Shit that pisses you off, part II

[camanchi]

Are organic foods highly regulated in the states or do people slap the label on almost anything? I'm willing to pay a bit more for actual organic food, but is there a good way to tell? I get the impression that lady thought organic meant "home grown" or something.

[Deleted]

Ah man, I read a good report about that stuff not that long ago, but now I can't remember where it was. It basically said that organic food is about as regulated as dietary supplements. Scary stuff.

[camanchi]

If I want "true organic" there are speciality stores here for things like that are other foods for specialized diets. Expensive as crud though.

[Ike]

There's really no discernable benefit to buying "organic." "Organic" generally means 'raised without chemical pesticides,' which isn't saying much. Most "organic" fruit is of considerably lower quality than the "genetically enhanced," so-called frankenfoods to begin with, let alone the conditions they're raised in during the lifespan of the plant.

It's not like they're out there blasting the fruit with radiation or something, and the fruits and veggies are bigger, better quality, more nutritious and stay fresher longer than their "organic" counterparts.

[Deleted]

Yeah, the reason you buy organic food is not that it's good for your health, but that it doesn't destroy the soil and water (or at least it shouldn't). Of course it's not marketed as such because no one wants to pay more to not ruin the planet.

[camanchi]

I'm really sensitive to trace amounts of anything in foods, even pesticides. It's proven that some foods, like greenhouse grown cucumbers, are of much less nutritional value than organically grown, heirloom varieties. The ones in greenhouses are grown for the size and shape only. They generally taste completely like water or terrible and the farmers don't care- they only have to make sure they are the right size and look pretty.

Actually, most of the mass produced crops only have more nutrients if they are genetically modified too, and this is never good because the plant can't reproduce naturally- which makes the cost of food go up because they have to keep re-engineering new strains of the crop every harvest, which is much more expensive than, you know, a plant that makes it's own seeds.

Some are just genetically modified to be bigger and pest resistant, but they are actually less nutritious and less tasty than their normal counterparts. Say a new super bug that's resistant to pesticide after we've been using it for so many years comes in and kills off all the genetically modified crops. What do we do? Use more pesticide and dump that into the soil and water systems?

I guess there's been a lot of problems with genetically modified foods that most people don't know about. There are benefits sometimes, but it brings up a lot of issues too.

[Wildcat]

I tend to shop organic, and to me, it tastes much better than non-organic 95% of the time. It may be a placebo effect, but I don't mind.

One thing that does drive me pissy - being told I'm going to do something because someone else did it. Case in point - I don't drink. Don't plan to. A gentleman who regularly comes into my place of work (an indie bookstore) said that he was that way once, but is now a fairly big drinker from what I've observed. He implied I'd follow him. I couldn't tell him necessarily why it is that I don't drink - my father was an alcoholic who took me to bars with fairly often when I was young, and I reviled the experiences, and the very thought of alcohol disgusts me, but I did manage to change the subject. Despite that example, this type of thing happens a lot with coffee. I do not like coffee. I'm an odd duck, and I know it. I appalls me. I hate the smell. I will never drink the stuff. But people tell me that I will in time! They don't know me very well.

[thethird]

It's the same thing with me, with the coffee! Every time I've tried coffee I haven't liked it very much at all, but my parents and other older folks I know usually just say "Oh, you'll come to love it eventually". Nay, I say! NAY!

[Deleted]

I hear you on the coffee. Same for cigarettes and beer. I can drink liquor, but beer looks, smells and tastes like piss. Cigarettes are hardly any better, you're just putting it in your lungs instead of your kidneys. People say you have to develop a taste for all of these sorts of things. That never really held water for me.

Glad you were able to keep your cool with that stranger, too.

[Wildcat]

Ah, always good to find fellows who feel the same about coffee! I can't even drink it - I think I'd vomit. Profusely. XD

I tend to be a rather patient, optimistic guy, so situations like the one above I can roll with well enough. It takes a lot to make me angry, that it does.

[Atma]

I loathe coffee as well. I have it maybe once or twice a year and even that is too much. I'll take tea anydays.

Both my parents were terrible alcoholics, but my dad got a lot better and is one of my best friends now, and while I drink and love alcohol myself, I try to be very moderate about it and set rules for myself like only drinking when happy to make sure I don't fall into the same traps others have.

Also damn Jason, I dunno what beers you drink, but the ones I drink are not piss at all. Maybe it's because I'm really really picky about it. Susanismyalias has great recommendations if you want to try something not crappy (or pissy in this case).

[Wildcat]

I'm not big on tea, either. XD The aftertaste really bugs me. But at least I can drink the stuff.

[susanismyalias]

BEER! CIGARRETTES WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Deleted]

It would have to be one Charlotte's Web of a beer to taste good. I've given the field a fair chance. Bud, Genny, Michelob, Guinness, Sam Adams, Amstel Light, Yuengling, PBR...they all just taste like varying shades of piss-flavored, watery oats.

Give me a bottle of Grey Goose any day over that mess. Oh, and I really don't care for tea much, either. Raspberry Snapple is about as far as I can venture into that territory.

[Deleted]

Guinness would be some strange piss.