Sarah, writer at Country Living, blogger at The Good Life London, and seasoned city-dweller, is determined to bring some rural charm to her urban existence. She wants to have her home-made cake and eat it, too. Here’s your monthly guide to living the Good Life in a concrete jungle…
I would like to start this column with a confession: I am no organic guru. I’m a penny-pinching journalist living in London who gazes guiltily at the tiny organic broccoli before plumping for its chemically-laden counterpart because it costs a third of the price and is twice as big. When you live in a city where convenience is king, going organic isn’t easy and it isn’t cheap. But it can be done…
But why am I compelling you to double the cost of your food shop, just so you can purchase a slightly smaller broccoli? Well (without sounding too much like my grandmother), until the 50s, ‘organic food’ was just ‘food’, but then agrochemicals were invented and dispensed in their tonnes to kill disease and pests.
While killing disease is good, killing off all surrounding wildlife is not. Non-organic food is routinely sprayed with things like Carbendazim (a chemical linked to developmental damage in mammals) and Glyphosate (classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as “probably carcinogenic to humans”). Ingesting substances designed to kill things, no matter how small the quantity, isn’t particularly good for us.
Through choosing organic, you’re investing in products that promote a better world. You’re choosing high animal welfare, low levels of pesticides, more wildlife and no artificial nasties. Organic food really does do our environment and our health a heck of a lot of good, so deserves to be picked (quite literally) whenever possible. Here’s how…
1. Shop local (or more locally, at least)
While supermarkets offer fare from far flung lands, they rack up vast air miles and wreaking havoc with the world in the process. City farmers markets and green grocers tend to stock produce sourced slightly closer to home. While this is by no means a guarantee, food is organic (always check!), it’s usually a good indicator. Use Big Barn to find out where you can source organic food close to you.
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2. Join an organic box scheme
Get your five a day with minimum fuss, through signing up to a veg box scheme. Every week, fresh produce will be delivered directly to your door – saving you from the daily struggle of frantically checking supermarket labels, attempting to work out what’s organic and what’s not. Again, not all vegetable boxes are organic, so ensure you subscribe with the likes of Riverford or Abel & Cole.
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3. Eat with the seasons
If food is in season, it’s more likely to have been grown closer to home, meaning less food mileage and fewer emissions. Eating food with the seasons also helps to reconnect us with nature’s cycle and to really celebrate and appreciate the time of year we’re in. It also has a number of health benefits. Enjoy strawberries in high summer when they’re red, ripe and sweet – rather than when they’re watery and tasteless in winter.
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4. Opt for organic restaurants
Vote with your wallet and spend money in incredible eateries whose green credentials match the quality of their food. Ethical and sustainable restaurants aren’t quite 10-a-penny (yet), but there are plenty more than there were five years ago. Try visiting The Duke of Cambridge, the UK’s first Soil Association certified pub, or Trawler Trash – where sustainably sourced lesser known fish are championed instead of the overfished usuals.
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5. Eat less meat
And when you DO eat meat – yep you guessed it – make it organic. Industrial agriculture, particularly the meat industry is one of THE most polluting in the world – using vast amounts of water, emitting vast emissions, and destroying huge swathes of land. Opt for grass fed, organic, sustainably produced meat and not only will it taste better, it’s more nutritious too. Try Field & Flower for monthly meat boxes.
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So there you have it – five easy ways to make the switch to organic. What’s that I hear? The sound of you grabbing the nearest canvas bag and darting to the greengrocers? The world will thank you for it, and so do I.
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