Back in the 1970's this food movement was derisively referred to as granola, as many of us shopped in bulk at Food Co-operatives and made our own granola and yogurt. Getting yogurt culture was akin to sharing bread starter in our Great-Grandmother's days.

Too soon this cozy feel good thing became a movement and by the 1980s it was competitive; who could be most whole food do it yourself. One afternoon during a round-robin discussion at the farm during CSA pickup (the 1st in MI and one the handful in the nation) Annie Elder was sincerely asked about a dilemma of ever using some sort of prepared food (such as canned tomatoes that were organic and canned locally by Eden Foods). Annie went farther and said something like a box of mac-n-cheese lovingly prepared and pleasantly served would be far more nutritional than growing the wheat and grinding the grain (yes many had sturdy hand-cranked grinders instead of electric kitchen aid mixers) served by an overwrought parent. And Annie meant this sincerely and held such a meal in as high regard as she had for the manure her cows provided--if you are familiar with biodynamic farming, you will know how high the regard was.

I incorporated Annie's sensibility into my own and the contents of my pantry and fridge demonstrate this. And when I eat out, restaurants or homes of friends, I care about just enjoying a shared meal and conversation; I do not trouble about whether the food was organic or from where it came. Food has much in common with Art and I enjoy the idiosyncratic nature of choices and preferences.

I do have a picture in my mind of my ideal: meals prepared from whole organic foods that are mostly locally sourced, including my own garden. My food pyramid would have leafy greens, vegetables, legumes, and water on the bottom, the next layer up would be nuts, seeds, oils, fish, eggs, herbs&spices, whole grains. The next layer up would be dairy, meat & poultry stocks & bones, ground venison, some lamb, fungi, fruit, tubers. My top layer would be tea and coffee, bread, chocolate, wine, fruit pies, biscotti (in the italian sense), european pastries.

Alas, I am not my ideal. Moreover, I am currently supplementing which I regard as outside my whole food organic ideal. Thankfully, I do not fret about it. I hit it more often than not.

There are things that I find scary: compromised water supply and corporate agri-business.

Organic Consumers Association, July 18, 2013 .
[excerpt]
As the June 24, 2013 issue of Green Medical News puts it:
“ . . . within the scientific community and educated public alike, there is a growing awareness that Roundup herbicide , and its primary ingredient glyphosate, is actually a broad spectrum biocide , in the etymological sense of the word: "bio" (life) and "cide" (kill) – that is, it broadly, without discrimination kills living things, not just plants. Moreover, it does not rapidly biodegrade as widely claimed, and exceedingly small amounts of this chemical – in concentration ranges found in recently sampled rain, air, groundwater, and human urine samples – have DNA-damaging and cancer cell proliferation stimulating effects.”