What Do Farmers Eat...and Avoid?

I've shared with you a few times here the reasons we buy fresh, organic foods, but those are our personal opinions and reasons. Even though I consider myself to be educated in this area, those are still my opinions and I'll admit that I'm passionate around local, organic real foods. So who's opinion matters to you? Who do you trust?

When I'm not sure or have a new question, I look to the food experts that are well-known in the industry and well-respected by the food community. I also like knowing how growers feel and what they're eating at home with their family.

As you can probably imagine, I was very interested, and curious, when I came across this headline: The 7 Foods Experts Won't Eat. I had to know: what could be so horrible that farmers, doctors and scientists wouldn't eat?

If you enjoy tomatoes, beef, popcorn, potatoes, salmon, milk or apples (and who doesn't love at least one of those?) I urge you to READ THIS NOW. It's a quick read and may affect your next trip to the grocery store. I know it's changed ours.

I hope you'll come back here and leave a comment below to let us know if you'll make a change too.

Comments

[Kelly Orehovec]

Wow! Good tips. I am happy that we grow our own tomatoes and potatoes. I want to increase production this year so we can freeze even more tomatoes. The dairy section of the article makes me want to go back to drinking raw milk. Since it is illegal in Oregon, it is a bit harder to come by but when you do score some, it is delicious. Thanks for a really informative post Gina!

[Michelle (What's Cooking)]

Oh my gosh - while I knew about some of these (farmed salmon and microwave popcorn, for example), I didn't know about the canned tomatoes. They are a staple around here, and a fantastic way to get fresh, organic tomatoes all year round. Time to either look for a brand that makes them without BPA in the can or time to learn to jar my own during the summer. Geez - why do companies make this so difficult (and dangerous) for us?

[Dawn Viola]

We've been trying to live by the "7 foods" suggestions, but can't get past the canned tomatoes. The cartons in our area are horrible, and no jars to be found unless it's already prepared. Any suggestions? Mail order maybe?

Thanks :-)
-Dawn

[Gina]

Kelly, Michelle & Dawn - Thanks for sharing your thoughts here. We were surprised by a few of these too. Tomatoes are hard, we know!

Depending on what you're using them for, Pacific Naturals makes a tomato soup that we use in place of pureed or tomato soup. Pomi sells tomatoes in a similar package that are diced and and strained. Trader Joes also sells marinara sauce in the same TetraPak, but most good marinara sauces are coming in a glass jar anyways. The inside of the lid has yet to be proven safe/unsafe but it's contact with food is much less than inside a can.

It's also important to know that buying organic doesn't mean BPA free.

Thanks again, everyone!