Your food & Pesticides

The Environmental Working Group tells you everything on their site except who they are. But what I do know is that they give a lot of compelling data about our food. Here are some of their stats:

The best foods for low-pesticide testing are onions, avocados, corn ("frozen" it says) and pineapples.

The worst foods for pesticide testing are: celery, peaches, strawberries, apples and blueberries.

95% of commercial celery tests positive for pesticides.

86% of peaches test positive for 2 or more pesticides.

You can read more on their site HERE and you can find some really interesting information on the effects of pesticides on humans HERE.

I know it's a little tougher to find organic produce, but I think it's worth it; visiting your local farmers market is a great place to start; most but not all farmers at the markets are organic, so don't hesitate to ask, even if their sign says Organic. It's a great way to start a conversation, the farmers have a lot to say about the subject.

Lovely color from Calabasas market last year:

Palisades; note the organic celery :)
The best foods according to their site are the ones that have a thick skin: e.g. avocados, grapefruit, pomellos; these pomellos in Calabasas were the biggest I have ever seen..try a small basketball!!!

The one food I didn't see on the list was mushrooms, though I am sure mushrooms don't have any issues with pests, and those that are harvested from the wild would also be free of pesticides....
I was up until midnight baking and prepping last night, then up at 6am to finish setting the table. Tonight I will post some photos of our al fresco Italian dinner!

We also have a busy weekend planned; we will be at Corona del Mar tomorrow, and Rancho Santa Fe and Pacific Palisades markets on Sunday.