Okay, so I know the whole point of the CSA is the chemical-free local food. And I'm all for it. And even though I know ALL food comes from the ground, from nature (okay, REAL food), sometimes things happen that still bother me. Today, I was going to go ahead and use that cabbage for a salad for lunch. I cut into it to find a big, fat (we're talking over an inch long and about a centimeter in diameter) green worm living in there. Living. As in, he's been living in my fridge for the last week. Super worm! Wrong though it may be, I was completely grossed out. I took the cabbage and its inhabitant directly to the compost bin. But I plucked Mr. Worm off before pitching it in the bin. I did throw him over the fence, in case he had any vain hopes of getting into my garden.
I had spinach and carrots in my salad instead. Conversation starter?
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8 comments:
Emily,
I get how gross it is to find an unexpected insect in your food. However, I'm always reassured that the food that I'm eating is chemical free when an insect is living inside it.
Pesticides weren't widely used until WWII when it was discovered that the chemical weapons that were being used in large doses to kill/injure humans also killed insects.
Another option (also works for corn) is to submerge the cabbage for a bit and critters will usually emerge and float to the top. Boiling works too.
I used to be really grossed out too, but after I learned about the toxicity of pesticide, I felt better. Plus, there is a lot of protein in insects. :)
I'm always a little disconcerted that it *doesn't* bother me. Only if the vegetable is rotting in some way, but if not, I don't mind the little creatures--I just cut around them. I remember Chris pointing out places where bugs have been on produce such as summer squash, but truth be told, if I can't see it, I don't mind eating it even! I know I eat a lot of spiders when I'm sleeping, and THAT totally creeps me out. Generally speaking, I have a pretty low standard; I'm usually eating food straight from the garden or the CSA box before I've even washed it Dirt is crunchy.
Well, I knooooow pesticides are bad. That's not the point. At all.
The point is insects in my food gross me out. And I also eat food right out of the garden. Dirt doesn't really bother me. Insects come and go, in and out of the plants I will eventually eat. I just don't want them still there when I'm ready to eat it.
:) We're not judging you, darling. We would probably feel the same way if bugs didn't have such a fantastic crunch. Mouhahahaha.
This is awesome! I wrote a poem once about finding a slug inside a head of cabbage. To me what seemed so remarkable was that it had lived for the week before I cut the cabbage open, in a plastic bag in the fridge. What was that week like for him? Maybe there's something about cabbage in particular that sustains critters for long periods?
I don't like to eat bugs, but I don't mind picking them out. When I lived in Connecticut though I gave up on organic lettuce because it was always INFESTED and impossible to get all the insects out. Here in Minnesota lettuce grows so much more easily without all the bug company... even in home gardens! Guess the winter freeze keeps the bugs at bay?
Emily, I COMPLETELY sympathize. Similarly to Meryl, I had completely given up on organic lettuce, and only recently started eating it since pregnancy. I have yet to find a noticeable bug in my grocery store bought lettuce... but the ones in the csa box have been pretty big juicy suckers. (yes, i lived on a farm for a period as a child, but a decade of urban life has made me soft... this is what husbands are for)
In my defense... My organic lettuce issue happened years ago, and involved a head bought at my local coop in boston. I took a few leaves off, rinsed them THOROUGHLY and then made myself a sandwich. I cut it in half, sat down, ate half of it, and then looked down to see a huge worm crawling out of the other half onto my plate. I was so grossed out, I threw away the other half of a delicious sandwich.
I have no idea how that guy survived the rushing water from my sink... but now I submerge, twice. That at least makes me feel better.
The thing that doesn't make me feel better, is that all the bugs in my box meet a sad fate. I am just not a dedicated enough insect-rights activist to carry that bug down 6 stories and walk him over a block to the nearest grassy area just to give him a chance for survival!
That the worm would go unnoticed until it was almost in my mouth was what freaked me out. It very easily could have been overlooked, and it was clinging so well, could also have survived the rinsing.
And let me tell you, this is not the time to be grossed out.
Ha ha, good point, Emily. When I notice it, it's fine, but the idea of missing out on it is pretty yucky, and the squish probably would have been noticeable on something so big. So *then* I might take issue. :) And yes, being grossed out triggers all kinds of lovely not-fun-ness...
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