Go spend some time tonight at the Daily Blender, an interesting accumulation of Chef Celebrity writings and general food related topics (on a side-note: I am looking for weblogs maintained by real dyed-in-the-wool chefs and cooks, industry professionals, not home-cooks or foodies. Aside from a handful [and by weblog, I mean it's more than a "come eat here" collection of news] I have come up empty). I mention this, because I wanted to re-post a comment I made there, concerning “organic” foods and the self-righteousness of some eaters believing that, somehow, going veg or eating only organic food, makes them “better” humans.

Here’s the comment, don’t hesitate to check out the original and the discussion on the Daily Blender.

Organic is an insanely narrow designator. That organic tomato you had this lunch was likely brought into the U.S. from southern Mexico where it was produced by low-wage laborers in near slavery. The soil it was planted on was torn out of a patch of land that gave habitat to 100s of species, many of which are now extinct, thanks to “organic” farms in that part of the world. It was then loaded on a truck and gassed to “ripen” (which is a misnomer, tomatoes only change color, they do not ripen in that treatment), which is OK, because the gas is organic.

The truck then moved north, through what locals call “the corridor”. Along that highway, from Pueblos to Augascalientes, road gangs press money out of the companies operating the freight lines. Often, those companies employ the thugs to buy their safe passage. Money, that is used for the thugs’ main operations, drugs and trafficking in underaged prostitutes to the U.S. and northern states.

That “organic” label bought you some narrow knowledge about the tools and substances used to raise a tomato. It does not, for example, tell you if that tomato was raised hydroponic or soil based. It does not tell you, if it was screened for food borne illnesses. And it, by no means, certifies that the whole thing was ethically grown. Again, all it does is tell you that pesticides were not used openly. Poison? The salmonella outbreaks of recent history started in “organic” farms. There’s poison for you.

I don’t care what you do, or don’t, eat. I really don’t. But don’t tell me that your lifestyle choice is safer or (you didn’t say that, but I am sure you contemplated it) more ethical. And it’s for sure not much less a carbon footprint on the environment. I prefer my meat from a local farmer. One of those guys that get death threats and pictures of their kids with crosshairs painted over them in the mail. And, you know what, I believe I have the ethical and food safety high ground on that one.