By Sandra Davey
Organic food can be cheaper than conventional food, although this isn’t always the case it’s worth checking out. In a 30 second experiment I found one organic item, coconut oil, cheaper at local organic supplier Santos than all of the conventional items at the supermarket. As well, you get what you pay for: organic fruit and vegetables have been found to have significantly more nutritional content than conventional crops – and one reason for overeating is that people simply aren’t getting the nutrients that they need.
I often have guests ask me what I put in my food to make it taste so good when the dish is very simple, like a roast vegetable tray. I believe that they are actually tasting the flavour of how food should taste when it is grown in rich organic soil and tended to in benevolent ways.
One of the places I buy organic food is Santos Organics; I like their ‘mission statement’ which is ‘to empower people and communities to live in a healthy and sustainable way’, for example by ensuring that 100% of their fruit and vegetables and almost all of their other products are either Certified Organic or Organically or Biodynamically grown. As well, their profits are put back into the environment and community.
There is now overwhelming evidence that chemicals used in conventional agriculture pose risks to humans and other life forms and unwanted side effects to the environment. Testing by the Environmental Working Group found that, after they were washed, conventional celery, apples, strawberries and spinach contained pesticides, some of which were banned. The unchecked use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides has played havoc with human and other life forms.
Santos Organics has recently gained Palm Oil Free Accreditation – this means that they now only stock a handful of palm oil products. Those products contain traceable palm oil that has been verified and approved by Palm Oil Investigations to originate in specific palm oil plantations in Africa, Papua New Guinea or Colombia. Santos no longer stock any products that contain palm oil that comes from Indonesia or Malaysia.
What’s wrong with palm oil? Here’s a simple equation: Palm oil = massive deforestation = greenhouse gas emissions and species extinction.
It’s easy to get clean, nutritious food, for example from Santos in store or from their cafes, and just by making this simple sort of food choice you are caring for our precious flora and fauna as well as empowering your health and the heath of the planet.
Santos Organics: Mullumbimby, Byron Bay and Byron Industrial Estate. Shop online and deliveries
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