This from guest blogger, Chandru Murthi. Check out his brand new blog, I’m Seeing Green
My wife Elizabeth and I buy organic food exclusively. A decision long in the
making, it was a result of finally realizing what an appalling state the food
industry in this country is in. Factory farming is so off-putting (check out www.factoryfarming.com
if you have the stomach for it) that I am amazed that more people don’t switch
to organic meat and milk at least.
But that’s not a decision easy to proselytize. The other day we were having
dinner with our good friends (at Stone Park Cafe, an excellent restaurant
that’s gone way overpriced) and I mentioned that our son Dylan now demands to
know the provenance of his food in restaurants. This lead to a heated
discussion about whether it’s worth being concerned about how animals are
treated when there’s so much human misery in the world, and whether federal
laws should be tightened to improve their treatment (me-yes and Yes.)
Unfortunately I went into my heated discussion mode (my excuse-have you been
around a group of Indians arguing lately?) and thereby lost most of my message.
Still, it’s unsettling to me that many of the people we know, for whom the main
objection to organic-it’s higher cost-would not be an issue, don’t care about
this issue.
Like many who do, we joined the Park Slope Co-op because it was the only place around that
seems to have organic foods in any variety. Also, it fits well with my 60’s
liberal sensibilities.
The PSC is a source of both enduring amusement and admiration. The New York
Times seems to take pleasure in ridiculing it from time to time (see for
example, "At the Food Co-op, Facing Judgment as Co-Conspirators", Dan
Barry 12/11/04.) Of course, if you believe that any publicity is better than
none, I suppose there are worse things than being featured in a NYT article.
And then, it’s so easy to make fun of the PSC…the terminology – squads / squad
leaders / disciplinary committees / expulsion hearings – all this to go
grocery shopping? what, are you nuts?, I hear.
But that’s both the beauty and the problem with the PSFC – its lack of
humor, its utter lack of awareness of its appearance to non-converts, its
complete self-absorption. Many are turned off by the terms and the sheer
difficulty of joining and maintaining one’s membership (the requirement that
all roommates in a shared living situation must join, for instance.) Yet it
soldiers on, successfully, proof that sometimes if you just build a better
mousetrap, it will sell. On the positive side, the food choices are wide, the
prices unbelievable and the camaraderie, when I find others with enough of a
cynical streak like mine, welcome. So what’s 2-¾ hours every 4 weeks of my life
worth? Damn, gotta run, my shift comes up (again) today!
Chandru Murthi
I used to belong to the coop. I enjoyed it but when I started working full time and had kids it became too time consuming to work shifts. But I still wanted great organic food (locally grown on a family farm if possible). I started Farm Share to deliver family farm grown local organic vegetable and fruit (www.myfarmshare.com). This year we’re started home delivery of organic veggies and fruit to Brooklyn. For all too busy families, we’ve found this is a great way to eat organic, healthy, yum stuff.
I stumbled upon this site as I was in the process of doing some online research. Organic is like most everything else in life. Most people don’t really want to KNOW.
I was a co-op member for four years while living in the Slope and think most of the bad rep is totally unwarranted and basically comes from ignorance (and a weird kind of jealousy). My biggest problem was the check out line lasting upwards of a half hour (this was in the mid 90’s). And as to the working…I worked in child care and enjoyed hanging out with hipper, more well-behaved (kids who eat less sugar are a joy to hang out with), more open-minded kids who represented a UN of colors, faiths and backgrounds. I only left the co-op when I left the Slope. The upside so outweighs the downside. They’re a bit humorless, but their politics towards their members are actually really cool regarding illness or financial hardship. And its totally true about the quality of the food and the smell of the co-op. Not to mention the price. It’s like a third or a quarter as much for organic food there as Back to the Land.
I also adopted an awesome cat through the message board outside when he was eight weeks old and he just celebrated his twelfth birthday two months ago…
I paged you at the coop Sunday afternoon, Chandru. I guess your comment was poetic license.
Hi, just wanted to say my blogsite address is http://seeinggreen.typepad.com/
And John, would be interested in the AY project result if you care to keep me posted at above email, thanks.
The People’s Republic of Park Slope lives!
Work 50 hrs a week, then work more for food!
The co-op woulkd be nice, if it were nice.
Are the ’60’s dead, yet?
yeah, the food co-op can be a little inflexible- i wish they’d loosen up some of the work rules I actually try to avoid all the politics since I am a conservative, and some people are kind of silly like the vegans who refuse to even TOUCH meat – it’s always fun when they are working the cash register..- but one thing about working in there – you see how clean it is – i buy mostly organic, but the quality of the food is amazing.
but just the smell alone is unlike any food market in New York City – there’s something so fresh and errr. organic about it.
Hi Chandru. FWIW, I’m coming to Brooklyn today to take some photographs of the Atlantic Yards site. I’m using the site for an architecture and urban design studio at the University of Miami this semester.