Atkins diet

[Gypsiyee]

I can agree with you in some regards on the taste point. I certainly don't claim to have a discerning palate, and more often than not I can't taste the difference between organic and highly treated produce. You can usually tell the difference in meats, though--free range grass-fed beef is a pretty big difference in taste from a wal-mart penned up abused cow.

I can't agree wholly on the health aspect.. not necessarily in regards to the nutrients because I won't claim to know that information, but I can't believe that anything loaded up from sprout to fruit with pesticides and chemicals is better for you than those raised with composts, natural fertilizers, and a natural environment of wildlife handling fertilization and pest control as it's happened since the dawn of time. At the end of the day, nature does its thing the way nature always has without man's help, and I'm not sure nature ever intended a tomato to be as big as your face.

There are plenty of people who capitalize on the organic craze by hopping on the bandwagon and selling product that isn't truly organic. there are different levels of what qualifies as organic and most average consumers don't care to know the difference between 'made with organic ingredients' and '100% organic.'

true organic foods cost more simply because they cost more to produce. if it were cheap to stay natural, that's what would be done en masse. but it's time consuming, labor intensive, and costly to keep weeds, bugs, disease etc at bay when you're producing a large amount of product, and without the addition of hormones you're yielding less product with more cost. the cost has to be made up somewhere, and of course it's going to be passed on to the consumer.

if I had the financial means, I'd certainly always buy 100% organic wherever possible.. but I don't, so I don't.

[Drem]

there's no definitive evidence saying one thing is more nutritious than the other. i personally think if you're convinced the food you're eating is healthy, your body will do more with it. there are weird studies about that. so i suppose it doesn't matter what you eat. i just look at it by taste

and in most areas of the industry there isn't any federal regulation on what constitutes "organic" anyway. but if you hit up your local farmer's market you're basically always guaranteed some good eats compared to some shit shipped over from mexico that's been off the vine for months before you even cut it open

and yeah, it's definitely most notable with meats. if you get expensive local meat from a nice deli compared to assmeat from winco, you'll never regret it

[Tikker]

You can usually tell the difference in meats, though--free range grass-fed beef is a pretty big difference in taste from a wal-mart penned up abused cow.

you can even tell the difference on which field the meat is fed from. ie, around here I get to actually pick out, and shoot in the face, the cow or buffalo, that I want.

[Drem]

You can usually tell the difference in meats, though--free range grass-fed beef is a pretty big difference in taste from a wal-mart penned up abused cow.

you can even tell the difference on which field the meat is fed from. ie, around here I get to actually pick out, and shoot in the face, the cow or buffalo, that I want.

like

[Harrison]

Eggs from my chickens were SOOOOOOO good in comparison to eggs I bought at work.

I never noticed a difference in any vegetables or fruits, and most of the time I actually preferred the ones in the produce section at work to the ones grown locally or even my own.

I still stand by my opinion that most of the organic craze is just another fad word use for marketing. "Black Angus beef" was another good one, that I as a meat cutter, giggle at.

It's just a fad word used to look pretty to buyers.

[Harrison]

Also...rofl...

The Futurama episode that just came up for me just said "We're going to the local farmer's market!"

Lol this should be good

[Tikker]

Man you must be doin something wrong if you can't tell difference between store bought veggie and home grown

Or you have a great produce section in your store

For me carrots, lettuce and onions are just night and day different

Potato is a potato though

[Harrison]

I think the only thing I thought I noticed was better that was my own really was a strawberry.

But, marginally and there were so few of them anyways...

Corn was the same, cabbage, peppers, cucumbers, the typical shit you grow in a decent small garden. The rosemary was strong as fuck though. You even touched it and your whole hand smelled like it. I imagine fresh rosemary from anywhere is like that too, but this is the first time I've seen it fresh cut right from the plant.

[Tikker]

most (if not all) fresh herbs are like that

cabbage and lettuce are some of the better examples of stuff that tastes really different from garden rather than the hydroponics lab most store bought shit comes from

[leah]

i think tomatoes and potatoes both taste better local. tomatoes especially. i made mashed potatoes the other day with some red-skinned potatoes i had lying around; half were from the farmer's market and the other half were from the grocery store. the ones from the farmer's market smelled earthy and were tender, but the ones from the grocery store were harder and didn't smell like anything. i guess i can't really make a taste comparison since the mashed taters contained both, but i really liked using the farmer's market taters because they felt and smelled like the real deal.

tomatoes are no contest, though. soooo much better straight from the farm/backyard/whatever.

[Harrison]

I'm not a big fan of tomatoes overall. I use them IN things, but never the main focus in flavor enough for me to notice any difference.

[brinstar]

i think tomatoes and potatoes both taste better local. tomatoes especially. i made mashed potatoes the other day with some red-skinned potatoes i had lying around; half were from the farmer's market and the other half were from the grocery store. the ones from the farmer's market smelled earthy and were tender, but the ones from the grocery store were harder and didn't smell like anything. i guess i can't really make a taste comparison since the mashed taters contained both, but i really liked using the farmer's market taters because they felt and smelled like the real deal.

tomatoes are no contest, though. soooo much better straight from the farm/backyard/whatever.

btw andrew said his tomato plants are threatening to take over his back yard, i told him you'd be happy to take some of his surplus

[Gypsiyee]

I'm not a big fan of tomatoes overall. I use them IN things, but never the main focus in flavor enough for me to notice any difference.

blasphemy, I say! A good, fresh tomato with a little bit of salt, eaten just like an apple is delightful.

Onions, though.. yuck.

[Tikker]

onions are like the most important item in cooking

[Jay]

onions are like the most important item in cooking

[Harrison]

I just had a buttload of fried and broiled scallops.

I love this area for fresh seafood.

[Drem]

onions are like the most important item in cooking

salt and pepper. but yeah basically. they're in probably 80% of everything i make/made in my life. and butter. fuck yeah.. butter.....

[Gypsiyee]

onions are like the most important item in cooking

oh I use them in cooking all the time, but I use them in the same manner I use garlic.

I just detest them in any raw preparation and I'll never, ever be down with big chunks of them in anything...blech.

[leah]

i think tomatoes and potatoes both taste better local. tomatoes especially. i made mashed potatoes the other day with some red-skinned potatoes i had lying around; half were from the farmer's market and the other half were from the grocery store. the ones from the farmer's market smelled earthy and were tender, but the ones from the grocery store were harder and didn't smell like anything. i guess i can't really make a taste comparison since the mashed taters contained both, but i really liked using the farmer's market taters because they felt and smelled like the real deal.

tomatoes are no contest, though. soooo much better straight from the farm/backyard/whatever.

btw andrew said his tomato plants are threatening to take over his back yard, i told him you'd be happy to take some of his surplus

i would be the happiest of clams!

[Tikker]

onions are like the most important item in cooking

oh I use them in cooking all the time, but I use them in the same manner I use garlic.

I just detest them in any raw preparation and I'll never, ever be down with big chunks of them in anything...blech.

I was the same way until I discovered Red Onions

once I had those (in a salad) I become just enamoured with sweet onions, and eventually came to love all onions



imo, greatest appetiser ever is Baked French Onion Soup

[Tossica]

Onions are awesome.

[leah]

onions are like the most important item in cooking

oh I use them in cooking all the time, but I use them in the same manner I use garlic.

I just detest them in any raw preparation and I'll never, ever be down with big chunks of them in anything...blech.

I was the same way until I discovered Red Onions

once I had those (in a salad) I become just enamoured with sweet onions, and eventually came to love all onions



imo, greatest appetiser ever is Baked French Onion Soup

red onions are too strong for me. i do like yellow/vidalia/whatever ones, but i prefer them cooked rather than raw. texture of raw onions is off-putting. i am for sure a texture-governed eater, which is why i also detest mushrooms (though mushroom-flavored things are OK) and celery.

[Arlos]

I don't care for raw onions either. I LOVE friend or grilled onions though, and love french onion soup. Raw onions, even red onions, are a little to sharp for me. I completely agree, though, onions & garlic are fundamental building blocks of food in just about any cuisine you care to name.

I'm with Leah, too, I really really don't care for mushrooms at all, and it's largely a texture thing. (Though, I'm not a fan of the flavor, really, either.) (side note: Some of the worst-tasting mushrooms I have EVER had are "SPECIAL" mushrooms, if you know what I mean. Those are indescribably foul, though the effects are fun...)

To be honest, I actually have a hard time with ANY food with a strong bitter component to the flavor profile. That's why I don't drink a whole lot of beer, and when I do, it's stuff like hefeweisens, which are less bitter.

Oh, one other food group I can't stand: Squash, especially zucchini. Pretty much all squash , to me anyway, has this acrid metallic undertaste to it that directly hits my gag reflex. Yes, I have had things like baked acorn squash with butter and brown sugar. Still can't deal with it. But even the smell of cooked squash, like the steamed yellow squash and zucchini you find at restaurants as a vegetable side dish, makes me nauseous. So dunno what it is, but yeah, I can't even take the smell. The only exception I've found is cooked pumpkin, in a sweet preparation, like pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread. That's it.

-Arlos

[Spazz]

Raw onions on a burger are so good though. For an awesome burger you need cheese barbq sauce bacon onion tomato and lettuce . Mushrooms are foul that goes double for the kind that get you high. Squash is also very gross.

[Tikker]

texture of raw onions is off-putting. i am for sure a texture-governed eater

try this someday if you're feeling brave

take an apple (like a gala, or a pink lady, or something similar) and an onion of similar size


blind fold yourself

hold your nose

take a bite of each

i bet you can't tell the difference

(i thought this was bullshit too until I tried it)