Sunday, January 27, 2008

Organic vs. Inorganic Produce

image royalty free from 1000bananas.com

Going green is as easy as changing the way you shop when you go to the supermarket. I was wondering if there really is a difference between organic and inorganic vegetables and fruit that consumers purchase at the grocery store.
I wanted to find out if you can really tell if there is a taste difference in this produce. I decided to test my theory out on my sister and room mate.
Now for a little background. My sister is a health nut. She swears by organic products because she has celiac disease, a disease where she can not properly digest wheat and wheat products. So needless to say, she was pretty certain she would be able to decipher the organic from the inorganic produce.
My room mate Julia is pretty much your typical college student. Eats three square meals a day, most of them from a box in the freezer or an occasional drive-thru meal.

THE BAIT:
The experiment went as such, I purchased organic and inorganic golden delicious apples and organic bananas. I also purchased organic carrots. I cut up each fruit and placed them in identical bowls. Now, here is the twist, I placed organic carrots in both of the bowls. Only thing was one bowl had slighlty older carrots from a previous shopping trip.
By the look of the food, my subjects could not really tell the difference in the bananas I put out. The organic apples my roomies said looked crisper than their inorganic counterparts. Both of my roomies thought the older carrots were obviously inorganic and full of pesticides.

BLIND TASTE TEST:
Both of my roomies after being blindfolded were able to tell which apple they were eating was organic. They both liked the organic apple better saying it was not as mushy as the crispy organic one.
The bananas however, perplexed their taste buds, both girls guessed wrong.
For the carrots, my sister guessed correctly and Julia was incorrect. When I told them both of the carrots were organic they were surprised.

My Conclusion:
If it tastes better or the same, why not buy organic? It's a good and easy way to go green without too much thought. Organic farming is more environmentally friendly and better for the planet, according to rsc.org, The Royal Society of Chemistry's website. After my little experiment, I will rethink which produce I buy.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

A mean green shopping machine

My blog is going to focus on the trends in green consumerism. Everything from buying your groceries with green in mind to your new outfit for Saturday night. I chose to blog about this because I am interested in fashion and shopping but want to take it to a different level. I feel with the growing market of green products it is becoming a real industry. I want to investigate if green products are worth the green people shell out for them. What standards make them green and why?