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Previously published on lifestyle.iafrica.com
and republished with permission.
Everyone reckons their mom is one of a kind. Mine always sends me home with a bag of spinach from her vegetable garden. This time I found a huge grasshopper in the bag when I took it out of my fridge a couple of days later.
I was slightly annoyed about feeling sorry for a displaced grasshopper that survived two days in a fridge. I gave it a spinach leaf and went about my business. It went on like this for a couple of days. I left the kitchen window open wishing it would find a new home but it kept coming back in as soon as there was action in my kitchen, knowing there would be a leaf.
When it was finished I bought more spinach at the supermarket and tried to decide on a good name for my new pet. Same as every night, I rinsed a big leaf and put it out. Only to find a shrivelled up and very dead grasshopper in between my pasta jars the next morning.
While the pesticides on the supermarket spinach didn’t make me drop dead, I was sure it couldn’t be good
for me. Perhaps it was time for me to look at organic food.
A fantasy for hippies and romantics?
It all sounds very beautiful - rainbows, butterflies and little lambs playing happily in green fields… but what is it really?
In a nutshell, organic farming respects the environment and turns back to farming by the cycles of nature instead of the artificial modern ways. Animals live a free-range lifestyle and chemicals are kept off the land, promoting water quality and wildlife. Pollution is minimised and soil is replenished with natural nutrients and microorganisms that nurture existing eco-systems.
It’s about farming in harmony with nature. No pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, fumigants, or genetic modification. Instead flowers and bushes are planted to attract the kind of insects that will ward off pests, for example Khakibos is used to keep the pests away from strawberry plantations.
And to make sure organic means
the same to everyone, strict guidelines set out by international standards are followed.
Lovely. The only con is that, since organic farmers are subject to the predictability of nature, there is a lot of risk involved.
But does great risk mean that organic farming is a great deed?
Thing is, we can’t really be all that sure about what we put into our bodies. The reason behind all the chemicals and modifications are financial gain. Because a perfectly ripe green banana won’t sell as well as a yellow one.
And I can’t help wondering just how far human beings will actually go for money.
“Have you smelled food lately? These days food don’t smell of anything,” says Steven Saunders, British Master Chef and ambassador for Organic food.
“When you buy un-organic lemons its perfectly shaped, it’s perfectly yellow and its’ perfectly useless,” he adds.
I eat to nourish my body but don’t know that the perfect food I choose lost it’s nourishing power in order to look that perfect. Organic does taste a whole world better. Once I tried an organic carrot, the average supermarket varieties were pretty much tasteless in comparison.
But it’s not just the taste. Modern farming methods can be downright immoral, says Steven.
“They feed cows antibiotics to produce milk four times a day. Milk contains lots of antibiotics and steroids.” So while I’m trying to avoid antibiotics, I’m being slipped a dosage via my coffee every day. In South Africa, only Woolworths dairy labels guarantee that their products are free of hormones. Ah, the importance of reading food labels.
What’s more, fruit such as lemons are waxed with insect poison. “In England they’ve put a warning on the wax: ‘Please don’t put the lemon zest into your food,’ ‘Please peel your apples before you eat them’, Saunders says, adding: “have
you ever heard anything more ridiculous?”
Some of the chemicals in food are cancer forming. But Leonard Mead, chairperson of the Organics Association of South Africa, says that the scariest thing of all is that chemicals such as DDT are still being used in South Africa, while it has been banned internationally for years.
Mead says that legal pesticide use is largely unregulated. Some retailers do
check periodically, as confirmed by Woolworths, Pick \'n Pay and Shoprite
Checkers, but Mead says it may be wiser to trust brands that get exported
because they are checked by international governments and not retailers who
have something to lose.
For example you can be pretty sure that export-friendly fruit juices such as
Liquifruit and Ceres will be within legal limits.
More and more studies prove that pesticides cause diseases such as Attention Deficit Disorder, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s,” he
says, “but you need to look at all of the different things together. The determination of Maximum Residue Levels of pesticides in foodstuffs (that level at which the government says its safe to ingest pesticide) is done on rats and then based on average human measurements. No distinction is made with regard to babies and children. When you’re a mom, it’s simple. Pesticide is poison. They don’t actually know what it’s causing. Studies are ongoing.”
Pesticides have also been linked to headaches, tremor, depression, poor memory, dermatitis, convulsions, nausea and diarrhoea. Many of the more serious studies can only be conclusive when done over the life span of human beings – question is are you prepared to be the guinea pig? Mead explains that, from an ethical point of view, the EU is reducing the amount of legal pesticides by half every year: “You have to ask yourself the question why?”
“As a consumer the issue is simple,” he adds, “do you want to eat poison that
is used to kill things?”
My grasshopper pet is case in point, I think to myself…
How can I be sure it’s organic?
Leonard advises that the most important thing to look for is an organic certifier’s logo. The most prominent ones in South Africa are Ecocert, BCS, SGS, BDOCA, Soil Association and Skall. There are also others such as USDA, which can be found on imported products.
These are not the only organic certifiers, so it’s important to read food labels. If there is no label on the product then the information should be available on demand.
It’s pretty disheartening to find out that \"only Woolworths and Pick ‘n Pay insist on organic certificates along with the produce\".
“We need to ask questions. We need to insist. And we need to become slightly more forceful consumers,” Mead concludes.
More reasons to believe
Organic produce may be expensive, yet research confirms
that organic food is about 20 percent healthier, giving my body the nutrition it needs to sustain a healthy immune system. That may mean saving millions on medical bills and nutritional supplements. Perhaps it’s worth it after all.
Supporting organic producers also means supporting local farmers and thus the local economy. Plus, the food travels a shorter distance from the farm to my table so it’s fresher.
Where do I find organic produce?
It’s simply not possible to find organic everything in South Africa. But organic ambassador Steven Saunders says the customer is king: “It’s only because you don’t ask for it. Start demanding organic and they’ll bring it in.”
Both Woolworths and Pick ‘n Pay are dedicated to the organic movement and there are online suppliers such as organicsonline.co.za, who are passionate about delivering
simple, unadulterated produce nationwide.
Or simply plant your own vegetable garden.
It’s frightening to suddenly be faced with the truth. It’s human nature to want to walk away and pretend nothing happened. I’d rather heed the warning of my grasshopper friend.
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