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My colleague is having lunch. Usually she has something light, be it a salad wrap or a gyro wrap or a sandwich. Today she is microwaving a frozen meal and it has filled up the whole office space with familiar aromas. She informed me as she headed into her office that she was having some Indian food made with curried chickpeas, peas and paneer with rice. It smells delicious. And the fact that I can smell it says something! It says that the amount of garam masala it contains is what I would use in a whole week worth of cooking and the amount of salt is stupendous. I could actually smell the saltiness!!
And that was a frozen organic dinner. I’d imagine they would need to infuse it with many spices to take place of the preservatives in the regular frozen food would contain. I am not sure. But it was ironic that she was eating that today and I just finished reading Pollan’s story of his second meal – organic meal.
It leaves you thinking Whole Foods is all but a farce. Or that the “organic” industry has sold out with a few still hanging on to the original thought of organic farming. Apparently the world of organic in legal government terms is still rather loosely written so the big agribusiness people can continue into that market too leaving the little organic farmers just as the conventional farmer in the loop.
Majority of the organic animal and vegetable produce have seen changes through substitution. Cows are now eating organically grown corn and same with chickens. The farms are not being sprayer with fertilizers but are being covered with compost. But as Pollan points out that the issue still doesn’t address the source of the problem – Cows don’t eat corn; they eat grasses. Organic farming methods often strip the land of resources – as they need more number of tilling, which in turn disturb the nutrients and other systems in place in the soil.
The key point that he gets to is that we have become such linear thinking people that we have simplified the whole concept of farming. I remember learning the magic nutrients that the soil needs – NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium)! This is the magic formula that the conventional agribusiness farmer uses anyhow and the organic world just finds substitutes. I guess that’s a bit better. But how is that sustainable.
The other thing we have also missed is that most of us have forgotten what fruit/vegetable comes during what season. Thanks to globalization you can get anything any time of the year! Organic industry has also gotten into this. One of the premises of organic farming is it’s a more environmentally friendly way of farming. But then the amount of fossil fuels it takes to transport it to the supermarket (usually on the other side of the world) kind of messes that up, no?
Farming is working with nature and nature is never as simple as we make it seem to be in the world of agriculture.
At the end of the day, hubby asked how this will change my habit. I am no longer craving for the Aapoo mango as I used to. Sigh. I guess I would have to head back to India during its (natural) season! Cooking with foods rather than buying processed items as much as I can and leave the processed items for in-case-of-emergency stock. I have also stopped buying cleaning products. Making my own with vinegar and baking soda and lemon juice.
N and I made baked potato wedges and homemade tomato ketchup (although I cheated and used canned tomato sauce) and salad for Sunday night’s dinner! It was so easy to make! And minus all the extra salt and sugar that would otherwise be in the meal! Yum!
And my next trip to Whole Foods I will read the labels a bit more carefully!
And that was a frozen organic dinner. I’d imagine they would need to infuse it with many spices to take place of the preservatives in the regular frozen food would contain. I am not sure. But it was ironic that she was eating that today and I just finished reading Pollan’s story of his second meal – organic meal.
It leaves you thinking Whole Foods is all but a farce. Or that the “organic” industry has sold out with a few still hanging on to the original thought of organic farming. Apparently the world of organic in legal government terms is still rather loosely written so the big agribusiness people can continue into that market too leaving the little organic farmers just as the conventional farmer in the loop.
Majority of the organic animal and vegetable produce have seen changes through substitution. Cows are now eating organically grown corn and same with chickens. The farms are not being sprayer with fertilizers but are being covered with compost. But as Pollan points out that the issue still doesn’t address the source of the problem – Cows don’t eat corn; they eat grasses. Organic farming methods often strip the land of resources – as they need more number of tilling, which in turn disturb the nutrients and other systems in place in the soil.
The key point that he gets to is that we have become such linear thinking people that we have simplified the whole concept of farming. I remember learning the magic nutrients that the soil needs – NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium)! This is the magic formula that the conventional agribusiness farmer uses anyhow and the organic world just finds substitutes. I guess that’s a bit better. But how is that sustainable.
The other thing we have also missed is that most of us have forgotten what fruit/vegetable comes during what season. Thanks to globalization you can get anything any time of the year! Organic industry has also gotten into this. One of the premises of organic farming is it’s a more environmentally friendly way of farming. But then the amount of fossil fuels it takes to transport it to the supermarket (usually on the other side of the world) kind of messes that up, no?
Farming is working with nature and nature is never as simple as we make it seem to be in the world of agriculture.
At the end of the day, hubby asked how this will change my habit. I am no longer craving for the Aapoo mango as I used to. Sigh. I guess I would have to head back to India during its (natural) season! Cooking with foods rather than buying processed items as much as I can and leave the processed items for in-case-of-emergency stock. I have also stopped buying cleaning products. Making my own with vinegar and baking soda and lemon juice.
N and I made baked potato wedges and homemade tomato ketchup (although I cheated and used canned tomato sauce) and salad for Sunday night’s dinner! It was so easy to make! And minus all the extra salt and sugar that would otherwise be in the meal! Yum!
And my next trip to Whole Foods I will read the labels a bit more carefully!
