Comments on: Organic Food in the News

Comment on Organic Food in the News by: Amy

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 15:59:59 +0000

I went to a book signing by Sarah Kramer today:
http://govegan.net/

It was great to hear her touch upon these issues of eating, cooking and convience. Eating out of balance will be anyone’s biggest problem. Moderate the prepackaged and don’t overeat!

Ahh, ad copy. One problem I have with the business I am helping my friend to open is that it is marketed towards people with lots of extra cash. It freaks me out - I’ll be managing a store I wouldn’t shop at (because of the cost). I like to entertain my “lifestyle porn” fantasies on occasion, but I want a more genuine and diverse life than these ads and magazine feed us.

Comment on Organic Food in the News by: Barbara Fisher

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 15:59:59 +0000

Amy–I am with you.

I, too, do not think that prepackaged convenience foods are of the devil, however, I do think that they rather go against the original ideals of the organics movement. I also think that if people want organic versions of boxed mac n cheez, spaghetti-no’s, instant soup and chicken tenders, they have to recognize that these foods are in and of themselves coming to them in an -artificial- form. No, chicken doesn’t come in breaded chunks, cheese is not an orange powder, soup is not dehydrated and spaghetti doesn’t grow in a can.

I just find it odd that people want natural foods put into unnatural forms and then don’t want anything “synthetic” in them–the irony of this convoluted concatenation of consumer wishes is mind-boggling. It makes my head hurt.

I said it before, I will say it again–if you want to know what is in your food, cook it yourself. If you don’t want food additives, don’t eat processed foods–organic or not.

And yes–you make a great point–this USDA organic certification process is beastly expensive, and not every farmer is willing to jump through the hoops and pay the cash it takes to get that little green and white sticker. But, for all intents and purposes, they are producing organic food faithful to the spirit of the organic movement.

Personally, I would rather support farmers like that, then worry about whether or not my USDA certified organic yogurt from a big factory farm has alginates in it or not. But, maybe that is just me?

MZN–you are right–a lot of the marketing in the organic food industry is about lifestyle. Look at the organic lifestyle magazines that are out these days–and you see an affluent, yuppiesque sort of image–far from the old, grubby-fingernailed salt of the earth image organic supporters had a decade or so ago.

This is one of the areas where Julie Powell was a teensie bit right when she slammed on folks who eat organic foods and pay a premium price to do so –a lot of the ad copy and marketing surrounding organic foods involves the selling of lifestyle, not just food products. Food corporates have smelled big money in the continually rising consumer demand for organic alternatives, so they are giving people what they want–and while doing so–they are shaping their ads to promote an image of healthfulness, affluence and environmental correctness that they percieve is appealing to thier core market.

Again–look at the organic lifestyle magazines and take a look at the ads.

Does this mean that everyone who eats organic food or farms organically is an insufferable, shallow food snob? No–but it does mean that the food corporations are marketing their products in a certain direction–a direction which favors a lot more convenience foods than we see even now, made to order for people who want their organic shopping experience to be just like their conventional shopping experience, with brightly colored boxes and bags and frozen items that cater to the American belief that no one has time to cook anything from scratch, ever, anymore.

Comment on Organic Food in the News by: mzn

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 15:59:59 +0000

These are excellent observations. I would add that in addition to promoting fear, the marketing of organic foods is about selling an upscale lifestyle. The market for these foods is generally made up of educated, affluent people and the higher prices, thus, are an element in the perception consumers are given that organic foods are of greater value. (I’m not saying that they’re not; this is just another explanation for higher prices.)

Comment on Organic Food in the News by: Amy

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 15:59:59 +0000

A few things this made me think of:

- A few months ago, I went to the huge Natural Products Expo in DC, which is a show for people “in the business”. I was interested (and slightly worried) at the amount of “convience” foods being sold. No, I don’t think premade foods are the devil, but I wanted to see more whole foods or ingredients, and less prepackaged processed stuff. I will admit, though, the Reeds Ginger Beer Ice Cream? Tasty stuff!

- For me, eating organic became a lot cheaper when I realized that I should be eating less. Yes, organic ingredients can cost more. But try cooking those ingredients in appropriate serving sizes, and you’ll find that the cost difference is not as much. The most expensive organic ingredients I’ve found are meat and seafood - so if I buy them, I really make the most out of what I’ve got. Also, people can look into the almost organic items. A local farm near Baltimore sells farm raised meat that is not certified organic (though it is usually raised so, they cannot guarantee that all feed they buy is organic) - getting the certification is so expensive, they prefer to not get it, but instead are open about how they are farming so people can make that decision for themselves.

- A story. One evening, J and I were at the grocery store, looking at packages of chicken. This guy next to us was looking at packages of pre-cooked chicken “tenders”. He started ranting, to himself and then to us (in a fruitless attempt at sympathy) that the chicken was spoiled. He was yelling about the quality of the food at the store, yelling about how they put out moldy meat, and how in the hell could they expect him to feed his kids on this crap. All I wanted to say was, “If you’re seriously concerned about what your kids are eating, you won’t be feeding them preservative laden breaded chicken, and instead will buy fresh chicken and cook it yourself.” But being a civil person, I held my tongue, and we turned our backs and walked away as he ranted at us.