My first exposure (sans dirty raincoat) to organic food was actually in Florida, USA where I was living. It was during the time when they made a complete mess out the presidential election and there was loads in the newspapers about chards and whether Bush or Gore had the most votes. Hardly the most auspicious start to my stay there, but there you go.

While my husband Roland was working at the Ritz Carlton as Executive Chef, I ended up studying and teaching at a university for a year (a story in itself!). There I learned to juggle studying for a master’s degree, teaching, and running a house for the first time in my life. What was great was the discovery of two things 1) an organic shop called Wild Oats and 2) cooking magazines - both the Americans do very well. Wild Oats was like heaven. They had the most amazing food counters where you could lunch pre or post shopping and served fresh salads, soups, and fab hot dishes made with all organic ingredients. And the main shop? Oh my word! Like Jasons Supermarket but all organic/natural products. The fresh fruit and veg section had about a 100 varieties daily, and some were cheaper than conventional!ÂThe meat counter was wonderful too with loads of easy things like sausages (at least 10 different varieties) as well as chicken and beef with a variety of cuts to choose from. Read the rest of this entry »

A little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing. Who was it who said that ignorance produces interesting arguments? Anyway, regardless of who was originally response for those particular words of wisdom, it was ignorance that initially propelled me along a rather odd path. One that ended with me discovering the joys of fresh organic food and keeping a healthy lifestyle.

It started with, of all things, what I later entitled The Great Deodorant Scare. At the time I was living in Florida and had received from a friend an email that went into great detail about how antiperspirants were directly linked to breast cancer. It continued with the theme that it was the evil oligopolies that owned the deodorant companies who were not allowing this information to be disseminated to the general public because they’d lose billions in revenue. A conspiracy! Read the rest of this entry »