The Dirty Dozen

A friend from South Africa recently visited me in Seattle, and I spent a lovely week showing her around a bunch of amazing places in and outside of the city. It was great. We went to Pike Place Market one day, and I was surprised that, on a Wednesday afternoon, it was so busy. Food galore. Which got me thinking:

How can I afford to buy local/organic?

I know I'm not poor by any stretch of the imagination, but as a kid raised by bargain-hunter parents (who still won't buy berries in season or meat unless it's "on sale"), 6.99/lb for cherries makes me cringe. Or, then there was the really cute produce guy who offerred me a slice of the most amazing white nectarine I've ever tasted, but I was astonished to see that it would probably cost me ~$2 for one piece of fruit! Blasphemy!

This made me recall an article I read a while ago about the most essential food to buy organic if budget/availability does not allow a fully organic diet. There are a million of these lists, but check out this one from The Daily Green called the Dirty Dozen. In the article, there is also a link to a list of "safe" foods that we don't have to worry about buying organic. Essentially, these categories make sense (thicker, less permeable skin = less serious pesticide build-up threat), but I remember being especially interested in buying strawberries and carrots organically when I first read this.

Anyhow, take a look. I totally have a final I'm supposed to be writing and grading I should be doing, but this is way more fun. I'm hoping to try some actual recipes sometime soon which I will post, pending success!

Peace to you all,

Katie (K)