organic foods too big a deal?

Read an article in today's NYT by Mark Bittman that's very interesting. He's really turning out to be a solid writer/thinker about the macro and micro issues surrounding how we, as Americans, eat. Here's an excerpt:

No matter how carefully I avoided using the word “organic” when I spoke to groups of food enthusiasts about how to eat better, someone in the audience would inevitably ask, “What if I can’t afford to buy organic food?” It seems to have become the magic cure-all, synonymous with eating well, healthfully, sanely, even ethically.

But eating “organic” offers no guarantee of any of that. And the truth is that most Americans eat so badly — we get 7 percent of our calories from soft drinks, more than we do from vegetables; the top food group by caloric intake is “sweets”; and one-third of nation’s adults are now obese — that the organic question is a secondary one. It’s not unimportant, but it’s not the primary issue in the way Americans eat.

[...]

But the questions remain over how we eat in general. It may feel better to eat an organic Oreo than a conventional Oreo, but, says Marion Nestle, a professor at New York University’s department of nutrition, food studies and public health, “Organic junk food is still junk food.”

I'm gradually adding things to the list of foods that I prefer to be organic. Number one on the list is organic apples. This last time shopping, I bought organic, natural peanut butter to go with the apples. Do you buy organic foods?

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