In the grocery store the other day, a woman was food shopping with her two granddaughters. When she tossed a box of macaroni and cheese into their cart, the older girl - not more than seven years old — piped up: “Is it organic?” The grandmother looked a bit taken aback but was eventually able to find her way to the Annie’s organic mac n’ cheese, a box the girl recognized and was satisfied with.
Myself, I was impressed with the girl’s request. I wanted to ask her if she knew what “organic” meant and why it was better for her or if she was just mimicking the word from her parents. Still, I liked the fact that she used the word and exhibited a preference for organic macaroni - it certainly wasn’t a word I knew at age seven.
Organic produce photo by Penelope Waits/Flickr
These days, we try to buy as much organic food as our budget allows, although I’m not sure I’ve done a good job of conveying that to Sofie. Should she know that we try to buy organic with the “dirty dozen” - the top twelve pesticide-laden fruits and veggies? Should I tell her that a non-organic apple can be sprayed up to 16 times with 36 different chemicals, many of which cannot be easily washed off? Sofie loves fruit, but I’d be curious to know whether she even tastes a difference between the dull multicolored apple or the waxy red one.
We joined a CSA last season, and Sofie enjoyed our weekly trip to the farmer’s market to select fresh food, but I’m not sure she understood the difference or why we were doing it. Actions do speak louder than words, and maybe that is enough for now. Or maybe this year, I can engage the farmer in conversation about the food and that will be enough to stir some natural curiosity in my daughter.
I must admit, however, that my motivation may be this ideal vision I now have of Sofie shopping with my mother and insisting upon organic produce.
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