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Another Perspective
The Whole Foods Hustle
Free-ranging chicken McNuggets will keep you healthy and solvent, assuming you widen your appreciation of genuine organic food.
There is no discernible nutritional difference between food from the farmer’s market and food from the supermarket, scientists report. But there is a dramatic price variation, and that status separation was the point all along.
People don’t pay for better-for-you. They pay for better-than-you.
The study, released earlier this week by medical researchers at Stanford University and the Palo Alto VA, found essentially the same protein, vitamin, and fat content between organic and standard store-bought food. Normal food did exhibit slightly higher pesticide residues, which is another way of saying bugs ate your organic food before you did.
It may be best to refrain from sharing this health news with people who tend to be evangelical regarding their dietary beliefs. The crowd at Whole Foods can be downright preachy. America’s leading advice columnists surely have a bead on emerging forms of table snobbery, which have shifted from the proper placement of utensils to the farming techniques used to raise consumables.
The hostess of a dinner party informs Ask Amy, “An invited guest has stated that she can eat only organic food purchased at a specific specialty store. This can be very expensive and I’m not prepared to do it.” Another woman tells of how the wealthier moms in her daughter’s playgroup ostracize her. “I sent some homemade cookies and store-bought veggies and dip for the snack last week,” the mom tells Dear Prudence, “and apparently this was not up to snuff! The mothers said that my vegetables were clearly not homegrown and organic and that they could taste the pesticides and preservatives on them. They asked if I knew that ranch dip is high in cholesterol and saturated fat which leads to heart disease.”
The words that come out of their mouths, as much as the food that goes in them, exemplify the arrogance. Wonder Bread is as organic — i.e., it is the stuff of living material — as Joseph’s Heart Healthy Pita Bread. It may not be as healthy. It is as organic. It’s hard to believe, but even the glassed-in edibles under that red lamp at 7-11 are organic. Who awarded wealthy white food fascists the copyright to the word “organic”?
Inspired by Stanford’s report, I conducted my own scientific study and discovered that eating organic food results in a dire medical condition called DBS. That’s doctor jargon for, well — the last letter stands for “syndrome” and the second one stands for “bag.” And that “D”? Even Scaramouche could deduce despite my inner censor giving it the shoosh.
Symptoms of DBS include a preference for European football over American football, a belief that watching Charlie Rose makes one an intellectual, and a penchant for wearing seasonally inappropriate clothing, such as shorts in winter or turtlenecks in summer.
If you know a couple married by a priestess wearing a rainbow-colored “Coexist” stole, who raise cats rather than kids, where the husband sports a ponytail and the wife a boy’s regular, and who go by separate last names, chances are they are burdened with DBS.
Rural America, which presumably harvests most of America’s organic food, remains strangely immune from DBS. The affliction reaches epidemic proportions around Harvard Square, on Telegraph Avenue, and in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Like hepatitis A, DBS is spread by foul digestibles — Trader Joe’s seems an especially egregious incubator of the illness. But like hepatitis C, DBS seems as much a social disease as anything else. It’s contagious, so be careful who you break whole-grain bread with.
If you recognize the symptoms of DBS in yourself, don’t fret. An antidote exists. Developed by a medicine man known as Mayor McCheese, alongside his lab assistants Grimace and the Hamburglar, the Big Mac offers curative powers in its yummy deliciousness. It has spawned generic imitators: the Whopper, the Chalupa Supreme, Dave’s Hot N Juicy 3/4 lb. Triple, and, of course, the Fatburger XXXL. They all work, so for less than $4 — approximately the price of an apple at Whole Foods — DBS can be successfully treated.
Once tasting the bounty of the Golden Arches, one tends to avoid the farmer’s market.
For people who have made a religion of science, the Stanford study’s findings will be as difficult to swallow as a gluten-free cupcake. But, as we are reminded from debates over global warming and evolution, science has spoken — so shut up and eat it.
About the Author
Daniel J. Flynn is the author of Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America. He blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (118) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Daniel J. Flynn
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Darin| 9.7.12 @ 6:34AM
I'd argue that insisting on buying organic food is a sign of lack of intelligence. You are spending more for the same thing. The caveat is if you are buying for your kids, but since liberals despise children and champion killing them in the womb, I don't think it's a likely reason.
JD| 9.7.12 @ 11:51AM
I've been saying, since I was a kid, that "organic" is a French word for "costs twice as much".
Jameslibkiller| 9.8.12 @ 1:11PM
Lets apply a little logic to your inane comment. If a regular bag of apples, and an Organic bag of apples, were sitting side by side, and they were the 'same thing', WHY WOULD ONE SAY ORGANIC AND NOT THE OTHER?
pogybait| 9.9.12 @ 9:20AM
and..... why is bio-engineering bad, but social engineering good
Jack in Wi| 9.7.12 @ 6:50AM
We have always shopped a few times a year at the farmers markets. The prices are less in most cases then in the grocery store. These are hardworking small business people who don't a snarky essay like this. Of course Whole Foods is another matter. Their quality and diversity is very high. But you have to pay a very high price for that.
c. j. acworth| 9.7.12 @ 8:14AM
There is also often a taste and texture difference between the store-bought and the freshly picked stuff from the roadside stand (or your own garden for that matter.)
Jack in Wi| 9.7.12 @ 10:59AM
I also have a big organic garden. The tomatos taste a hell of a lot better then those from the store or even the farmers market.
JD| 9.7.12 @ 11:52AM
Fresh is fresh regardless of where you buy it. But supermarkets sometimes have very fresh stuff, too.
William R| 9.7.12 @ 6:58AM
Dr Charles Benbrook responds to the Stanford study.
http://www.organicconsumers.or.....se2012.pdf
Who is Charles Benbrook
http://www.organic-center.org/.....bios_id=43
This is another chicken siht article from a third rate hack Daniel Flynn
2Anglico| 9.7.12 @ 8:36AM
"chicken siht", isn't that what organic foods are grown in?
Truth to Power| 9.7.12 @ 9:28AM
"It may be best to refrain from sharing this health news with people who tend to be evangelical regarding their dietary beliefs."
Thanks for the demo, William R. Before I just thought you were a nasty piece of work. Now I think you're a kooky nasty piece of work. Apparently the "organic foods" are destroying your sense of humor. Out of curiosity, what is your take on vacinations?
Who Knows?| 9.7.12 @ 10:33AM
William R---
Thanks for the link.
I'm with you, my friend.
Grzmlyk| 9.7.12 @ 1:49PM
Don't get your sweater vest bunched in a knot, William. No need to feel threatened in your NPR cocoon. I'm sure that, by this evening, all of your friends will be reflecting your values right back at you, and you will once again be basking in the soft-focus amber glow of your own rarefied goodness (since I'm sure your idea of "celebrating diversity" ends with whom you invite to your wine-and-cheese Jazz-listening parties).
By all means, go back to your Terry Gross and your faux affection for Miles Davis and furrowing your brow over the global warming that you want so badly to exist while you wax your Prius with organic earwax.
The rest of us will live in the real world.
ef| 9.7.12 @ 6:51PM
tee hee.
Tom Kyba| 9.8.12 @ 5:54PM
Well done.
Norman Conquest| 9.9.12 @ 9:32AM
faux affection for Miles Davis... Brilliant! Sums up the pretentious liberal perfectly.
Peter von Kowatscheff| 9.9.12 @ 10:32PM
Ha ha ha ha ha! Bravo, Grz; you just painted a portrait for us with words!
Grzmlyk| 9.7.12 @ 1:55PM
BTW, who is Charles Benbrook?
A career statist. Wouldn't you know?
Dr. Charles Benbrook worked in Washington, D.C. on agricultural policy, science and regulatory issues from 1979 through 1997. He served for 1.5 years as the agricultural staff expert on the Council for Environmental Quality at the end of the Carter Administration. Following the election of Ronald Reagan, he moved to Capitol Hill in early 1981 and was the Executive Director of the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Agriculture with jurisdiction over pesticide regulation, research, trade and foreign agricultural issues. In 1984 Benbrook was recruited to the job of Executive Director, Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences, a position he held for seven years. Several influential NAS reports were done in this period on the need for and aspects of sustainable agriculture. In late 1990 he formed Benbrook Consulting Services. Chuck has written many reports, books, and peer reviewed articles on agricultural science, technology, public health, and environmental issues.
Maybe Charles and Michele Obama can get together to become the Food Czars and tell us all what to eat.
And William R. can get his kickbacks in Brie and Chardonnay.
Grzmlyk| 9.7.12 @ 2:01PM
Organic, of course.
effinayright| 9.7.12 @ 2:18PM
Interesting that lefty Consumer Reports agreed years ago that organic foods conveyed no health benefits, even though they agreed that the taste of some fruits and vegetables is marginally better.
Roger Henry| 9.10.12 @ 12:16PM
Organic fruits and veg may taste differently because certain varieties respond better to organic growing methods compared to other varieties that do better using conventional methods--thus the different flavors.
Jameslibkiller| 9.8.12 @ 1:14PM
That would be Mr. Blue Collar Intellectual third rate hack Daniel Flynn, to you.
Tom Kyba| 9.8.12 @ 5:53PM
Sorry dude, but there are more mountebanks, by orders of magnitude, in the health and environmental sectors than anywhere else in society. Referencing some two-bit shill won't change reality. I'm sorry that Mr. Flynn insulted your religion.
P.S. Aside from the absolutely correct contention of Flynn's that people like you consider themselves better than others, you also believe you're going to live a MUCH longer and healthier life than those not wedded to your particular theology. That's the crux of it isn't it? Good luck with that.
Ned Ferguson| 9.8.12 @ 11:58PM
Who is Charles Benbrook?
Chief Science Consultant
"Dr. Charles Benbrook worked in Washington... He served for 1.5 years as the agricultural staff expert on the Council for Environmental Quality at the end of the CARTER Administration."
So why is it that so many "organic food" proponents just happen to be big government totalitarians? If they seriously get their way, we'll be seeing mass starvation in no time.
momof13| 9.7.12 @ 7:34AM
Please do a follow-up article on the "risks" of organic foods. (Hint: free range chickens tramping around in their own do-do while their caged counterparts do not.) The information is out there and it is quite scary. The illnesses and deaths linked to eating "organic" don't get much press coverage... too inconvenient to the "cause."
William R| 9.7.12 @ 7:56AM
caged chickens are just that, they're caged sitting in their own feces. You're not the sharpest knife in the drawer that's for sure.
c. j. acworth| 9.7.12 @ 8:19AM
Actually, I believe the chickens are sitting on mesh that allows the feces to drop through where it can be collected and used for fertilizer, often in "organic" farming. Wash those veggies well, unless your favorite style of dressing is chickens--t.
William R| 9.7.12 @ 8:45AM
Have you ever been inside a chicken coop?? They stink like hell. It is only commonsense that chickens roaming around are going to be healthier birds.
c. j. acworth| 9.7.12 @ 8:57AM
Actually I have been in a chicken coop, and there was indeed an pretty stong oder. The supermarkets get thier birds from large commercial operations who don't raise them in "coops" like your average backyard farmer does. My neighbor keeps chickens. They are free to roam but also roost in a smelly "coop". He and his Missus sell "organic" eggs. At 2 or 3 times the supermarket price. Go ahead and waste your money, pal, I've got other bills to pay.
Grzmlyk| 9.7.12 @ 3:05PM
I'll only eat poultry products originating from chickens that were raised by militant African American lesbian farmers who "get" Jack Kerouac, Lenny Bruce, Michel Foucault and post-Americanism, who are part-time activists for social justice, who have had at least one abortion, who still worship Barack Obama as the God he is, and who believe that global warming is Mother Gaia's authentic revenge on Evil White American Corporations. And who use only a mixture of solar and bio-fuels to power their lives, and who compost everything they come into contact with. Oh. And who use LED light bulbs.
And if the chickens weren't raised in a barn that pipes in authentic jazz at least half the time (and authentic African American music the rest of the time), the eggs have this common, American Caucasian flavor that is anathema to everything I stand for.
Sure, the eggs are $469.99 a dozen, but, hey, I have an EBT card, I feel good about myself and, as all good liberals know, no price is too high when it comes to purchasing my moral superiority (particularly when someone else is footing the bill).
Bob Grant| 9.7.12 @ 4:18PM
...Only raised by women wearing vagina costumes who take organic showers.
Organic showers = when it rains.
Paul A'Barge | 9.7.12 @ 4:32PM
Been in a chicken coop many times. And it's not common sense. Chickens don't need the equivalent of a national park to be healthy. What appears to you to be common sense is in fact nonsense.
Pecos Pete| 9.7.12 @ 8:51AM
Yep, fertilize with chicken shit and horse manure. That makes for really tasty veggies. William R wouldn't know a chicken coop from a horse barn. Free range chickens need a home during the night and that's called a chicken coop.
Paul A'Barge | 9.7.12 @ 4:34PM
Where I come from we wait in line to pay great amounts of money to the chicken raisers to get them to bring their chicken poop and spread it on our hay and grazing pastures. And to use it in our gardens.
These anti-coopers are completely lost.
2Anglico| 9.7.12 @ 8:39AM
William R, with his own words, shows his TOTAL LACK of knowledge on the subject of farming.
William R| 9.7.12 @ 8:56AM
You can't refute one damn thing. Chicken coops stink to high heaven. Birds roaming and eating bugs and greens are going to be healthier than their counterparts sitting in a cage all day.
2Anglico| 9.7.12 @ 12:11PM
Well, since YOU have not refuted anything in the article, I hesitate to respond. However, I am going to try ONCE.
How about the FACT that chickens in the coop don't eat bugs, other chicken's crap, or pieces of dead animals? Since the farmer feeds them nothing but grain, COOP CHICKENS EAT A HEALTHIER DIET. They can't eat the FILTHY stuff they would on the "free" range.
Now, can YOU refute ONE point of the article?
trailman| 9.10.12 @ 12:44AM
Technically no, free range birds need a proper diet and the bugs and greens dont cut it. There are any number of articles out there that plainly state that. FWIW I RAISE the birds you talk about. My coops dont stink, my birds are pastured AND fed a proper feed ration and are happy and healthy. Organic also means no starter antibiotics, every sea a bug go through a flock? You will have all your livestock dead in two days. The organic label is there to justify the cost. in my area its ~ 5 grand and three years to get your farm "Certified". Organic feed is 2X the price of regular locally sourced feed. I know a lot of producers that are dropping it because its not worth the hassle and expense. People dont know what they are talking about but hey. If I can sell eggs at 4x the store price because brown eggs are "better" then good for me. Also for the whole foods supporters, good for you and good for the store, just remember that most of those products are grown at "coporate/large ag" type organic farms. Look up how they meet the regulations sometime. Organic isn't what its cracked up to be.
THKrupp| 9.7.12 @ 12:08PM
Non organic farms use manure too. Manure is the best fertilizer known. All domesticated animals regardless of how they are raised, tramp around in their own feces at one time or another.
William R| 9.7.12 @ 8:54AM
The problem with this article is Flynn thinks he's slaying a liberal icon. But the Whole Foods we shop at is located in one of the most conservative Republican areas of the country. The store is packed not with hippies but middle and upper middle class people buying high quality fresh organic veggies. It's a beautiful store and no I don't mind paying a few extra bucks for organic food.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/ru.....o-has.html
Finbarr Moran| 9.7.12 @ 9:31AM
It's a fair bet that anyone who refers to them as veggies instead of vegtables is afflicted with an advanced case of DBS.
William R| 9.7.12 @ 11:07AM
You're dumber than a load of bricks.
2Anglico| 9.7.12 @ 12:23PM
Excerpt from William R's debate class: Here's a link-there's a link-everywhere's a link link. You are dumb, he's an idiot, she doesn't know what she's talking about, I am smarter than you, you fool.
So convincing!
George S| 9.7.12 @ 10:31AM
That's the point: "I don't mind paying a few extra bucks for organic food."
Your money, your satisfaction is all that counts. God bless the free market for capitalizing on your stated desire to pay more for a product based on the way it is labeled.
Just don't preach to everyone else; they, too, have a right to question whether a product labeled organic has any benefits. Yet liberals take such skepticism as a personal affront, resulting in the push to use the force of government on the rest of us as a means of self-healing confirmation of their beliefs. And Gaia help the free marketeer who uses the word "organic" in the narrowest legal leeway to get an advantage... as if that never happens.
THKrupp| 9.7.12 @ 10:37AM
Exactly George, the customer is always right. Many of the times people just like knowing where their food comes from. It may not be any better for you but being able to talk to the person that raised the food makes some people feel better.
William R| 9.7.12 @ 11:06AM
I'm not preaching it anyone. Just calling out Flynn for his horrible article. He doesn't have the foggiest idea of what he's talking about.
Paul A'Barge | 9.7.12 @ 4:37PM
You may think you are refuting Flynn. In fact, you are proving his point. And in the meantime, he is missing the point that he is wrong.
Nice work.
Jameslibkiller| 9.8.12 @ 1:15PM
AMEN
Tom Kyba| 9.8.12 @ 5:57PM
Which changes nothing. Your argument was a loser and now you are side-stepping.
Praise Gaia!
ata777| 9.7.12 @ 8:58AM
"People don't pay for better-for-you. They pay for better-than-you." You could have stopped right there, Daniel.
Maxwell| 9.7.12 @ 9:26AM
Have to add my two cents. When my father was growing up he took his gun to grade school so he could hunt on the way home. I forgot what he said he got for each pelt but it was not much. If he got a nickle it was big money. As for the farm where he was raised, it was milk from the cow, chickens from the coop, and meat when they could. He said they were dirt farmers and dirt poor too. Smoked a box of Dunhill cigars every day until he retired. I was very lucky, he lived until he was 98. Give me meat, potatoes, pizza, beer (ok, some Jack too) , and FULL FAT ice cream.
chuck| 9.8.12 @ 7:50AM
The healthiest diet is one of fresh farm-raised meat and vegetables. Cut out all the processed foods, the carbs, and sugars, and you'll live to be 98 as well. And go ahead and enjoy the cigars and beer.
Fredx| 9.7.12 @ 9:28AM
Ah, sweet sarcasm (not too sweet, of course). Finally some sweet revenge on all those food nazis I knew in San Francisco. One would drag me to a vegan restaurant and make the waiter stand there taking copious notes as he described in excruciating detail how he wanted his meal prepared, and exactly what ingredients to omit, lest he find something tasty. This, while I sank deeper and deeper into my chair, wishing I were at Wendy's. Everytime I saw him, he was thinner, greener and more disagreeable. I must have forgotten to give him my new phone number. (wink)
I'm delighted that the author acknowledges that the word "organic" was hijacked by the food nazis who redefined it to mean "pesticide-free." But, of course, every single living thing is "organic," whether they like it or not.
These are the same people who are now claiming that "wellness" is a medical condition, so they can charge me for an office visit. Sorry, I'm already well; I only need help when I'm not.
Skippy| 9.8.12 @ 7:16PM
Yes.
We are all organic.
The envious among us are also green.
Long have I railed against the notion that Mankind is the only creature on Earth that is alien, toxic, unnatural and pestilent.
Everything we do is all-natural, as we are natural creatures that emerged on this planet....naturally.
Anti-humanism brings abortion, radical environmentalism and anti-immunization to the masses.
All to the detriment of Man.
AhiaBoy| 9.8.12 @ 11:26PM
Excellent comment, Skippy.
As to "organic" so is cyanide. I try to avoid eating it.
And I'll bet William R never spent more than part of a day on a farm when his elementary class took a field trip. He obviously was distracted when the farmer showed up in his rubber boots that were caked with manure.
JMM | 9.7.12 @ 9:40AM
I try to avoid anything labelled "organic" but it is getting more difficult by the day. "Organic" is one of the biggest frauds of modern times.
cicero| 9.7.12 @ 10:01AM
Disclaimer: My daughter works for Whole Foods, and they seem like a great company to work for, and they seem to have a great business model. That having been said, I have not yet shopped at one, as there is none in my county. However, it all really comes down to "moderation". We are omnivores, and do best when we havve varied diets. The problem comes in with what we feed, and hype our food with to make it grow fast, give more milk, etc. The only value I see to "free range" is that they are not loaded with chemicals that make it cheaper (more economical) to raise and market, and allow them to eat foods that they would not otherwise be able to digest. We still have to recognize that we have doubled our life expectancy wver the past 100 years, or so, and we live better than anyone ever has. Maybe we are just bored, and need something to crank about.
Paul A'Barge | 9.7.12 @ 4:40PM
You should try a Whole Foods when you get a chance. Great, top of the quality chain products and a friendly atmosphere. Expensive, but the head of the company is an unapologetic capitalist who is entirely undeserving of Flynn's bigoted rhetoric.
I salute Whole Foods and your daughter for having the good sense to work for a good company. Get there as soon as you can.
THKrupp| 9.7.12 @ 10:07AM
My big question is why does it matter what anyone eats. Im so tired of people sticking their noses in my lunch and turning it into some kind of statement. People that turn food choices into a political statement are so tedious. I like going into stores like whole foods because they have a lot of interesting and good tasting stuff. Most of the time I shop at walmart because its cheaper. I dont care if you are a vegetarian or you only eat steak for every meal. Bugger off and let me eat in peace.
Stan Redmond| 9.7.12 @ 2:08PM
Amen.
Paul A'Barge | 9.7.12 @ 4:41PM
Double Amen. And this includes the histrionic organic zealots along with people like Flynn, the author of this article.
THKrupp| 9.7.12 @ 5:16PM
Exactly...
ef| 9.7.12 @ 6:55PM
Whoo Hooo. Well said. My feelings exactly.
Who Knows?| 9.7.12 @ 10:57AM
My lawyer can beat up your lawyer.
Updated, it’s my scientist can….
Mr. T said, pity the fool.
As the people, one by one, in scientifically “civilized” countries, eat themselves to illness and an early death, getting fat and obese at ever earlier ages, it is indeed humorous to witness the supreme Narcissistic characteristic---rationalization. “I’m NOT a dupe!”, says the fool.
Right diet isn’t everything, of course. But, hey---why not use your brain and “grow in office”? That is, as time passes, observe what foods you eat AND what becomes of your body---and make the requisite adjustments, to not just stay healthy, but actively enhance your health?
For all the pitiful fools claiming to be happily scarfing down what is called food, and lawfully adding pounds of fat and waste---oh, let me lard up with MORE fat and sugar---the visible truth is painful to encounter, when in the public arena, these days filled with waddling and wheel-chair bound tubbies.
I say, go for it!
The most energetic sperm fights to impregnate the egg. Less worthy ones die.
Just so, those humans, who use their brains to control their diet, will outlive the ignorant ones who don’t. And, guess what? Their children will be wise, from the get go.
Truth to Power| 9.7.12 @ 11:18AM
Sorry that your parents did eat well.
Who Knows?| 9.7.12 @ 11:47AM
Huh?
Truth to Power| 9.7.12 @ 3:27PM
I just meant that it is a waste of such energetic sperm and a clearly brilliant Earth being following some kind of prime directive. Lets face it, you went all in on a fraud and in a lame attempt to distract from the argument you want to talk of the relative taste of home grown and store bought tomatoes. You are not making a great case for mental health and "organic" vegetables. I have no desire to shut down any businesses selling you overpriced food. That is your business. Daniel Flynn wrote a very funny piece. I for one would have never guessed the quasi-moral goofiness of people who go to Whole Foods. What is your take on vaccinations?
Who Knows?| 9.7.12 @ 5:46PM
What fraud did I go all in on?
Truth to Power| 9.8.12 @ 1:38PM
1. Too much Carl Sagan sounding nonsense
2. Too much Star Trek sounding nonsense
3. Organic vegetables
4. Buddhism
5. Confused Darwinism
I am sure there is more. I am also a member of the fight wing. Pretentious people are irritating and usually deserved to be lowered a few notches. By the way my tomatoes taste great as well. There seems to more connection to being picked fresh and no connection to how many chemicals I used to combat insect usurpers.
As an aside, if you don't die in some kind of accident or are killed by some family member who is tired of being lectured about foods, you are going to get sick and die like almost all that came before you.
2Anglico| 9.7.12 @ 12:13PM
Who Knows, maybe you'll live forever.
Who Knows?| 9.7.12 @ 6:52PM
Who knows?
effinayright| 9.7.12 @ 2:27PM
Funny, just the other day a years-long study of monkeys, some with restricted calorie diets and the rest allowed "normal" calorie intake, concluded there was NO extra longevity conveyed by severely restricting calories.
I remember a few years ago reading about the monkeys in the study: the ones getting 40% less food were "healthy" but appeared miserable.
So go ahead, eat your brown rice-and-tofu and convince yourself you have all the answers!
p.s. your conclusion about "their children" is a non sequitur. How many kids rebel against their parents??
Paul A'Barge | 9.7.12 @ 4:42PM
Um, it's not the calories that need to be restricted, it's the carbs.
Grzmlyk| 9.7.12 @ 3:17PM
Uh, wisdom is not a genetic trait. It is not even closely related to intelligence. It is only to be acquired through learning from life's experiences or, more likely, it remains an undiscovered precious metal that is overlooked in the rush to obtain the fool's gold of pop culture's approbation - as in those who believe they are superior because they shop at Whole Foods.
But I guess in liberal land, you think if you just eat enough pretentious food that satisfies your moral vanity, and wag you finger at the great unwashed (who make this country work), Gaia in Her Wisdom will bless your children with the Secrets of the Elders On the Upper West Side.
Who Knows?| 9.7.12 @ 5:58PM
Maybe “wise” is the wrong word.
But I’ll make you a bet.
Take a child born into a family that eats health foods, maybe just a lacto-vegetarian diet, or even some fish and organic beef, etc. Do you think they’d be likely to FORGET what their parents taught them about right diet, even as they ate a right diet, and go for the standard American diet---SAD---that most people are now eating?
We all know it’s especially the ignorant---uneducated, shall we say, like high school dropouts from inner city schools, who happen to have some melanin in their skin---who eat very poorly, and it’s the college graduates who tend to KNOW BETTER, and at least try to eat right.
You see, eating a right diet results in bodily health. And feeling good reinforces the habits.
I DO feel for those who haven’t suffered enough to make the changes necessary, before it’s too late.
But, as the Army ad went when I was drafted, “Choice, not chance!”---as they tried to get you to enlist and thus avoid being sent to Nam as an infantryman, instead of a clerk, say.
BTW--I'm as fight wing as it gets.
Who Knows?| 9.7.12 @ 6:00PM
Oops---RIGHT WING, not fight wing.
trailman| 9.10.12 @ 12:51AM
Take a child born into a family that eats health foods, maybe just a lacto-vegetarian diet, or even some fish and organic beef, etc. Do you think they’d be likely to FORGET what their parents taught them about right diet, even as they ate a right diet, and go for the standard American diet---SAD---that most people are now eating?
It won't matter one bit if said parents have a xbox and or smartphone in the house.
Is the fish organic?
George S| 9.7.12 @ 11:00AM
Just as an aside:
The 36% profit margin of Whole Foods (WFM Nasdaq) is greater than Exxon-Mobil (XOM) at 12.5%
I wonder if anybody who works at Whole Foods accidentally touched it when the register was opened...
ef| 9.7.12 @ 6:59PM
Thanks for mentioning their profit. I've been wondering what their markup is. Their prices are comical. I've only been there a few times but each time, I take a little gander and pretty quickly say "Are you kidding"??
Rich Rostrom| 9.9.12 @ 4:15AM
Over the four quarters ending last June 30, XOM reported $498.4B gross sales and $45.1B net profits: 9.05%.
Over the same four quarters, WFM reported $11.4B gross sales and $428M net profits: 3.84%.
Maybe someone needs to smoke a better grade of Arkansas Polio Weed.
Who Knows?| 9.7.12 @ 11:30AM
What is food?
As Earth beings, we humans are physical manifestations of elements full of life, that came from farm LAND.
Basically, right diet is all about the few feet of topsoil. With a maximally healthy plot of land, maximally healthy produce grows. And, guess what pests like?
SICK PLANTS.
So, the prime directive is to grow the soil. We can use science to test it, and add the lacking minerals, compost and so on.
All-American farms, so called non-organic ones, are certainly NOT growing topsoil! Adding fertilizer and pesticides is NOT healthy!
I removed the grass, and way too many rocks, from my backyard. Using a shovel and pitchfork, even a hammer and a crowbar, I double dug down almost two feet. Adding lots of horse manure and compost, even the first year I was able to produce a good crop of tomatoes, etc.
Double digging every year, the soil has only improved, so I am happily moving cucumbers, zucchini and tomatoes, from garden to mouth, daily---and, there’s no need to peel the cukes, unlike store bought ones!
As you poor lovers of factory farm toms, etc, suffer, I get to enjoy sweet and fully ripe toms, regularly.
Y’all eat your heart out.
Who Knows?| 9.7.12 @ 11:44AM
“Philosophical consciousness attains its fruition through the working of its inner dynamism, through the three moments of the dialectic: dogmatism, criticism and intuition. In its natural speculative employment, philosophy is dogmatic; this finds expression in the various systems of thought. As this invariably leads to a conflict, philosophy becomes critical, self-consciously aware of the assumptions and inadequacies of Reason. This is the consciousness of the relativity of phenomena, their unreality. Phenomena are relative as they are dependent, and are thus devoid of the essence of reality.
The completion of criticism effectively does away with the speculative or conceptual functions of Reason. Philosophy then culminates in intellectual intuition. Here knowledge (Reason) and its object (the Real) coincide; there is non-duality. This too is relative, as Intuition or the Absolute is DEVOID OF DUALITY.”
The Central Philosophy of Buddhism, T R V Murti, page 141-142
THKrupp| 9.7.12 @ 12:23PM
So you live completely on cucumbers zuchhini and tomatoes that you grow in your own garden? How many people can you feed for a year from your garden? Im not belittling your gardening and I encourage people to do it. I would hazard a guess that most of your calories are purchased though. All farms are factories regardless of the production techniques. Why do you think that non organic farms are not growing topsoil? The loss of topsoil is mostly related to tillage practices. Organic farms do a lot more tillage than non organic and consequently have more erosion losses than a farm using minimum tillage practices. Herbicides actually allow farmers to "grow" more topsoil. I have the soil tests to prove it.
Who Knows?| 9.7.12 @ 6:16PM
Of course most of my food is store bought.
I’m presently so high from the great results my small garden is yielding, I guess I went too far.
Ever heard of French-Intensive Bio-Dynamic gardening, or John Jeavons? It’s amazing what a 100 square feet of double dug soil can produce.
As for the topsoil situation---those heavy machines that till and harvest and whatever compact the soil. This is not good. Also, the way to understand the topsoil is the following:
It is alive, hopefully, with myriad micro organisms. When turned over, by tractors, it’s not good. There is a literal “climate” that is happening in that mostly solid two feet, and when it’s disturbed, less than optimal results obtain.
And, it’s not a concern about “Gaia” I’m talking about. This is about science.
Enough---I don’t have time to go on.
THKrupp| 9.7.12 @ 11:32PM
I realize its not about Gia. I had never heard of that method of gardening but it sounds interesting. Ill definitely read up on it. I also realize that a well tended garden can out produce commercial agriculture on a per sq foot basis. The problem becomes economics. Can you feed the world with that method using less than 2% of the population?
Also you do realize that a tractor with properly inflated tires or tracks compacts the soil less than a human foot print? Dragging steel through soil destroys structure and can cause compaction layers if its a garden spade or a mould board. Yes Im talking about science too. We till the soil to a depth of 16-18 inches in the fall. We use a tool that doesnt disturb the surface and it lifts the soil up to improve aeration. It just leaves a slit in the ground. You should learn more about modern agriculture methods. Things have changed a lot in the last 40 years and mostly for the better. I understand about the need for healthy soil...most farmers do.
trailman| 9.10.12 @ 12:54AM
Yeah but thats not going to feed Africa, or the Russians or the rest of the world you know.
JD| 9.7.12 @ 11:54AM
I eat a lot of bananas, and I'm always annoyed to find that at my local supermarket, the "regular" ones are often out of stock, while the "organic" shelf is untouched.
John Navratil| 9.7.12 @ 12:54PM
JD,
Says something about the market doesn't it. Perhaps we shall have to compel the purchase of organic bananas, after all. The banana-nana-obama tax (or fee).
JD| 9.7.12 @ 4:58PM
Market conditions ARE compelling me to buy them, as they are all that are available when the others sell out.
John Navratil| 9.7.12 @ 5:20PM
JD,
I was just trying to force others to feel your pain. You know, that whole fairness thing ;) Purp would understand.
Dave Williams| 9.7.12 @ 1:01PM
The only rational response to a food fascist (and they're EVERYWHERE) is "Mind your own f*cking business."
John Navratil| 9.7.12 @ 1:03PM
Dave Williams,
If everyone followed your advice, there would be no liberals!
Grzmlyk| 9.7.12 @ 4:17PM
Ah, but the whole point of Obamacare is that now every single thing a person does IS the government's business.
That's why Lenin said that socialized medicine is the "keystone to the arch of the socialist state."
JimH| 9.7.12 @ 2:02PM
Organic? Well I guess silicon based broccoli is worse than the carbon based kind. Let’s not confuse organic with locally grown. Living in Florida, I can sometimes get produce grown within a few miles of my home. It is available at stands, farmer’s markets and local supermarkets. The farmers use pesticides and fertilizers but from a taste, freshness and thus nutritional value this will be superior to something picked before it is fully ripe in order to ship it several thousand miles. Speaking of ‘they-pay-for-better-than-you’, ecologically one is being kinder to the environment by keeping that old clunker than buying a Prious.
squackman| 9.7.12 @ 2:51PM
Actually, all food, by definition, is organic. If it is not organic, it is not food.
cicero| 9.7.12 @ 3:22PM
We eat better, and spend less on our diets than any people in the history of the world. Our problem is obesity, not starvation. We live almost twice as long as did Americans of a hundred ago. However, it seems that we have created our own monsters. We have turned from aminal fats, used in moderation, to vegetable fats (corn and soy oil) in an attempt to avoid heart poblems. The corn and soy oils, couples with the corn and soy fed to our livestock, has created a problem worse than that we are trying to avoid. (http://www.psychologytoday.com) This article was given to me recently by a doc friend of mine, after we discussed the bounty to be found in our bacdkyard gardens. It still comes down to everything in moderation, and watch what we eat.
Paul A'Barge | 9.7.12 @ 4:29PM
Sigh. Never mind that lots of folks are debunking the study based on the funding history of the author(s).
But this is what counts: a lot of people are paying for, well frankly, better. Just better. Better tasting, less "stuff" used in raising, stuff raised by neighbors and friends, stuff that is so much more appealing that when you put both on the table side by side, you don't hesitate in your choices.
Of course, there are sycophants and elitists on both sides of all issues. So freakin' what.
Here's my take: the food raised by my friends who are organic growers is the top of the quality chain. I buy much from the modern big-box/big-parking-lot grocery chain in my area and when I really want something fabulous I buy from my organic friends. And what's worse, when I plant and maintain and harvest my garden, I use organic techniques. I don't spare my cattle herd in Texas from "chemicals" when those chemicals do a great job of keeping the animals in my care healthy but unlike some of the ranchers around me, I don't spray the 'cides like an addict year around either. I try to be balanced and smart about it.
Frankly, I don't know if you've ever been in a Whole Foods. But just as frankly, the products are indisputably higher in quality. And that's why I love to shop at Whole Foods every chance I get (and when I can afford to).
This article you wrote is just elitist-anti-elitism of the worst sort.
C. S. P. Schofield| 9.7.12 @ 5:08PM
Food raised top the 'organic' standard takes more work and requires more land for the same yield. Neither 'organic' nor agribusiness food is particularly healthy if the people growing it, packing it, shipping it, and preparing it aren't reasonably careful. Several of the recent e-coli outbreaks were centered on 'organic' produce fertilized with 'organic' fertilizers .... which is to say excrement.
Farm stand food CAN be fresher. Know your stand and your farmer. A lot of 'farm stands' and 'farmers' markets' sell food from the same sources as your local supermarket. That said, when you can get really fresh produce it makes one hell of a difference. Before I moved to the area I live in now, I thought I didn't like peaches, because what supermarkets sell might as well be peach skins stretched over balsa wood. I get fresh peaches in season from local producers who told me how to ripen them properly, and the difference is just amazing.
Buy food that you like. Lobby for the government to allow people to make their own choices. Don't, please, try to tell me what to eat. You won't like what I'll say in reply.
May Bloomberg and all his ilk rot in Hell.
Tafuna| 9.7.12 @ 5:15PM
For dinner guests who insist they can only eat organic food purchased at their favorite market, just tell them that you did-- they'll never know the difference. Better yet, never invite such people to dinner. They'll just ruin the table conversation when the subject to turns to politics and they wish to sing praises to the Obamination.
ef| 9.7.12 @ 6:49PM
Great article! I'm wholeheartedly in agreement with you. The Whole Foods Sect is a bit on the creepy side for me.
Pelleas| 9.7.12 @ 11:08PM
There is a Whole Foods across the Street from my apartment...and a branch of an East Coast major Supermarket Chain, down the Block...
The prices at Whole Foods, on average, are significently CHEAPER, and the quality (generally ) so much better, than at the Supermarket, for comparable items
What is the friggin problem here---other thean "reverse snobbism"??---you yahoo's think it's so "cool" to knock ANYTHING that seems different, or "foreign " to your own lives...you go ape-shit crazy over the smallest things!
Ya don'y like Whole Foods?--then--DON'T SHOP THERE...simple, nu?
Pelleas| 9.7.12 @ 11:21PM
A half gallon of organic Whole Foods 365 Brand milk--$1.99..
A half gallon of Food Emporium ( the old A &P chain) milk-$2.99--(on sale)
Where would YOU shop, given the choice, eh?
Pelleas| 9.7.12 @ 11:46PM
"Trader Joe's", which also carries mostly organic--or un -processed groceries items- ( although in much fewer variety the WF's--no fresh butcher/fish dept-and not such great produce..) is ALSO considerably less expensive than the Chain supermarkets..
a pound of Coffee at Trader Joes-- $4.99-- for a premium roast..
A pound of coffee at the chain supermarket..$ 7.99-- for a can that has been lying on the shelves for gawd knows how long..
A pound of organic Trader Joe's butter- 2.49
Supermarket butter-4.99
CASE CLOSED....
Nick| 9.8.12 @ 12:01AM
I'll bet that your hero, the well-known Jew-hater, the Polio Prince, would shop at Whole Foods, Pelleas.
Had he not vapor-locked in the arms of some whore in Warm Springs, GA, that is!
Jameslibkiller| 9.8.12 @ 1:04PM
Begging your pardon, Mr. Blue Collar Intellectual, but there may be a flip side to your hand wringing.
I don't shop at WF to be seen there. My car can't possibly stand up against the Rovers and BMW's.
I shop there because the food is better than Price Chopper, and because I prefer less pesticides.
I hate European football, Charlie Rose, and turtlenecks.
Question: if I buy organic items at the decidedly NOT upscale local Stop and Shop, do I still suffer from DBS?
Do I detect a bit of class envy in your screed? Does YOUR vehicle not quite measure up either?
Mr. Flynn, you do in fact look like a double-cheese-swilling bourbon binger, a bit too jowly and grey-faced.
Perhaps when you prematurely expire from pinhole-sized arteries caused by the Big Mac's 'curative powers and yummy deliciousness', I will quote pertinent passages from the above article at your wake,
cheers, James
PCPSmokerII| 9.9.12 @ 2:41PM
Hey duchebag, your whole racket has been exposed. Organic food contains large amount of fecal concentration. That's about what creeps like you deserve, a bunch of elitist eating shit.
Rick Z| 9.8.12 @ 4:22PM
Hole Foods ? ?
Yuh ! I go there for
Swiss Cheese
Life Savers
Donuts
Cheerios
Bagels
Advantages of Whore-ganic Food:
No antibiotics are used - so you aren't eating meat, etc that has bred antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
No chemical pesticides, so you aren't spending a lifetime absorbing the Nerve Gas used to kill bugs.
Disadvantages of Whore-Ganics:
No preservatives, so you can easily have mold and bacteria with your cereal and tofu.
Higher cost.
Farmers lie (just like other people). Especially farmers in China & other parts of Asia, South of the Border. Just 'cause it SAYS Whore-Ganic doesn't MAKE it so.
Oldlaw| 9.8.12 @ 7:52PM
I have a physician friend who provides nutritional counseling for an up scale university crowd. He once joked that he had treated thousands of people for malnutrition and about half of them shopped at Whole Foods. So he calls it "Half Foods." He also said he had never treated anyone for pesticide poisoning.
Malnutrition IS a serious problem among affluent Americans, but that is a different topic.
Be well :)
Ned Ferguson| 9.8.12 @ 11:51PM
Lol. Love the article. Many people are not so haughty, they simply want to do the best thing and are taken in by conventional wisdom. Margarine is better than butter, early diagnosis saves lives, yada yada. So much of what so many of us think we know is wrong that it is hard to keep up.
Marston| 9.9.12 @ 1:27AM
I loved this article, thank you!
"It's not what goes into a man's mouth that makes him unclean, but what comes out."
Rich Rostrom| 9.9.12 @ 4:29AM
I'm about as irritated by self-righteous food nazis as anyone, but no one is forced to buy at Whole Foods. Nor is Whole Foods restricted to "organic" products.
And it's stupid to react to "organic food snobbery" by idolizing something as mediocre as the Big Mac. Describing a Fatburger XXL as a "generic imitator" is like describing a rich craft beer like Shiner Bock as a "generic imitator" of Miller Lite. Though the XXL is $9.49, not "under $4", as the author claims.
Norman Conquest| 9.9.12 @ 9:39AM
Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer.
PCPSmokerII| 9.9.12 @ 2:39PM
Spoken like a true man and and American. Glad to see that besides those pussies (Hilier, Goldstein, and Katashitsky), American Spectator still hires real men.
eloris| 9.10.12 @ 1:06AM
Yeah, so, the fresh produce at pick'n'save isn't that much different than the fresh produce at Whole Paycheck.
Doesn't mean you can live on Big Macs.
Roger Henry| 9.10.12 @ 12:13PM
Bottom Line: Organic Foods appeal to a certain lefty demographic for POLITICAL reasons....all the "fluff" about healthfulness, pesiticides, etc. all reflect the general lefty assumptions about corporate greed, Big Ag, Mother Earth, etc.
I once worked as Sales Manager for a distributor of organic fruits/vegs. Our target demographic was very clearly defined by our market research. #1 demo is boomers who are essentially aging hippies, #2: Boomers who have chronic health issues--and blame food additives (ironically not the years of smoking weed in the 60-70's) and #3 Lefty moms of newborns, who have internalized fear of BGH in milk, and wish to keep their newborns fresh, pure, safe--eating organic and only playing in baby-proofed rubber bumpered rooms.
--That said, Fine I say. If they want to pay double for their food, so be it. Our constitution (at least until recently) protects their political speech--and that is precisely what buying organic is--political speech.
In similar way, buying a Hummer or a really nice AR-15 assault rifle can be political speech. I'm sure the lefty's are just as offended by purchasers of these products as consevatives are by the smarmy food snobs who buy (and preach) organic.
NJmom 77| 9.13.12 @ 1:24PM
Mr. Flynn is guilty of the same thing he probably deplores in others: name-calling as a response to those with whom he disagrees. I agree that there is no call for snobbery based on food preferences. Yet, "DBS" is undeservedly offensive to the people who choose for any reason to buy organic food (environmental, dietary or other). Just agree to disagree, and be polite about it.
NJmom 77| 9.13.12 @ 2:01PM
I neglected to mention a compelling reason to know more about what pesticides are used on crops, whether local or not: the effect on pollinators, who are dying off in alarming amounts. I am more worried about that than about my consuming trace amounts of bug spray. Most organic farmers are somewhat informed on this issue.
Vasu Murti | 9.14.12 @ 5:07PM
Vegan author John Robbins writes in his Pulitzer Prize nominated Diet for a New America (1987):
"We produce pesticides at a rate more than 13,000 times faster than we did only 35 years ago. Our environment and food chains are being inundated by a virtual avalanche of pesticides."
Poisons intended to kill insects accumulate on crops, in the soil and in greater concentration in the tissues of living creatures higher on the food chain. The Environmental Protection Agency's Pesticide Monitoring Journal reports that "Foods of animal origin (are) the major source of...pesticide residues in the diet."
John Robbins writes: "Earl Butz, Secretary of Agriculture under Nixon, used to say that before the United States could consider organic farming, it would have to decide which 50 or 60 million Americans were going to be allowed to starve. His attitude exemplified the stance that government and agribusiness have taken in the past: that...we need these chemicals to feed ourselves. The chemical companies...have spent millions to reinforce this way of thinking.
"But it could hardly be less true."
A 1979 Department of Agriculture task force of scientists and economists came to "...positive conclusions on the importance of organic farming and its potential contributions to agriculture and society."
Until the end of the Second World War, American farmers produced bountiful harvests without relying on pesticides. There is no reason why America cannot do so again.