The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Milk It

With so much commentary flying about regarding "specialty items," I thought I'd point out that it was not so very long ago that you couldn't get organic milk in the neighborhood. Even three years ago I was trekking to the Slope on the Park for grass fed dairy products. Now I can get it 24-7 at Suzy Farm.

Is all organic milk created equal? The Park Slope Food coop schooled me on the subject, and the answer, as with most organic products, is a resounding no. Take the most common brands available in local grocery stores, Horizon and Organic Valley. Being a commie-hippie-punk at heart, if not necessarily always in deed, I find the below wiki entries to be most revealing, and I'll leave it to y'all to make your own call:


Horizon Milk

Organic Valley

I still find it useful to do even a teensy bit of research on every product consumed, even if it's just to make myself feel better, knowing that we're all going to hell for destroying god's greatest gift to humanity, after love of course, mother earth. Although if she'd just made it less humid, we wouldn't have had to invent air conditioning.

Happy Thursday!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Be careful with fish too. What you think you're getting is often times not what you're actually getting. I don't even bother buying Alaskan King Salmon anymore because I can't trust that it's not Atlantic Farmed Salmon or something else for a much higher cost.

turk473 said...

Is Tropical Fantasy organic?

BklynBykr said...

Thanks for this Q. I'm often surprised at how little even very food saavy NYers know about food production. "Organic" in general, does not always mean grown with good ethics, fair labor, or environmentally-positive results. Case in point, an article on the impact of "organic" hothouse tomatoes: http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/01/organic-tomatoes-january-sucking-mexico-dry

BklynBykr said...

oops ..."savvy"

Joy said...

I know people who are producers for Organic Valley, and they are really small farmers and really organic. Horizon is industrial agriculture with a pretty mask.

Anonymous said...

All the organic milk that I've seen for sale in our area is also utra-pasteurized and therefore flavorless goo.