https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/11/01/food-truths-gmos-diet-soda-organic/
Gift link https://wapo.st/3slTtHc
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The only one I’d push back on is that all eggs taste the same. Maybe they do for most people but there are eggs I can eat and lots of eggs I can’t (super taster here).
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Paywall - could you summarize? Agree that all eggs do NOT taste the same!
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Whoops! Try this: https://wapo.st/3slTtHc
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Thank you for sharing it with us!
It’s super thought provoking - kind of ‘both sides of the coin’ because yes, organic production, farm subsidies, food desserts, etc are not clear cut issues.
But I totally disagree with the author about tilapia - there is compelling evidence to show that some tilapia is not healthy and thus has been added to Seafood Watch’s ‘avoid’ list. My 2 cents - appreciate the article!
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I feel the same, but the article contends that blind taste tests indicate that people can’t tell the difference. Unless you or I have done that (I have not), I can’t say if my preference for fresh eggs is a result of my own bias or an actual preference.
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Agreed, most people may not find a difference. I have not done a test, though I did just do one with Costco organic (WA) apples and farmer’s market apples (CA) and there was a clear winner there - sorry WA! 
I had talapia last night.
I eat a lot of eggs, but I generally cannot tell the difference. I assume there’s a difference, because chickens and their feed are different.
Love the points in this article, especially the first. GMO is not inherently bad, and if we want to feed a growing & hungry world, it is the #1 tool to use.
And wealthy people having the luxury to afford organic food does not mean it’s scalable, because it simply is not.
I don’t judge anyone on their budget-based food choices and I know from experience that it’s the cook, not the original product quality, that determines how good the meal will be.
My husband does the cooking and there isn’t a single bland/lesser quality food item that he cannot turn into a superb meal. We buy cheap eggs. Chicken thighs. Cheap cuts of meat (but also splurge on a t-bone now and then). Cheap frozen vegs in winter.
You’d never know it.
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Organic is much easier for subsistence farmers than buying a bunch of GMO seeds and fertilizer.
I disagreed with most of the article. It’s poorly researched. I found the “most people can’t tell one egg from another study” and it was based on like 6 of her friends in 2010 and she refers to ‘studies’ (aka propaganda) that major egg producers put out. I can definitely tell a cheap grocery store egg from a good farm raised egg.
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You may be right on a taste test of eggs. But I don’t eat a plain egg most of the time. It’s incorporated into some wonderful dish, and at that point, it doesn’t matter.
ETA: As for organic, I’m not sure what you mean by “easier.”
It is much easier and cheaper to buy fertilizer and pesticides than to farm organically. Ask me how I know, out there cursing and hand-picking squash bugs.
GMO seeds are not a thing, for personal gardeners and homesteaders. They just aren’t. Companies started putting “non GMO” on their seed packets to satisfy their customers, but you can’t buy GMO seeds anyway. Good luck trying to plant a crop of Monsanto soybeans or corn …
I grow organically too. If we are talking for middle class backyard gardeners then yes some Miracle Grow and cheap seeds are easy, but if we are talking worldwide then organic farming is much more cost-effective for people who live off the food they grow (aka subsistence famers).
Almost all corn in this country is GMO “RoundUp Ready”. Unless your seed corn says “organic and non-GMO” it is probably is GMO.
Here are product details about about one such seed corn: https://www.vegetables.bayer.com/us/en-us/products/sweetcorn/performance-series-sweet-corn.html
Seminis® Performance Series® sweet corn, developed through biotechnology was the first product in our Performance Series® portfolio of premium products and is currently available in the United States and Canada for planting for commercial fresh market use.
These high-quality sweet corn seeds offer competitive advantages to growers by providing them with protection from select above*- and below**- ground insect pests, as well tolerance to in-crop applications of Roundup WeatherMAX®, Roundup PowerMAX®*** and Roundup PowerMAX® II*** agricultural herbicides. Taken together, these features enhance the quality, growth and yield potential of the product, and reduce your potential need for insecticides when used with an effective insect management program.
Although Performance Series® sweet corn was introduced under the Seminis® vegetable seed brand in 2011, sweet corn growers have been growing competitor’s biotechnology-derived sweet corn containing the beneficial and naturally occurring Bt protein (Bacillus thuringiensis) for nearly 19 years.
Agreed, most corn is GMO – 92% according to These Whole Grains are Never GMO | The Whole Grains Council
But corn has been GMO since the Native Americans modified maize.
I don’t bother growing corn in my garden, because I can never grow enough to make it cheaper or better than the awesome Jersey sweet corn in the summer. GMO corn, for sure.
To me, it’s a false boogeyman.
We can agree to disagree on this one - you’ll never convince me and I’ll never convince you.
But the VAST majority of seed in this country is not GMO. And I would argue that most backyard organic growers aren’t doing it because it’s cost-effective - they’re doing it because they believe in clean eating.
That doesn’t mean it’s scalable to the world’s hunger needs. It most definitely is not.
When I first skimmed the article, I thought the Egg comment was about shell color. But it does mention backyard eggs. I used to read a blog by this food writer, and I do know she grows a lot of her own food and raises chickens. So she has had plenty of farm fresh eggs.
Hybridizing and developing new strains is not GMO.
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You say tomato, I say tomahto.
No it’s just not the same. GMO is inserting a gene from another organism like Baccillus thuringiensis (BT) to prevent corn worms. It’s not the same as breeding and selecting for white kernels or the sweetest kernels. Two very different processes.
That’s not to say that there isn’t an argument for GMO (mostly not my thing but I am following some of what they are doing with American Chestnuts with interest), but it is a different beast from what Native American Indians were doing with selective breeding in Ixim/corn/maiz.
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