Sunday 16 September 2007

Too much ado about fruits


Eat your 5-a-day, more fruits, vegetables all year round, go green - it seems like we are surrounded by "Fruit rules!" campaigns everywhere, it's like a siege. But prices for fruits and vegetables aren't going down, on the contrary, they are getting new label - "organic" and now go for twice the money. Is it suspicious or what? Today in a supermarket normal cucumber costs 62p, organic one - 97p.
I feel confused. So now they are trying to convince me, my normal vegetables are wrong, and they don't count as my 5 a day if they don't have a fancy new label? What kind of difference makes a label? What kind of guarantee I have that those two cucumbers weren't grown next to each other? Ok, so maybe organic one wasn't speed-grown on chemicals. But was it grown in natural environment or next to the motorway? And why fresh potatoes are 2 pounds per kilo, when frozen fries costs only 55 pence per 2 kg bag? What kind of potatoes are used for making fries?
All I want is a tasty, sun ripened, ready to eat food. If it is fair paid to local farmers, even better. If they don't use chemicals - even better - that's supposed to be a rule, anyway. What I am getting is half ready fruit, from the far far away kingdom, with fancy labels and no guarantees. Have you tried 'British Strawberries' this summer? They had all the right labels and no taste at all. What was strange they did smell great. So what, now they perfume the fruits to deceive us or what? I was put off so much I don't even eat strawberry jam anymore.
Sour lemons, that's what it is. There is a new trend for 'organic' 'fair trade' labeling and all that. And while this is all very nice, it makes me wonder what kind of food scandals would unfold in a near future if somebody just compared the products. Is a 'normal price' range all bad? Does 'fair trade' include 'organic'? Does 'organic' mean 'fair trade'? I could say making organic food still could be done on the expense of 'local farmers' while producing 'fair trade' food doesn't guarantee that vegetables aren't grown on chemicals.
I know one thing. I am growing suspicious.

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