Time for a good ol' fashioned rant!

ParkerH47

It drives me CRAZY that people who want/choose to eat organically and locally or want to know their farmers or choose not to eat processed foods are considered pretentious hippies.

I'm not saying I eat like this all the time or even half the time. I DO NOT tell people they need to eat this way. I do not condemn processed foods as cancer causing garbage, I do not avoid that stuff - because it is part of an enjoyable life.

BUT I also know - almost with 100% certainty we SHOULD know our farmers we SHOULD eat locally and seasonally, we should be eating pasture raised eggs etc etc etc. And yet I get eye rolls and scoffs and people think its ridiculous. It has nothing to do with weight loss, I know enough to know that a calorie deficit is all you need. I'm just sick of feeling ashamed of wanting to eat "clean" or whatever the hell you want to call it. It doesn't take a genius to know that it is not ideal to be eating some of the garbage you can get these days.

Like I said, I do not eat perfectly, sometimes I eat cookies and crackers and cake and chips - but it doesn't change the fact that someone who chooses not to eat those things is considered pretentious or elitist or something.

okay. thats all, out come the trolls to argue. Its just my educated opinion...

badbcatha05

I feel you here... I get the hippie thing all the time. I don't eat 100% local meats and eggs, close.. but not quite. When I don't, I try to at least buy meats from animals that were pastured... although with non-local stuff I suppose I have no real proof other than the company's word. I don't lead on that I think it's better for weight loss or anything like that. For me it's important to know that the animals were treated with as much respect and as humanely as possible. Not to mention--- meat, eggs, and dairy from pastured and local animals always tastes better!

Sapporo

"BUT I also know - almost with 100% certainty we SHOULD know our farmers we SHOULD eat locally and seasonally..."

Saying you know what all people should be eating is rather douchey. Well, other than saying all people should eat food. Though that is mean to all the cardboard box eaters out there so I dunno, maybe I'm a pretentious hippie too.

sushidulces

I agree. Why wouldn't/shouldn't we know exactly what we are putting in our bodies? And it boosts local business/economy if you buy from farmers markets. Maybe the farmer grows in certain soils or uses certain techniques that makes you like their vegetables or fruits more. I see nothing wrong with your opinion I live in a drought state, so local fruits and veggies are few and far between, but I do enjoy the ones I can get. If I were in an area with a great variety, I can tell you with great certainty I would be getting my produce there.

I do get free eggs from my father in law. He has pet hens (they really are his pets!) and he brings me the eggs. I know they are treated well and fed a great diet and get lots of exercise

knra_grl

If the option of buying locally grown and raised foods was more readily available to me I would opt for the organic and locally grown foods but this is not always an option.

No eye rolls here - and cudos to you for supporting your local economy!

emacb123

YAY!! I love a good rant!!

Rage on OP!!!



PS I have no opinion on the topic at hand.

skinnyinnotime

BUT I also know - almost with 100% certainty we SHOULD know our farmers we SHOULD eat locally and seasonally, we should be eating pasture raised eggs etc etc etc.

Yes, if we'd known this it would have saved us from eating horse meat over here in the UK :frown:

ParkerH47

Saying you know what all people should be eating is rather douchey. Well, other than saying all people should eat food. Though that is mean to all the cardboard box eaters out there so I dunno, maybe I'm a pretentious hippie too.

I already mentioned that I don't actually tell people to eat this way. I didn't say people have to eat this way, it doesn't fit everyones life, is not available to everyone and not affordable to everyone, but maybe we would be better off if we did?

andylowry

Every SHOULD get the hell out of my way when I'm driving home from work. That's the only "should" I care about.

ParkerH47

Every SHOULD get the hell out of my way when I'm driving home from work. That's the only "should" I care about.

Haha point taken...

bshot1

The problem is economics. When you get into organics/farm raised cattle, it's difficult to scale with the overall demand for animal products/growables. It's the same issue with gmo vs heirloom.

I think it's great we have the option though.

craftywitch_63

I would love to know my farmer, but where I live it just isn't possible. First of all, because I live in the desert and the closest farmer is a couple of hundred miles a way.

I used to live about 15 minutes from my great-aunt's farm in KS. She grew most of the vegetables for our family, and what she didn't was grown in a large patch of our backyard. The corn that I buy in the stores were the quality we would feed the horses and cattle. There is NOTHING like picking vegetables and corn and bringing them right into the kitchen, washing off the dirt and cooking them right then. Even the canned stuff we ate during the winter was premium.

AHHHHHH! Those were the days!

wjstoj

Tree hugger

megsmom2

your "shoulds" are a bit judgmental. Not everyone has your mindset. If this is your interest and passion...hooray! Doesn't make you morally or ethically superior.

ParkerH47

I would love to know my farmer, but where I live it just isn't possible. First of all, because I live in the desert and the closest farmer is a couple of hundred miles a way.

Yeah that totally sucks and leaves people with no option! I guess I'm sheltered from the fact that there are communities out their who don't have the land or climate able to support farms.

faithsimmons526

Here's how I avoid the problem you're having ... I hang out with OTHER 'pretentious hippies' :flowerforyou:

tigersword

your "shoulds" are a bit judgmental. Not everyone has your mindset. If this is your interest and passion...hooray! Doesn't make you morally or ethically superior.

Or healthier, for that matter. Science has shown time and again that "organic" is just marketing, and there's very little difference from a nutritional standpoint.

ChristinWrites

I agree with you OP. There is nothing wrong about wanting to know where the food you eat comes from and there is certainly nothing "elitist" about supporting one's local economy or eating fresh, wholesome foods. There is also nothing wrong with being a Hippie. I don't know why so many use that term as an insult. To each their own, but yes, eating local does a lot - not only is the food better tasting when fresh, it also reduces carbon footprint to eat local, supports local businesses, and food that is fresher has more nutrients.

Athijade

Saying you know what all people should be eating is rather douchey. Well, other than saying all people should eat food. Though that is mean to all the cardboard box eaters out there so I dunno, maybe I'm a pretentious hippie too.

I already mentioned that I don't actually tell people to eat this way. I didn't say people have to eat this way, it doesn't fit everyones life, is not available to everyone and not affordable to everyone, but maybe we would be better off if we did?

You say this... yet you just did it on your OP. The word "should" means that you are telling people what they are to do.

The reason people get the the reputations they do is because of the way they act. If you didn't go around telling people what they "should" do, then you wouldn't have that reputation. Oh, and I am not saying that everyone who likes to know their farmers or eat locally is like that by the way. Believe it or not, I am very aware of where my food comes from. When I was in Tennessee still, I knew the first names of the people I bought my beef and lamb from, the names of the people who sold the bread I purchased, and the names of the farmers who grew my vegetables. But that doesn't mean I went around and told people what they "should" do. Because that just comes off as rude.

JustinAnimal

your "shoulds" are a bit judgmental. Not everyone has your mindset. If this is your interest and passion...hooray! Doesn't make you morally or ethically superior.

I don't think the shoulds are judgemental. The arguments for local and organic are unselfish; non-local means transportation, fuel usage, fuel emissions, no one pays for that potentially long-range transportation. It also means supporting the local economy. It's not really preachy or judgemental, it just makes good sense in terms of being a responsible citizen, or at least an eco-friendly, local-friendly one. I don't think the OP feels morally superior; again, it's just common sense that these practices are responsible to the earth and to farmers. Aren't you being a judgemental?

Now, in terms of economics, it's actually quite a bit cheaper to ship foods. We could be importing sugarcane, which yields large amounts of sugar, for more cheaply than all of the sugar beet refineries we have in the states. So that's a whole different argument.

Still, for you to ignore the fact that the OP came right out and said they don't tell people how to live their lives, in fact, means the exact opposite of what you said...

The WHOLE POINT of her post was that she's not preachy, yet gets eye rolls for expressing her views.

JustinAnimal

your "shoulds" are a bit judgmental. Not everyone has your mindset. If this is your interest and passion...hooray! Doesn't make you morally or ethically superior.

Or healthier, for that matter. Science has shown time and again that "organic" is just marketing, and there's very little difference from a nutritional standpoint.

Are you freakin' kidding me? Do you know how much pesticides things like apples and tomatoes absorb? That was a truly stupid comment. Try doing some reading on the "dirty dozen," the vegetables that are actually more harmful to humans than helpful, when grown in ways that don't qualify as organic. Not true for all fruits and veggies, but that was one ignorant comment to make...

ETA: read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollen, where he goes into detail about how apples and other fruits from the past, prior to genetic modification, pesticides, non-organic fertilizers, when those fruits and veggies held 3-5 times more nutrients than they do now. You literally have to eat something like four apples to get the nutritional content of an apple grown in the last century or two.

ParkerH47

Saying you know what all people should be eating is rather douchey. Well, other than saying all people should eat food. Though that is mean to all the cardboard box eaters out there so I dunno, maybe I'm a pretentious hippie too.

I already mentioned that I don't actually tell people to eat this way. I didn't say people have to eat this way, it doesn't fit everyones life, is not available to everyone and not affordable to everyone, but maybe we would be better off if we did?

You say this... yet you just did it on your OP. The word "should" means that you are telling people what they are to do.

The reason people get the the reputations they do is because of the way they act. If you didn't go around telling people what they "should" do, then you wouldn't have that reputation. Oh, and I am not saying that everyone who likes to know their farmers or eat locally is like that by the way. Believe it or not, I am very aware of where my food comes from. When I was in Tennessee still, I knew the first names of the people I bought my beef and lamb from, the names of the people who sold the bread I purchased, and the names of the farmers who grew my vegetables. But that doesn't mean I went around and told people what they "should" do. Because that just comes off as rude.

It wasn't my intention to be rude, and yes the "should"s may have been excessive. my point was that I don't tell people what they 'should' do - except for this rant. Thats kinda the joy of a rant is to get something off your chest. And I want to add that I *truely* do not judge anyone for the way they eat. I'm a firm believer in "you do you". I was just feeling like anyone who aims to eat more wholesome foods is somehow seen as pretentious.

missiontofitness

I think farmers markets are awesome. Not only are you supporting local business, but their produce is generally cheaper, nore delicious, and HUGE, from what I've noticed! My fam has gotten cucumbers twice the size of supermarket cucumbers for the same price, and heads of romaine lettuce that put grocery stores to shame.

snowflake954

In a perfect world or the past, knowing your farmer was possible. Now with agribusiness production is huge--and cheaper. Elitist attitudes come from people who will spend alot more to get farmers stuff or you have farmers themselves or small town folk with their own vegetables, chickens, cattle,etc. The quality is better, and the satisfaction too, but you can't feed the big cities that way. I'm a farmgirl originally and when I go home, my brother is always working in his garden and bringing me stuff to cook. Now I live in the big city--Rome, Italy and do the best I can at the grocery store. I make almost everything from scratch, so it's possible to get good results that way too. You can't change everything, but you can make the best of a situation.

sodakat

Maybe you are getting eye-rolls because you refer to pastured eggs/chickens. I live in a state with lots of farms and ranches and some of them raise chickens. Very rarely do you see a chicken in a pasture. Just saying.

"Free range" is the term used when not fencing in your hens. This means they are free to roam the farm yard and adjacent fields to pick up bugs, grass and weeds. But, keep in mind that if those hens are on a crop farm, they could easily be venturing into a field of corn, wheat or soybeans that is planted with GMO seeds and sprayed with herbicides and pesticides. I'm happy to report our deer and pheasant population is thriving but I know that people have a terrific fear of GMO.

ParkerH47

your "shoulds" are a bit judgmental. Not everyone has your mindset. If this is your interest and passion...hooray! Doesn't make you morally or ethically superior.

I don't think the shoulds are judgemental. The arguments for local and organic are unselfish; non-local means transportation, fuel usage, fuel emissions, no one pays for that potentially long-range transportation. It also means supporting the local economy. It's not really preachy or judgemental, it just makes good sense in terms of being a responsible citizen, or at least an eco-friendly, local-friendly one. I don't think the OP feels morally superior; again, it's just common sense that these practices are responsible to the earth and to farmers. Aren't you being a judgemental?

Now, in terms of economics, it's actually quite a bit cheaper to ship foods. We could be importing sugarcane, which yields large amounts of sugar, for more cheaply than all of the sugar beet refineries we have in the states. So that's a whole different argument.

Still, for you to ignore the fact that the OP came right out and said they don't tell people how to live their lives, in fact, means the exact opposite of what you said...

The WHOLE POINT of her post was that she's not preachy, yet gets eye rolls for expressing her views.

Thanks for the support I'm glad you understood what I was getting at. Also in relation to your second post, have you read "The Omnivores Dilemma" by Pollen? Its my current read and it is excellent!

tigersword

your "shoulds" are a bit judgmental. Not everyone has your mindset. If this is your interest and passion...hooray! Doesn't make you morally or ethically superior.

Or healthier, for that matter. Science has shown time and again that "organic" is just marketing, and there's very little difference from a nutritional standpoint.

Are you freakin' kidding me? Do you know how much pesticides things like apples and tomatoes absorb? That was a truly stupid comment. Try doing some reading on the "dirty dozen," the vegetables that are actually more harmful to humans than helpful, when grown in ways that don't qualify as organic. Not true for all fruits and veggies, but that was one ignorant comment to make...

Go ahead and show me the peer reviewed studies that prove your wild claims.

Also, organic farms use plenty of pesticides. Those pesticides can be just as harmful to humans. Organic just means natural, it doesn't mean "safe." So please show me the studies that show commercial pesticides are so much more dangerous than organic pesticides, and also how many of those pesticides survive washing.

tigersword

Maybe you are getting eye-rolls because you refer to pastured eggs/chickens. I live in a state with lots of farms and ranches and some of them raise chickens. Very rarely do you see a chicken in a pasture. Just saying.

"Free range" is the term used when not fencing in your hens. This means they are free to roam the farm yard and adjacent fields to pick up bugs, grass and weeds. But, keep in mind that if those hens are on a crop farm, they could easily be venturing into a field of corn, wheat or soybeans that is planted with GMO seeds and sprayed with herbicides and pesticides. I'm happy to report our deer and pheasant population is thriving but I know that people have a terrific fear of GMO.

"Free range" actually just means they have access to outdoors. It doesn't specify how long, or how much.

ParkerH47

Maybe you are getting eye-rolls because you refer to pastured eggs/chickens. I live in a state with lots of farms and ranches and some of them raise chickens. Very rarely do you see a chicken in a pasture. Just saying.

"Free range" is the term used when not fencing in your hens. This means they are free to roam the farm yard and adjacent fields to pick up bugs, grass and weeds. But, keep in mind that if those hens are on a crop farm, they could easily be venturing into a field of corn, wheat or soybeans that is planted with GMO seeds and sprayed with herbicides and pesticides. I'm happy to report our deer and pheasant population is thriving but I know that people have a terrific fear of GMO.

Actually I recently learned that the term free range is often a marketing ploy as well.

Free run = no cages
free range = controlled access to outdoors, which in many cases is 1 or 2 hours a day
pastured = generally unlimited access to grass, bugs and sunlight and unconfined access to and from a pen

JustinAnimal

your "shoulds" are a bit judgmental. Not everyone has your mindset. If this is your interest and passion...hooray! Doesn't make you morally or ethically superior.

Or healthier, for that matter. Science has shown time and again that "organic" is just marketing, and there's very little difference from a nutritional standpoint.

Are you freakin' kidding me? Do you know how much pesticides things like apples and tomatoes absorb? That was a truly stupid comment. Try doing some reading on the "dirty dozen," the vegetables that are actually more harmful to humans than helpful, when grown in ways that don't qualify as organic. Not true for all fruits and veggies, but that was one ignorant comment to make...

Go ahead and show me the peer reviewed studies that prove your wild claims.

Also, organic farms use plenty of pesticides. Those pesticides can be just as harmful to humans. Organic just means natural, it doesn't mean "safe." So please show me the studies that show commercial pesticides are so much more dangerous than organic pesticides, and also how many of those pesticides survive washing.

Well, that shut me up. I read books, not scientific studies. Shame on me for assuming published authors have the professionalism to research their claims. Guess I'll go check the sources cited on those books I read...

Francl27

Ah, to live in a perfect world.