Organic Food. The Business.

The first part of the title is, without doubt, very familiar to all of us. It's the new way of getting to die healthy, as if that wouldn't be a pity, but that's not the topic today.

We've come on the road to the organic food gradually. In the beginning it was the taste. After we arrived in Holland, we were very clear about at least one thing: tomatoes have no taste. Full stop, no debate, they cannot be compared to the ones in our (grand)parents' garden and any attempt in doing such a comparison was blasphemous. I tend to agree with this to quite an extent. However, I've been in the shoes of that hubby who goes to the supermarket and comes back without tomatoes. I've told you already that I'm a careful shopper. At  home, the debriefing:

"Got tomatoes?"

"Shit, sorry, no, must have forgotten"

"How could I make the salad now, without tomatoes?"



Indeed, how could one make a salad without tomatoes? In the middle of the effing February! Outrageous!
However, I don't recall my parents having tomatoes in the winter, unless they were pickled. So, my dear friends, the brute comparison should be refined a bit and be confined to the season period, i.e. a couple of weeks in July and August.

The same happens to other vegetables or fruits. Grapes, for instance, are sour. And I am not talking about our new 25 years of age secretary who's girlfriend to a professional footballer, I'm talking about the real grapes. However, in September October they are sweet and tasty.

This was the beginning. Then we got salary raises and moved on to buy more expensive tomatoes. The ones that come with the stem, redder and juicier. The taste was improved,  but then another problem hit us. The way they produce such tomatoes.  They use a loads of chemicals to make them grow. Unlike our (grand)parents who never ever thought of marring the crops with poisonous stuff.

Well, let me tell you something. Our (grand)parents paid quite some money for the poisonous stuff to kill the bugs or to prevent lethal diseases. And they were very happy to do that, otherwise the whole crops would be at risk. I remember for instance my grandpa who had to spray the vines with blue stone (cupric sulfate for the college people) that was kept out of reach from the kids. And how little amusement I could read on my grandma's face when she saw me and my cousin with the faces all painted blue, ready for an imaginary war. Hehehe, we survived, both the poison and the cane :).

This should be the ground for the need of the organic food or, what we call it here in Holland, bio food. It's an industry that's growing nowadays. And of course, you can buy everything online. You don't need to see the fruits, because for them it's the inner beauty that counts. They're organic and they do not care what they look like on the outside. You need to taste them....

Which I did, last week. We went to see some friends who like tangerines, clementines, all sorts. And  they had also tried the online bio-food deliveries so we were having two kinds in front of us. The normal one, which we can find in the supermarket and the organic one, delivered by the postman. What shall I say? If  you've seen Twins you can have quite an accurate picture of the two tangerines: one was Schwarzenegger and the other one Danny de Vito. No need for details I presume. But as I've been constantly exhorted not to lead a shallow life, I held my horses in judging it before I'd taste it. I took the Arnold. Hmm, sweet and juicy, full of aroma, something to make you come back there.

"Pfff, terrible", I said, not wanting to spoil the organic spell. "That's no good, I can't eat it. Let me try the other one".

Grabbed Danny, spent some time peeling it, and tried it. Have you ever tried to put out the sourness of a lemon with vinegar? That was the feeling I had. As for my face, it must have beaten Quasimodo in any aspects.

"Woooow, now we're talking! I must have the link of that shop!", I exclaimed and burst into laughter, immediately followed by my friend, who must have enjoyed the look of my face tremendously.

"I've had it with this", he said. "I ordered a few batches but they're full of shit nothing I'd expected. But at least I have a great idea of business. We should go to the supermarket, ask for the vegetables and fruits that they can't sell  anymore. They should be small and scraggy and we get them for free. If they are not about to rot we batter them heavily until they look bruised enough. All we need more is a site"