Win Tickets to see What's Organic About Organic

[Adriana Velez]

This Friday (June 25) Brooklyn Food Coalition is co-hosting a screening of the food documentary What's Organic about Organic. We will also represent on a panel about reconnecting urban and rural food systems along with with Scott Chaskey (President, NOFA-NY) and Peter Hoffman (Chef, Back Forty and Savoy, Member of Chef's Collaborative), Liana Hoodes of National Organic Coalition, Greg Swartz of Willow Wisp Organic Farm & Character in the film, and George Stoney, Documentary Film Professor, NYU.

You can win two free tickets to this screening by answering the following question in the comments section below:

What does organic mean to you and your community in Brooklyn?

Winners will be selected at random by Wednesday at 9 p.m.

Or... you can just Purchase tickets ($10) online.

[Adriana Velez]

Thanks everyone for participating! I had my son draw names from a hat, and our winner is Lydis Hinton. Congratulations--I'll be in touch with details about your tickets. Everyone else, hope you'll still come out Friday.

[Carli Pierce]

For me and my community Organic should be a word we can trust, it means we can trust that our food is clean, real and healthy. I'm afraid that right now it is used in too many ways and sometimes the wrong way, but I hope that it's the future of food for me and my community.

[lydis d hinton]

Organic means rolling back to our roots(roots soil haha no pun intended). It means doing good things for excellent causes and fortifying our minds and bodies with ingredients that will further promote good health. In Brooklyn those changes are happening all around us. The changes are in our habitats our cleaning products and our way of thinking. I must admit though, that living organically can be quite expensive if your budget is dolled out only on a monthly basis. I try to get green bucks when I use the farmers markets and encourage my daughter to use the WIC green bucks when they are offered at her recertification for my grandson. Organic is living in fine tune with the basic values in life. It is only difficult when you have fallen off the cart and bought too many processed foods. It takes a little time but food pantries and organizations such as share operations and cooperative food pantries work to educate and stimulate a new you. That is what living organic in Brooklyn means to me.

[Rachel Clift]

The word 'organic' brings forth several images in my mind -- some make me feel good, others generate discomfort. First, I think 'good soil', then I get the rush: 'healthy, safe, fresh, delicious, local!'. Visions of my neighborhood greenmarket dance in my head. I think 'sustainably produced.' I think 'goodbye corn starch'. I think 'What am I gonna cook this weekend?' Then the generic seal of approval flashes before me. The ones I see on items (I sometimes buy) at the supermarket... What does this version of organic really mean? Enter the usual dose of panic: How can I be a smart consumer who reads between the lines? How will I put my money where my mouth is when I can't even afford a truly organic lifestyle (especially in New York)? How can organic become the norm when today's economic reality makes it an unaffordable proposition for so many people?

There's a wonderful food movement underway in my community, but right now, its most active members are relatively young, upwardly mobile folks whom I'm guessing have long had access to healthy food and the kind of education that promotes it. I did. (Not that my parents and I always made good choices, but at least we had 'em.) I don't want to generalize - plenty of people have come to the table with no 'organic' background to speak of - but I think we also need to be honest with ourselves about access and affordability, and devise tangible ways to overcome those hurdles.

As consumers, I like to think we have some real power. I believe small steps lead to bigger ones: there's actually a lot we can do - with our wallets (even if they're not overflowing), with our questions, with our phone calls, with our thoughtful demands. 'Organize, educate, accept that any social movement takes time.' That's what I tell myself when I get overwhelmed. Then I head out the door, content that at least I'm bringing a tote to the supermarket, knowing that I'll weigh my options in the produce section, and make the best decisions I can with the resources I've got. It's a start.

[Joshua Levin]

In the immediate sense, as a consumer, organic really means "chemical-free" + "probably tastes better". That's it.

[Rolf]

Organic food is not just a product but the idea behind a particular type of food production. In simple terms it stands for unaltered food grown in manner more consistent with the way that nature itself produces food. It runs tandem with the concept that we should be trying to move society closer to the way nature works. In the larger scheme of things it means that we slowly move away from mass produced, globally shipped food, to food that is part of the ecological environment in which we live. There are problems that arise with this approach, true. One is that because there is no pesticide in the food it is more perishable, and subject to appearance flaws when the insects do attack. The other problem is that the food tastes different, which could deter people on some of the products; like farm fresh chicken eggs that actually taste like chicken, or apples that have noticeable bug bites on the skin. The hidden problem is also that the food needed to be grown in environments of another climate, may not be producible in the local market organically. This will affect the way we eat. However the largest problem to overcome is the realization that we will have to pay more for food that "off the counter" appears to be less appealing. This is a bigger problem than most realize because so often we buy food with our eyes instead of our mind, giving hormone, pesticide induced products an edge in the market since they not only look better, but they are cheaper as well.

[Amanda Carter]

Ideally, organic food and farming means unadulterated food produced in harmony with the environment and local communities.

[Dena Libner]

"Organic" means a lot of things - and I'll be honest, not all of them are positive. At its very core, "organic" is a near synonym of "pure" to me. It means untainted and healthful. In short, it's a nutritional ideal.

I think that it's also become a synonym for a socio-economic identifier. (This is where the negative association comes in.) Organic has become something that is only regularly affordable by the middle- and upper-middle class. (I can't afford them regularly, and I'm a 28-year-old with a good job.) Think of what that means for poorer families, especially families with children whose physical development is underway. That means that real healthfulness is only available to those who can afford it. I'm looking at the concept of "organic" in a very realistic context, and maybe the idea I'm trying to express has more to do with economics than organic food. But I think the cost and affordability and accessibility of organic food (the cost and affordability and accessibility of health and proper nutrition) is an enormous concern.

[Candace Hewitt]

In my Brooklyn community, organic often means privilege... It means more expensive, it means not available around the hood, it means non-essential. But it also means healthy, it means free from the grip of carcinogens and hormones, it means better for the kids and planet. Hopefully very soon, and as circumstances of price and availability change, more low income and marginalized communities like mine will come to associate organic with the latter set of ideas more easily than the former.

[Adam Rabiner]

To me: healthy, unadulterated, pesticide-herbicide free, safe, nutrient-rich, locally produced, reasonably priced (at the Park Slope Food Coop), seasonal, wholesome
To Community: Much the same thing. But since many people purchase their organic produce from local CSAs and the farmers market I think for many others in the community organic products are also a tie to their local farmers. And quite a few people grow their own organic fruits and vegetables in their own personal or community gardens. For them its a real tie to their own land and a true vehicle for community involvement and connection.