Some useful information, some anecdotes, some rantings, and some inspiration
from my quest to make my family and perhaps the world around me A Little Greener Every Day

I’ve been on a journey for a little over two years now to really change the food my family eats. I’ve been very successful in some areas and there is still work to be done in others.

Paying attention to the Environmental Working Group’s Shoppers Guide to Pesticides has helped. It helps me get the most bang for my organic buck. Since I can’t afford everything organically, I can chose to focus on the produce that are considered most harmful when bought in their conventional form.

Because of the writing I do for Mother Nature Network, I’ve read more than my fair share about organic vs conventional. Is there a nutritional advantage? Is there any difference at all? Is there a taste difference? You can find evidence proving yes and evidence proving no to all of those questions if you read long enough.

But, I have to say, the other day, I definitely tasted a difference. I’ve been buying organic apples for a couple of years now or buying apples from a farm at the market that uses very sustainable practices. Yesterday, I was on my way to walk with a friend and I hadn’t had breakfast. I ran into a corner market on the way and grabbed a conventional apple to help get me through the walk.

I could taste the chemicals on the fruit. I’m not sure if it was the wax used to make it look shiny or the pesticide residue left from the field, but there was a bitter, unpleasant taste to to the skin. And when I licked my lips, it was still there – hard to get rid of.

My husband brought home some conventional bananas  a while back. I always buy organic bananas. My oldest son couldn’t stand the taste. He didn’t know it wasn’t organic, but he said it was the worst banana he ever had. I didn’t taste any difference, but he did.

I wonder if when taste tests are done in places like malls on people that don’t usually eat organics, if they have trouble telling the difference, but as we start to eat fewer and fewer foods that are full of chemicals, do we become sensitive to the difference? I’m not saying we do, I’m just wondering if we do.

I do know that when I prepare fresh, natural (organic or not organic) foods, I certainly enjoy them much more than processed foods. That wasn’t necessarily the case when I first started to make changes.

How about you? Do you taste the difference?

Image: Digicia