Carrots are highly absorbent, more so than other vegetables. They absorb so much that can't be washed or peeled away.
With milk, I just want to know the cow is happy. Buying organic increases the chance of that. You may laugh, but we all have our reasons.
I'd be interested to hear what other products people here consider a must-buy-organic. I can't afford to buy everything organic, but I'm willing to expand my essential organic list if convinced.
> I'd be interested to hear what other products people here consider a must-buy-organic.
Then you want to take a look at the Dirty Dozen or the Dirty Dozen Plus. Actually, it's better to view the complete list at http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list.php.
Btw, Carrot is at #25, so it's not even the worst offender.
Thanks for link. It would be nice to know the methodology used. Surprised to see bananas higher than mushrooms and cauliflower considering their protective outer skin.
"I'd be interested to hear what other products people here consider a must-buy-organic'
I prefer organic eggs, meat, poultry and tomatoes. I'm not much of pro-organic or environmentalist, but they taste so much better, I don't mind paying extra.
Do you run an organic dairy farm? No. You're just another armchair expert, pretending to have a monopoly on the facts.
The organic milk I buy comes from a dairy farm about 90 min drive from where I live. It runs about 150 head of cattle - Freisian/Jersery cross on 300 acres. Their milk processing plant is next to the farm.
Whether you "organic or not organic" is up to you, but I try to source milk from local farms with an emphasis on welfare of the animal and quality of the product.
Supermarket milk is generally ultra-heat treated to increase shelf life, even the so-called "organic" variety. The animals are packed in to increase "efficiency" and make the milk cheaper.
In the end, I don't mind paying more, and I'm supporting local dairy farmers. What the hell are you doing?
> Supermarket milk is generally ultra-heat treated to increase shelf life, even the so-called "organic" variety.
Yes, it is, but I'd like to know why you frame this as a bad thing.
> In the end, I don't mind paying more, and I'm supporting local dairy farmers. What the hell are you doing?
While I appreciate your good intetions, I think the "What the hell are you doing?" is a little bit overstated, since this is a low-impact, low effort activity and, really, does the fact that you're doing something oblige me to somehow "one-up" you?
Over-heat treated milk = poor taste. It's a balance, and the correct balance is usually not achieved by the popular supermarket milks.
> does the fact that you're doing something oblige me to somehow "one-up" you?
Not unless you called me an idiot for doing something. Which you didn't, but the person I was replying to did.
I don't mind at all if someone calls my argument into question, but at least come back with more than opinion. There are plenty of reasons beyond the welfare of animals to support local business. I admit it's not just the happiness of the cow which motivates me. Perhaps I should have explained that.
The more money we can circulate in the local community, the healthier that community is. I'm no economics expert, but I have a hunch that spending up at my local restaurants, cafes, dairy farms and businesses is doing my bit to improve the region where I live. I also try to do my "bit" for the environment and animal welfare within the eating habits I currently enjoy. Hence.... "what are you doing" was an invitation to suggest a "non idiotic" approach since they thought so little of mine!
happy animals (milk, eggs), lower chance of toxins (roots, fruits without skins), and higher micronutrients / antioxidents which are produced when plants are subjected to slight stresses that make them "stretch" get all the nutrients they need since they arent being forcefed by fertilizers or bombed with pesticides.
You may laugh.. But you want to know what kind of milk makes cows most happy? Soy milk
Or almond milk. Or cashew milk. You know, the stuff that's often in the same cooler as the organic milk? The stuff that's healthy, that can be bought organic, that tastes great once you get used to it, and that doesn't involve the cow being suctioned (without antibiotics to treat its almost inevitable udder infections) for its entire life until it's slaughtered?
It's probably not really about the cow being happy though, is it? It's about what is better in your cereal.
Your approach is a distraction. If we were talking chocolate, would you enter the discussion with "hey forget chocolate, eat carob."?
No. I like milk, as do billions of people. And discussing how to find and encourage quality of the milk, welfare of the cow, and protection of the environment via methods such as organic farming, is a worthwhile discussion.
As I mentioned in another reply, organic or not, I source my milk as locally as possible from dairy farms that process their own milk on site, and who run their farms with an emphasis on welfare of the animals and minimal environmental damage.
I wonder where that soy milk you mention comes from? Probably not down the road from my house. I actually did drink soy for a long time until I got sick of it, and lost trust in it.
I wouldn't mention carob, unless you had expressed a distaste for everything having to do with the sourcing of chocolate.
I don't, by any means, assert you or anyone else should care about the welfare of cows. I also don't assert anyone should care about minimizing environmental damage. However, if you do claim to care about those causes, it strikes me as the height of irrationality to choose to support an industry so massively at odds with them, especially for something as trivial as a sip of milk. When you care so little that it's non-distinguishable from not caring... you don't care.
I'm not trying to pick on you. So many people today just seem to "care" about things only because it's trendy, and then only the minimum amount necessary to be able to consider themselves caring individuals.
It's fine. The catalyst for good discussion isn't typically everyone agreeing and getting along.
Dairy products assist intake of the full spectrum of nutrients. It's not just about a "sip of milk" or what I like on my cereal.
A million people caring a "minimal amount" is better than a million people not caring at all.
Meat - an industry at the very top of the environmental impact list. I call for the abolishment of live export and improvements to other factors of the industry such as slaughterhouse standards. I eat meat infrequently and place importance on where it comes from.
To suggest that it's the "height of irrationality" that I eat any meat at all, is to claim that by buying meat I somehow support the entire industry with all its flaws and variables. But I can eat meat and actively vote and push against the standards I disagree with within the industry.
Everything we do has some issue, environmental or otherwise up the chain. The mining of precious metals, or the massive problem of e-waste doesn't mean I will avoid buying gadgets, but I may buy them less frequently and choose the gadgets built to last. If millions do that, industry change can happen.
Carrots are highly absorbent, more so than other vegetables. They absorb so much that can't be washed or peeled away.
With milk, I just want to know the cow is happy. Buying organic increases the chance of that. You may laugh, but we all have our reasons.
I'd be interested to hear what other products people here consider a must-buy-organic. I can't afford to buy everything organic, but I'm willing to expand my essential organic list if convinced.