Accidentally Organic

I know I always go on about how eating organic is better for your health, or if not 100% organic, then following the guidelines of the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 (12 foods you should never eat commercially grown and 15 foods that are fine from the supermarket!). I’m always talking about the higher nutrient content of organic foods, avoiding the chemicals and toxins on commercially grown produce, and increasing your vitality through the consumption of ‘live’ foods (foods that haven’t been force ripened or kept for months in cold storage). But what this blog post is dedicated to, is TASTE!

I saw a lovely lady the other day in consult and we were discussing vegetables. She said while shopping the week before, she accidentally picked up a chunk of organic pumpkin as opposed to her regular conventional pumpkin. As she was doing a big shop, she didn’t realise her mistake until she got home. Annoyed at herself, having paid more for pumpkin than necessary, she served it up to her husband with dinner. His comment was “What IS this???? It tastes AMAZING!!” He couldn’t even tell it was pumpkin, due to the fact that their ‘regular’ pumpkin tasted watery and bland.

How amazing is that? She told me as a result, she’s continue paying for the more expensive pumpkin, as it was just too delicious to miss!

Another excellent example in this department comes from my own home. My wonderful partner is a naturopath and will therefore be a good boy and eat lots of fruits and veggies. But when we moved in together he stated there were just some things he didn’t eat. These included tomatoes, coriander, avocados, cucumber and papaya. This was slightly devastating for me, as they are all foods I LOVE! But anyway, for a long time I believed him and prepared food without those ingredients.

Then one day I made a curry and added heaps of fresh coriander to it before I served his out. Guiltily I stirred it in and didn’t mention it as we ate. I watched his reactions and when everything seemed fine, I inquired if he liked the curry. He said it was delicious, one of the best yet. So then I told him about the coriander. Haha! Score 1 for me and organic veggies!

The story continues. When I was enjoying some amazing red papaya one day, I offered him a tiny piece. He ate it and thought it was delicious, “Not like what I thought it tasted like”. Same again with avocados and tomatoes. The picture below is his vegan big breakkie the other day- complete with organic tomatoes and avocado!

He has slowly been introduced to all these items that have been organically grown and he has surprised us both by really enjoying them! The only one I am yet to change his mind about is cucumber. He hates it with a passion. Oh well, we all have our idiosyncrasies.

The lesson here I have learned, is that organic foods really do taste different. They taste like food used to taste. And for me, there is no point eating something just for health benefits alone. You’ve got to enjoy the taste! Flying the organic flag today, and proud.

Rhianna