Zephyr,

> The fish comes straight off the fishing boats and goes to auction and

I envy you for that fish! :-)

> California Organic certification is pretty good.  And this ranch sells
> ...
> I think, in general, you are translating your European concerns about

All of us who have been in USA, have a lot of concerns about the
quality of food there. Only your reports have shown me that some
better places exist. One of my biggest concerns is the American
obsession against bacteria and small animals or insects. So the
experience of most Instinctos that visited the states was that it
is very hard to get natural food. Everything is heated, processed,
overbreeded or otherwise fumbled with. Four of my friends have been
there and they all said the same. The only bright spots in their
stories were the private gardeners in Florida or California.
Marianne, for example, did get lots of top quality fruits from her
colleagues when she was in Boca Raton and another friend of mine
did get great avocados from a cooperative near LA.

OTOH I mistrust all organic certificates. In La Palma (on the Cana-
ries) I saw how organic and really natural bananas are grown. I
could taste both and found big differences in flavour and satis-
faction. I could talk to a producer of organic bananas and he told
me that he is using dung of grain-fed cows and some other treat-
ments. (I don't remember all details) But this left me with the
impression that I'd rather avoid organic bananas. A friend of us
there, is a raw eater, too. He grows his own bananas and these
don't get any unnatural fertilizers and they are not watered so
much. They are smaller and have a much deeper and more satisfying
aroma than the others. (Conventional bananas are much worse. They
are grown in huge amounts on La Palma and the toxins that are
used there poison the soil for years. They have no stops and
no satisfaction. I once ate them, ate much to much in a single
meal and had to use my intellect to stop me from further eating.)


Karl