At 02:05 PM 4/14/01 EDT, Charles Alban wrote:
>In a message dated 4/13/01 5:55:48 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
><<  Each year, organic farming in the U.S.
> improves.  Can you say this about conventional farming?  >>
>
>I eat regularly in a restaurant that only uses organic produce, and you can
>taste the difference. There are reasons other than the absence of pesticides,
>etc., to go organic. The flavor levels are much higher, and when you have
>ditched the sugar habit, you can taste the difference with commercial
>produce. All nutrients will be higher, too. Organic is really a half way
>house to fully wild plants, which have the highest flavors and nutrient
>densities.

I think that depends on a lot of other variables, as well.  Odds are, the
organic produce you're getting doesn't travel far and may be fresher than
the non-organic in the area (which may be shipped from just about anywhere).

Where I live, the organic stuff, 90% of the time is as tasteless as
anything else--and too often looks half dead [I assume this is because it
gets shipped as far as anything else, except perhaps for a while in the
summer].  One odd example:  red sweet peppers--the ones I get at SAMS Club
taste better than the ones from either of the local "health food" stores!

Now if you have access to locally grown, organically raised produce farmed
where they rotate crops well, etc., well... that'd be a dream come true,
for me :)

Just wanted to point out that these things seem to vary significantly by
region, too.

Dianne