Health: Organic yet insignificant

I drew the line when I found Silk Soymilk in the refrigerator and no whole milk in sight. My mom was fasting, and as she is the only cook, everyone else was fasting, too. I had my first encounter with the nasty taste of soy milk three years ago in my cereal. She promised the flakes would drown out the thick taste, but it was clearly a lie. Then I noticed 40 days had passed and not only was the soy milk here to stay, but the cereal had been replaced, too! What I thought was a phase turned into a permanent change.

Now, as a junior in college surrounded by a much more diverse student body, I've come to realize my mom isn't the only fan of organic food. However, I've also come to wonder - whatever happened to eating real meat, drinking cow's milk and ordering a salad ... as an appetizer to a fried meal? It seems like every other friend of mine is a vegan, vegetarian or pescetarian, or has gone on some sort of organic-foods-only rampage. Some say they hate the meat industry, others are all about animal rights and some just really love Trader Joe's.

"Everyone thinks that organic food is expensive, but Trader [Joe's] is actually cheaper, and the quality of food is better than our local grocery stores," said junior nutrition major Fay Wu as she chowed down on her Trek Mix. But the real question is, is organic food really that much better for you?

According to the Mayo Clinic and Science Daily, organically grown produce has no more nutritional value than conventionally grown produce. But numbers have shown people are generally paying a third more for organically grown foods because of government funding for farmers who choose to harvest in that fashion. So for all of you who just have to have that little green "USDA Organic" sticker on your food to even consider it edible, just know the only difference is that you're avoiding the pesticides that have been scientifically proven to have insignificant health risks.

As for pescetarians who rebel against the meat industry, do fish markets really handle their products much better? Just this summer, Reuters reported that nearly one-quarter of fish in New York stores and restaurants were mislabeled, according to genetic testing. To add insult to injury, some of those fish were endangered species labeled as legal. Not to worry, though - the deception starts way before you pick up that foam tray at the grocery store. It starts with how they killed it, a process also referred to as a "fishing technique controversy." One fishing technique, longline fishing, is basically a long line of bait set out for fish, and is responsible for large amounts of by-catch like seabirds.

My point is that every industry is evil to a certain degree, so if you think you're fighting back by picking the lesser of the two, or you think you're shedding pounds by shopping at My Organic Market, then I hate to break it to you, but the effort is worthless. Eating what tastes good is reasonable, and it's cool to stick to your principles, but the next time someone mistakenly offers you a bite of his or her hamburger, decline and spare the politically correct explanation.

Beg to differ? I'll be at Panda Express, eating the fakest, yet best-tasting orange chicken this campus has to offer, with a side of that conventionally grown white rice.

Fenan Solomon is a junior journalism and pre-pharmacy major. She can be reached at solomondbk@gmail.com.