Food Politics

On the “elitist” question: aren’t farmworkers exposed to a lot more dangerous working conditions in conventional agriculture than organic? Yeah, organic may require more physical labor, but no saturated exposure to chemical pesticides and herbicides. By buying conventional produce we set ourselves up as “elites” whose access to cheap food outweighs the right to safe working conditions for some of the poorest, most disenfranchised workers in our country or the world.

It’s not black and white, of course — like you point out, legally “organic” doesn’t mean sustainable or ethical, necessarily. But I think it goes a long way towards reducing the likelihood that my dinner came at the cost of someone else’s cancer or birth defects.

Thanks for the link to your column! Very well-reasoned and informative. I buy organic (when I can) mostly for environmental reasons as well, although I think most people believe that organic is significantly better for them (which it really isn’t). My own garden will be “organic” until some pest threatens it!

I, too, am always amazed at the amount of junk food available at my local coop. Calories are calories (well sort of–I recall from “What To Eat” that it’s a very complex issue, a calorie!) organic or not. The supermarket rules should apply anywhere.

I don’t buy the affordability or “elitist” argument. It’s how much you spend per week or month as a portion of your income. I eat very well (mostly organic produce and grains) on very little because I buy in bulk, prepare my own food from basic ingredients, bake my own bread (sourdough from my own starter!), can all summer long and stock up on sales when I can afford to. I have a very modest income, but I put my money where I feel it matters and try to help make a difference in some small way to the lives of small farmers and the environment as well as the animals (eggs and a little dairy for me–fish once a week). Oh, and I eat actual portions, so I use much less food than the average American.