Growing up in the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago, meant we seldom if ever heard of the word "organic" being used to describe food but we sure ate a LOT of it!
Our grocery store was our backyard that families added new trees and plants to every year. It wasn't uncommon to find practically one of every fruit, grown on our little island in some gardens! There were pumpkin vines and Cassava (yucca) plants all over the expanse of land that would feed all 6 of us little ones and both parents. What we did not grow ourselves we would wait until Saturday morning...every Saturday morning like clockwork the ritual was we'd go the Market....
This is where our neighbors and family would gather to buy and sell their produce which in most cases we grown exactly like our garden was....in their back yard. There's be some buying some communing and even some eating, with produce freshly picked, scrubbed who could resist. We would come home laden down with bags and bags of the very BEST food the earth of our island had to offer.
Fast forward to today there where here in New York the word Organic now means for many, double the price, and its rare to find fresh produce that has not been in some way chemically impacted by the influx of pesticides etc . You see, Organic products contain no pesticides or chemical fertilizers and are thought to be less likely to impact our health negatively. SO to us it is truly ironic that many villages and communities especially those in the more remote parts of the Caribbean islands have always lived that way with many who would rear chickens in the yards and larger livestock would pose no other challenge than building a place for them to live. We would even make our coconut oil from scratch (I will share that recipe for it very soon! )
The question is...Now what?
With so much information about the benefits of Organic, should the islands of the Caribbean those of us who embody it go "back to our roots???"
LEave us your comments below...
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