To Buy Organic or Not?

On my latest walk with the ipod, I was able to enjoy The Splendid Table's podcast from May 16, 2009. I believe this may have been a repeat, but it was a great show so I listened to it again, anyway. In the St. Louis area via radio or via the Internet, anyone can enjoy this radio show at 3:00 p.m. every Saturday on 90.7 FM KWMU.

A spokesperson from EWG, or Environmental Working Group, shared a list of the fruits and vegetables that should be bought organic, and which conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables are okay if organic isn't available. To summarize, here are just a few from that list:

Top Fruits and Veggies to Buy Organic (laden with pesticides otherwise):
Peaches, apples, celery, sweet bell peppers, lettuce, grapes, carrots, spinach, potatoes


Can Buy Conventional, non-organic (contain least amount of pesticides)
Onion, avacado, pineapple, asparagus, sweet peas (frozen), cabbage, eggplant, broccoli, sweet potato

For the complete list, you can visit EWG website. There are magnets and wallet cards available, too (for a small donation).

I was surprised to hear about apples containing a lot of pesticides; fortunately, the organic apples at my local market aren't that much more expensive than conventional apples.