In Honour of Organic Week

HAPPY O-WEEK EVERYONE!

YAY! What better time to rant and rave about organic products than during the very week that it is being celebrated all over the nation? Now I know some of you may be wondering, "what the hell is organic week? That's actually a thing?" The answer is YES Organic Week IS a thing. 


Throughout the duration of the week there have been numerous events taking place across the country to celebrate organic agriculture. Seeing as I am a prime example of a hermit, I did not make it to any of these events. Blame is placed on my jam packed schedule and tight bank account. Being a student is hard, okay! Despite my lack of engagement, I still wanted to play my part before the week concludes. Which brings us to this blog post. 

As of late I have taken a keen interest in learning about our food system. I, similar to many of my peers, grew up in a home that did not encourage critical thinking in regards to food. Yes, I know what you're thinking, who thinks critically about food? When it comes down to it, as long as there is food on the table and the family is fed that's all that matters, right? In my opinion...wrong. We need to know what we are putting in our bodies. We need to question why we eat the food we do, where it comes from, how it is made, how it affects the environment, how it affects our health, how the workers are treated, the questions go on and on and on. Yet, we as a collective society rarely take these questions into consideration. My guess is most people are probably too busy stuffing their faces to stop and think about it. By no means am I an expert on the subject. As I said, I have just recently began to question these things myself. But I do want others to join me in becoming more conscious in their consuming practices. I want to raise awareness on the issues surrounding our food system. I won't get in too deep on the subject, because I have likely already lost 98% of you after this introductory rant, but I promise I will revisit the topic for those of you who are interested in learning more. For the time being we will explore one of the alternatives to the industrial food system. Prepare yourself for the wonders of local, organic products.

WHY BUY ORGANIC...

1. Transparency:
Whether we like it or not, the food stocked in our supermarkets are often misleading with their stickers and labels. The above image is an excellent example of the kinds of truths that consumers aren't aware of. Corporate food producers are infamous for leading people to believe that the food their buying is healthy, natural, sustainable. The truth is, what they don't tell you is actually more important than what they do. Do you really want to bite into a strawberry that has traces of over 50 different chemicals on it? Or would you rather avoid consuming toxins altogether and bite into a nice, juicy, chemical free piece of produce? I tend to lean towards option b.

http://www.presidentschoice.ca/en_CA/familypage/PCOrganicsLandingPage.html

On the issue of transparency, I recently compared Superstore's PC Organics to Community Natural Foods Organics. Strictly judging by online content, I was interested in what these companies were willing to reveal to consumers about their organic products. It may come as no surprise to you that Superstore was extremely vague in their information, they included nothing more than two blurbs about their organics, one can be seen above. Aside from these short write-ups and a few promotional videos, no further information can be found in regards to who the farmers are, where the food is grown, what methods are used, who the third party is that conducts certification, how the workers are treated/paid, etc. Community Natural foods on the other hand actually encourages buyers to learn about their food. They have taken the time to create articles/business profiles on their Albertan organic producers, which include details such as where the farm is located, who personally runs the operation, the history, summary of products, methods, etc. They also utilize other social media platforms like Facebook and Youtube to showcase their producers and link to further information. I highly recommend checking them out.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CommunityNatural

2. Support Local:
Did you know that your consumption choices actually exercise power? When it comes to food, your money is probably spent in one of two ways. The first possibility, and likely the most popular one, is that your monthly food budget is spent in supermarkets. This directly supports the corporate food industry, which is flawed in so many ways (as I said, I won't get into details just yet. We will save that for a future post.) Don't get me wrong, I understand why this has become the norm for so many of us. Convenience and affordability being two of the main reasons that I STILL often spend my money at Safeway. However, in spending our hard earned cash on industrialized products, we are sending a strong message to these companies. The message being that we support, and will continue to support, a profit driven, disconnected, unsustainable food industry. You may not understand the depths of this problem, but I promise if you continue to revisit my posts I will shed light on this issue. The second, preferable way to spend your dollars is on local, organic food. These producers are the hardworking, ethical, prideful, environmentally conscious members of your community. Your choices do matter. Believe it or not, Aunt Jemima is not a real person, but that smiling face selling you your produce at the Farmer's Market is. Support the person, not the brand. 

3. Fuel:
You didn't think I was going to avoid the inevitable here did you? If you take anything away from this I hope that it is the idea that organics are HEALTHIER for you. If you want to live long and prosper you should probably consider letting a little organic into your life. I'm no scientist, but we've already established that conventional produce are sprayed with herbicides and pesticides, while our livestock are being pumped up with hormones and antibiotics. Now if there's anyone out there who wants to try and argue that this is okay and good for our personal and environmental health, bring it! I have no problem shutting your uninformed opinion down very quickly. Quite frankly, if you want to try and tell me that non-organic products aren't hurting us, I will probably call you crazy. Now for all of my frugal friends out there, I understand that buying organics can seem more expensive (yet another topic I will dig further into at a later date), so I'll share the Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen with you. Laid out quite simply, allow this to guide you in making healthier choices when buying your produce. 

Believe it or not this was my simplified explanation of reasons to buy local, organic produce. I hope my suggestions have impacted you in some way or another and made you stop to think about food in a more critical light. I am not going to sit here and tell you to completely abandon Walmart or Superstore and spend your entire life savings on happy, healthy food. Instead I am encouraging you to visit your local Farmer's Market or health food store and learn more about what you're putting into your body. I am by no means perfect, but I am a work in progress. I think we all have the power to make an impact, not just in regards to the food system but in whatever area of life we are passionate about. We just need to find our entry point and run with it. 

Thanks for reading and have a happy Organic Week!

L.