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Kitchen Myths
Facts and fiction about food and cooking, by Peter Aitken
Organic food tastes better? Not always.
Posted by on May 20, 2011
I am all for eating organic food. It helps the environment, it’s better for the farm workers who aren’t exposed to toxic pesticides, and I would just as soon not eat artificial chemicals with my meal. But, does it taste better? Not necessarily. Being organic or not has no relation to the taste of a food—when it comes to flavor, some organic food is great, most is OK, and some is pretty poor. The same goes for non-organic foods. So, use organic ingredients by all means if you like, but don’t expect it to make your meals taste better.
It used to be true, back in the early days of the organic food movement, that organic foods were higher quality. This wasn’t because they were organic, however. Originally, all producers of organic food were small, dedicated farmers who devoted great care to their products and sold only locally, so things were in fact likely to be fresher and tastier. Now, however, the corporate giants have gotten into the field in a big way, and this is no longer the case.
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I think organic food is best for the human beings. Organic foods are my favorite foods. I love this.
Yeah i agree with kitchenmyths. Organic foods may have higher nutritional value than conventional food, according to some research. Yeah it is better Always.
Haven’t as yet had anything organic that did not taste better than its chemical laden counterpart. I keep reading that there is little, if any, correllation between taste and organically raised food and have to wonder if those saying that have ever taken the time to taste both. Also there is the fact that true organic food starts with the seed. Use an untreated, heirloom seed and you will get finer product tastes.
Of course this is completely subjective and unscientific, only based on personal observation, but I buy organic when it’s availble and have been doing it for sometime. At one point, I decided I needed to save money and switched to all conventional. After a week, everyone I was cooking for said the food wasn’t as good as normal or that it tasted slightly off. When I went back to organics, the comments were that the food was great. No one knew that I had switched from organic to non-organic and back again.
Years ago I took the challenge of a bodybuilding friend to eat nothing but fresh vegetables and meat for one month. Nothing could be “processed, i.e. out of a can or jar.” After the month, I cooked several different dishes using canned products and was surprised that I could taste the chemicals that are used in commercial processing in all the food. Which explains one reason our grandmothers’ cooking was better! Note to remember, buying at your local farmer’s market also helps the local economy.