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I'm happy that organic food has come a long way. Twenty years ago, the organic produce section was discernable by two features: The inflated price and the fact that the produce looked like it had been ravaged by bugs. "Sooooo they want me to pay extra for lettuce with holes in it?? Nahhh." If it still looked that bad, I'd never buy it.

There are a few foods like strawberries that if I can't get organically grown, I pass. Raspberries are another.

I remember the first time I ever had organic vegetables. My ex boyfriend gave me two carrots to try. They were both ok, but one was sweet and the other had a metallic taste in comparison. I've only purchased and eaten organic ones since.

When I was visiting OH relatives on a farm in Holland, their huge vegetable garden was literally outside the kitchen door. We had baby potatoes that were put in a pail of water and lightly punched with a wooden shoe to knock the skins off! They emerged like perfect little white marbles. The peas, carrots, kale and cabbage were amazing - the taste totally different from supermarket vegetables. There was no comparison.

I think there's a bigger difference between local/fresh picked vs. shipped and stored rather than the organic/nonorganic.

I buy most of my farmer's market produce from a farm that isn't certified organic, but uses organic methods. So they're not technically organic and couldn't carry the label, but in practice it's the same stuff. Are those veggies organic or not?

There are other farms that are completely organic, but package their products both ways to cover both markets at grocery stores. It's all organic, except for the labeling.

In the end, I'd rather have an ear of corn that was picked this morning down the road than one that was grown organically a thousand miles away and picked a week ago.

I also agree with dbcurrie. I think the difference is more a matter of freshness and for those of us who get our organic stuff at farmer's markets it is also fresher so that is probably responsible for a lot of the difference.

Also stuff that isn't destined to be shipped across the country doesn't have to have the same characteristics. So a farmer can select a breed of tomato to grow based more on flavor then shipability. They can also give unusual and heirloom varieties a try.

All that being said...there are certainly other reasons to chose organic: mainly the effects of pesticides on ourselves and the environment.

I don't notice a difference between organic and conventional. I'll buy some stuff organic to avoid pesticides, but it tastes the same. However, I do notice a difference in taste with some of the local farmers' food, but I think that's more because it's just picked and fresh from the market rather than sitting in a refrigerated truck for a while moreso than because it's organic.

local and organic all the way .... as much as possible. ever compare an organic banana with a regular banana? it costs more, thats for sure, but i figure less is more sometimes. and if we support the local organic movement, perhaps prices will eventually come down. even walmart
has lots of organic milk now. i think it's catching on mainstream.
i know it's tough for families these days.... it's a hard choice. we all have to shop our pocketbooks.....

Clearly what matters most in fruits and vegetables are ripeness and freshness. With tomatoes, for instance, the plant puts fifty percent or more of the flavor into its fruit during the last 48 hours of ripening. But, when you let a fruit become that ripe on the plant, you had best get it onto the table quick. Herein lies the great advantage of raising your own tomatoes.

This same principle applies to one degree or another to all vegetables, but there is something else that I have noticed. You can rear your vegetables too quickly. Fast growth equals less flavor, this is particularly noticeable with herbs like basil. On the other side of the coin, underfeeding the plant during its early stages of growth can cause intolerably poor yields and low flavor.

The trick is is in tailoring your fertilizing program. Organic farmers simplify the problem by more or less "following the plant." Their fertilizers release nutrients slowly and the plants seldom undergo sudden spurts in growth at the wrong time.

This does not mean that good vegetables cannot be reared using chemical fertilizers. Chemically, plant food is plant food and you don't necessarily need "good soil" to raise good vegetables. You do, however, have to pay close attention to your plants and feed the right amount of stuff at the right time.

I think the same applies to many food products derived from animals. The type and quality of the feed can have a dramatic impact on flavor. This is especially noticeable with eggs because the difference in the quality of eggs is huge. Chickens will, given the opportunity, eat a great deal of grass and other tender plant material over the course of the day and I am convinced that such food improves their eggs by a huge margin. When the chickens are fed nothing but poorly formulated feed that is laced with medications you get wimpy, colorless and tasteless eggs, or worse, eggs taste like a vitamin pill.

Typically with non-organic produce, commercial fetillizers are used which cause the plant to absorb more water and thus diluting the natural sugars and flavor components found in the produce. Organic produce however doesnt use such fertillizers and therefore has a more concentrated flavor. The downside to this is the organic produce is not as "bulletproof" as the commercially grown, and has a shorter shelf life.
Buy Local first, local and organic if possible.

I have grown and bought organic fruits and veggies for years, but only started buying organic eggs a couple of years ago. What sold me on it was when I borrowed a couple from a neighbor after starting to cook and discovering that Mr. Runr had eaten the last two for breakfast. The first thing I noticed was that the shells of organic eggs are much thicker than the conventional ones I was buying. It's like your hair and fingernails - if you aren't healthy or something is off in your diet, it will show in the hair and nails. They taste better too. Healthy chickens = good tasty eggs.

Grass fed beef has a better taste to me as well. More hearty and beefy. I've done blind tastings with it on friends too. They always pick the grass fed beef as better tasting, so it's not just me and my hippie ways.

Tbiggest difference, and the thing that got me on the organic "thing" is dairy. I have always considered myself "slightly" lactose intolerant. I can eat cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc without a problem - but - if I'm drinking a glass of milk, there had better be a good amount of solid food accompanying it or watch out! serious GI distress.
That all changed when I switched to organic milk. I can drink a glass of milk by itself, or eat a bowl of cereal with milk, and be perfectly fine. I could never do that before... so it appears that it's not really lactose intolerance, it's intolerance to something that they are feeding the (non-o) cows!
I also swear there is a taste difference... maybe b/c now I'm not thinking "oh, this is gonna kill me later" but organic milk seriously tastes creamier and more "milk-y" to me.