have been walking round the supermarket today and noticed ever increasing ammounts of ORGANIC foods. on closer investigation the only difference i could see was it cost more. IS it really worth it ??:confused:

No, it's not.

no, it's not

i'd have to say no!

No, it's not.

If the prices were significantly lower, then I'd buy organic in preference to non-organic fruit and veg. Til then, I'll settle for giving them a good scrub and/or peeling them before I eat them.

I always try and buy organic chicken, carrots, mushrooms and Bananas. Also organic milk on the odd occasion I use it. Also brown Rice and eggs and come to think about it quite a few other things!
Non organic Banana's are grown in terrible conditions for the work force with really nasty chemicals. Organic chickens have a much better life, carrots taste better and don't need peeling and most of the vitamins are in the skins. Mushrooms for similar reasons to carrots.
The definition of 'worth it' I guess varies from person to person. When I think how much money I generally waste on stuff then the extra cost for organic food is negligible.
I liked the woman on river cottage who bought the cheapest crap and fed it to her kids saying she could not afford an organic chicken whilst sat smoking a fag at over five quid a pack!

Organic food's green image is something of a hoax - were the world to live off organic food we would need three times as much farmland as we have now, so that the crop rotation and lying fallow organic production requires could happen. That's a lot of rainforest to be cleared...

That's a spurious argument though, if the EU did not subsidise thousands of farmers to grow certain foods which we don't need to grow whcih get s thrown away. If people stopped eating so many nasty fast food burgers then we would need less land for cattle. Etc etc etc.

Have you got any links to back that statement up?

have been walking round the supermarket today and noticed ever increasing ammounts of ORGANIC foods. on closer investigation the only difference i could see was it cost more. IS it really worth it ??:confused:


Obviously it depends on several things. Not least of which are how much money you've got and whether or not you care what you put into your body.

Are there any legal requirements to labelling food 'organic' in supermarkets?
this story (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2510989,00.html) suggests that restaurants have been getting away with calling their food 'organic' just so they can charge more.

I am sure it does happen but no labeling is fool proof.

No, it's not.

If the prices were significantly lower, then I'd buy organic in preference to non-organic fruit and veg. Til then, I'll settle for giving them a good scrub and/or peeling them before I eat them.

This is a good way to avoid the myriad petrochemcials that come as standard with non-organic food, until you come to something like lettuce, spinach, for example. But I suppose you could always not eat it :D

Also, as some of the treatments are systemic, they are inside the food as well as outside of it. If food is grown in soils that have been treated with chemicals for years, even if the crops are not sprayed/treated, the chemicals will grow into the food anyway.

I'd rather pay the extra money now than pay with my health later in life.

Organic food is more expensive than non-organic food as the harvests are smaller and the methods of cultivation are more labour intensive. You have to admit that organic food has come down in price since it first arrived on the market, with some foods costing exactly the same.

My view is that organic food is not a privilege, it is a right.

I would say not really.

I saw a documentary last year where 'experts' said that only around 3% of non-organic food had possible harmful chemicals. Well, not saturated fat etc but the carciogenic(sp?) stuff.

The main benefit, i assume, is that organic fruit/veg bought at the smaller stores (beanies etc) are fresher than either type bought in supermarkets.

We spend a small fortune on fruit/veg since we got our Juicer! Best invention EVER!

I would say not really.

I saw a documentary last year where 'experts' said that only around 3% of non-organic food had possible harmful chemicals. Well, not saturated fat etc but the carciogenic(sp?) stuff.
Yes, of course, the experts, bribed by the petrochemical industry. That's not what the tests carried out by Friends of the Earth said (was that bad syntax?:huh: ).

We spend a small fortune on fruit/veg since we got our Juicer! Best invention EVER!
Too right! I've had my juicer for nearly 20 years now and the thing I use the most! YAY!

Organic Free Range Eggs - you can really taste the difference, and the yolks are much richer. I tend to buy organic chicken and some fruit and veg aswell, it does taste better.

But I agree, that many manufacturers of other products are just jumping on the organic bandwagon to justify charging up to 50% more.

...My view is that organic food is not a privilege, it is a right.
Well, it should be anyway :) .

To be honest, just getting some people to eat vegetables and fruit of any description would be a good start. I'm sure that if prices were equivalent, then most people would choose organic, simply from the perspective of minimising pesticide use.

All you can do is make an informed choice based on the information available, from sources you trust, and choose accordingly. For me, the extra expense doesn't justify the benefits in most cases (though I do buy free range organic eggs and chicken, from an animal welfare perspective. I rarely buy the latter, so I feel I can justify the expense).

You can wax lyrical all you like, but the fact is organic (free range) food is bloody expensive compared to its non organic counterpart.

I intend to prove this fact by doing an organic food shop nexct week and comparing it to my normal food shop.

As a footnote, going organic in London is pointless. The benefits I get from eating an organic Banana are outweighed and then some by the smog I breathe in every day I walk to work.

I can only think of one positive when it comes to organic, it's more friendly to the environment in terms of no pesticides being used etc etc. It's expensive and think supermarkets etc are ripping it's customers off on this whole pretence of eat organic and have an healthy lifestyle gubbins.

To be honest, just getting some people to eat vegetables and fruit of any description would be a good start.

Indeed it would be.

I still stand by my view though that some vegetables, no matter how nutritious, taste foul. Broccoli is the food of the damned. And as for sprouts....

Of course, there are always those wise souls that say, "ah, but you've just never had them cooked right", which is a bit like telling a Lesbian she just hasn't met the right bloke.

Indeed it would be.

I still stand by my view though that some vegetables, no matter how nutritious, taste foul. Broccoli is the food of the damned. And as for sprouts....
And no one would dream of force-feeding you with the putrid veg in question. The point is, the health benefits of organic vs non-organic vegetables are still a matter of dispute. The benefits of eating veg are well-defined.

Organic Free Range Eggs - you can really taste the difference, and the yolks are much richer. I tend to buy organic chicken and some fruit and veg aswell, it does taste better.

But I agree, that many manufacturers of other products are just jumping on the organic bandwagon to justify charging up to 50% more.
i may seem a little behind the door here but can anyone in all honesty explain the ethos of organic and what if any benefits it may provide me with. if we knew the whole story then we may be able to way up the costs involved and if they are worth it.

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_food) is a good place to start for the basics.

And no one would dream of force-feeding you with the putrid veg in question. The point is, the health benefits of organic vs non-organic vegetables are still a matter of dispute. The benefits of eating veg are well-defined.

Agreed.

I was merely pointing out that more people would eat veg, organic or otherwise, if it tasted more appealing.

I eat certain veg because its good for you, not because I like the taste.

have been walking round the supermarket today and noticed ever increasing ammounts of ORGANIC foods. on closer investigation the only difference i could see was it cost more. IS it really worth it ??:confused:

organic,non-organic, both taste more or less the same,one is mass produced in order to meet demand (such as it is), the other is lovingly cultured from seed to table, for ,as far as i'am aware, not that much more in terms of growing costs( no doubt some-one will put me wise)

but due to the fact its labelled "organic" seems to give producers & distributors,cartblanche to inflict prices double & treble those of the the non-organic stuff.
so on the face of it i would have to say no in my veiw it dosen't represent value for money.

personally i only use veg as an accompaniment to meat.:D