods have become a billion dollar industry. And, as always, what BigBusiness wants is very counter to what is probably best for the consumer. I've been in this business for 15 years, so Ive seen it all. Its very sad.
dope!!! my group (urban nutrition initiative) has built in the past with justfoods. do you know if the "be healthy" group is still operating?
on the subject of the dead prez song, me and my interns teamed up with system D128 and threw together a last minute music video for that (which we had been journaling about and discussing for a long time). i'll try to link it up...its fun
actually, anyone have any contacts with dead prez?
terminator seeds
monsanto iss the devil