Howdy y'all. I'm sure you have all considered those products at the grocery store that have the word "Organic" printed on the packaging. While I knew that "organic" meant "grown naturally", or something akin to that, I didn't know much more than that. So, in an effort to be more responsible to our own health as well as considering the effects on those ecosystems these foods are produced in (i.e. everywhere), Melo and I embarked on a little organic food pilot program for the Kuhre household. I'm calling it Operation Organic Kuhres.
For some background, Melo and I love food in all its glorious forms. We often find ourselves contemplating it, discussing it, and then, inevitably, cooking and eating it. I suppose we all do this though- right? Well, everyone eats anyway. Knowing that we are what we eat, Melo and I wondered what kind of harmful things ended up in our bodies as a result of the foods and drinks we ingest. I had recently read the excellent, though slightly outdated "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson. The book was largely responsible for banning DDT in the United States. Despite the myriad of reforms by the USDA and FDA since then, you wouldn't be surprised to know that many synthetic substances still make it into our foods in varying concentrations. It turns out that our bodies act as repositories for some of these chemicals and that they can build up over time.
The
USDA "Organic" label shown above in the food photos, can only be applied on foods that contain 95% plus organic ingredients. I found out that "organic" is defined, roughly, as a product that includes (courtesy of Wikipedia):
- avoidance of most synthetic chemical inputs (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives, etc), genetically modified organisms, irradiation, and the use of biosolids;
- use of farmland that has been free from synthetic chemicals for a number of years (often, three or more);
- keeping detailed written production and sales records (audit trail);
- maintaining strict physical separation of organic products from non-certified products;
- undergoing periodic on-site inspections.
So you see, it's a pretty robust certification. Something I thought was interesting is that the organic requirement goes all the way back down the food chain. For example, organic beef must only be fed organic cornfeed. So to go back to Operation Organic Kuhres, the idea was to eventually see if we could apply the same 95% USDA Organic label to ourselves. We're not even close by the way; but if we do get there, Melody has promised me we will get matching USDA Organic tats (just kidding! but seriously...).
One of my hang-ups with organic foods in the past, is that it was my understanding that crop yields were significantly less than conventionally grown crop. It didn't seem responsible to eat something that the world as a whole couldn't be fed with. It was also my understanding that the majority of the cost difference between organic and conventional foods was a direct result of the lower crop yield issue--more on that later. It turns out that according to one
study, "...organic methods could produce enough food on a global per capita basis to sustain the current human population, and potentially an even larger population, without increasing the agricultural land base." I'm hoping to find more about this when I read Michael Pollen's book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," over the next couple weeks.
So, Melo and I went to our neighborhood Giant to purchase as many organic products as we could in place of what we would normally buy. It turns out, there wasn't that large a selection. Although a full two aisles were marketed as "natural/organic", the vast majority of the products were not USDA organic. A great example of this is the popular Amy's brand. IMPORTANT: Just because a package says "natural" on it, this has no bearing on the organic nature of the product. It must have the seal.
We found that on average, the organic products were 70 to 80% more expensive than the conventional sort. Some items of note include milk and eggs, which were a full 100% more expensive. Interestingly, carrots and Oreo knock-offs were the exact same price as the conventional products--why wouldn't you purchase these? In short, we are not going to be able to "go organic" overnight, nor would most folks with a budget for groceries. It's my feeling that as the fad nature of the organic food movement wears off, the prices will come down. We'll see.
If you're still with me, this is the interesting part. We didn't notice a big difference in taste for most products, especially products with multiple ingredients (e.g. breakfast bars, etc.). With commodities like milk, there was a large difference. Organic milk doesn't have rBST (hormones) nor antibiotics. The cows also have a slightly different diet. As a result the milk tasted different; if I had to pick an adjective--"milkier".
I might update this post or follow it up later, but I've got to get going. Shoot me a line if you have any comments, questions, complaints, or good-jokes.
That night, we walked down Bourbon Street to find somewhere to eat. I don't get the fascination with Bourbon street at all. It's crowded and it smells like a lovely mixture of body odor, urine, and garbage. Pretty sure being there for Mardi Gras would be my worst nightmare. The next day we went to the Cafe Du Monde for beignets.
They were delicious and definitely lived up to the hype. Also that day, we visited the aquarium and went on a walking tour of the French Quarter. The French Quarter is such a charming place. It has such a rich history, even long before it was a part of the United States. While we were walking in the French Quarter, I stopped and had my palm read. Here are a couple of the things that I learned about future...I will get married in the next five years, the man I am currently involved with will stop playing so many mind games with me, hehehe.
That night, we went out for a mother's day dinner to the Commander's Palace in the garden district. Jeremy and I agreed that this is one of our favorite restaurants of all time. The Bananas Foster we had for dessert was to die for!
The next day, we took a swamp tour at the Jean Lafitte national preserve. We saw tons of alligators. They just came right up to the boat. I guess they used to feed them marshmallows, but they aren't allowed to anymore. I wonder how long it will take the alligators to figure that out.
That night we went on a ghost tour of the French Quarter. I think that was one of my favorite things that we did on the trip. New Orleans is thought to be one of the most haunted places in the world. This is the old Lalaurie mansion. According to story, the LaLauries conducted horrible experiments there on their slaves. When they fled the country after they were discovered, they buried 30 of their slaves alive under the floorboards.
This is an old Catholic Abbey. There is an old story about vampires coming over in the 1700s from France. Supposedly, vampires still live in the attic of the church, that's why the shutters on the dormer windows are always kept closed.
On the tour, we learned that there is actually a group modern day "vampires" that live in New Orleans called sanguiners. They drink human blood from willing donors. I guess recently, when they were putting up power lines along the Mississippi river, a group of these sanguiners came to protest at a City Council meeting because they were worried that they would get tangled in the power lines during their nighttime flights.....right. On our last day in New Orleans we went on steamboat dinner cruise down the Mississippi river.
We had a wonderful time in New Orleans and a great time seeing Jeremy's family. Thanks for a great vacation!
