avoiding pesticides.

in an ideal world, each of us heads out to the farmers' market once a week (or if you're me last week, three times) to buy our fresh produce. we engage our farmers and ask not only about their goods, but about their processes. how do you grow? are pesticides or herbicides used? if so, which ones?

unfortunately, in the real world, sometimes we travel or we just can't make it to the market. this summer, i was in lake tahoe and arrived a few days before their farmers' market took place, which was acceptable to me. i planned ahead and stopped at a natural foods store in reno to stock-up on some supplies. little did i know that i would be assigned the greens for dinner that evening. for 13. so off we went to the megastore, my lip curled slightly at the thought.

i would have benefited from this wallet-sized guide to pesticides in produce offered free by the environmental working group, dedicated to exposing "threats to your health and the environment, and to find solutions."

the salad turned out fine. i ended up purchasing fresh butter lettuce (see no. 11) to which i added  the hijiki and cubed smoked szechuan tofu i bought in reno (which my "natural foods-adverse" brother-in-law thought was gouda). not a bad result, but not one i'm willing to try again anytime soon. i prefer to know who brought my no. 11 into this world, thankyouverymuch.

get the guide (english and spanish).

this entry is cross-posted at eatlocalchallenge.com.

image from hollywood farmers' market.