Frozen v. Fresh food

Edie said:
Wow.... I'm glad that my initial question triggered such an interesting discussion! I've learnt alot and will definitely buy organic produce from one of those local farmers suggested by MLBW. Thanks again for all of your insightful comments!
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No, problem. It has been a very productive conversation, I think!
 
geomum said:
Also MLBW can you tell me when is the Strawberry picking? I would so LOVE to come over but on a weekday. I would so want my 11 month old daughter to be as close to nature as possible although in a place like HK is hard to do :(
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So glad to talk about this topic. It's a fun one for me! If I remember correctly, strawberry harvest should start at the end of February. I'll get some more info. and give a better date later. Weekdays are actually the best time to come as there are fewer people. You pay a fee for a basket and they give you scissors and you go out into one of the fields and pick and eat to your heart's content. There are various types of strawberries from around the world with different flavors and levels of sweetness and different prices for the different types. I can't remember what the fee for the basket is--I'm guessing around $50 HKD? Maybe a little less. I actually went with a friend who works there last time and picked for free so I don't actually know. I'll let you know later.
 
Interesting topic - but a bit freaked out now!

Just read this forum...interetsing stuff, but rather freaked out now. I moved here in July and have been doing most of my shopping at Hang Hau wet market. We're on a VERY tight budget (hubby is a full time student doing his masters and I'm on childcare leave, so essentially we're a no- income family until muggins here goes back to work in Aug). At the moment we manage to feed a family of 4 plus helper on a budget of less than 200HKD per day. My in laws (born and bred in HK) and my hubby see no problem in doing all the shopping from the wet market (veg, meat and fresh fish - we never buy anything processed), but I'm starting to wonder... especially as my kids are only 9 months and 3 yrs. Anyone know any reliable source of where the food from the wet market comes from and what exactly the farming methods are.
 
I don't know about the Hang Hau wet market but I do know that the local organic farmers here sell their produce in the local wet market and their prices are of course more expensive than the other vegetables but still reasonable. I would check out the HOFA (the Hong Kong Organic Farmer's Association) website which is listed in this thread somewhere--they probably can direct you to growers who sell in the wet markets around you. I think also if you bargain with the grower and buy in bulk (for freezing purposes) you can get a better deal as well. And kudos to you on your frugality. You must teach me your secrets! My parents-in-law as well as my husband are "born and bred" HKers and see nothing wrong with a lot of things--including drinking unfiltered water straight from the tap here (which gives me stomach problems every time!) I think that people in HK are more aware after so many mishaps in the past two years where dodgy vegetables and other produce made it into HK.
 
Lets just say when I do go back to work, my first pay will be spent on a HUGE jar of branston pickle, and a fridge full of cheese and wine. lol
 
What are branston pickles? Expensive. Cheese and wine sounds like my weakness!
 
branstons are not at all expensive and can be bought at most supermarkets...(it's a british thing- kinda brown goo-ey, pickled mystery veg)
 
I guess I should have put a "?" after "expensive" because wanfamily had talked about getting by on a shoestring budget and then she said that when she started working she would be buying branstons so I was asking if they were a luxury spend. Hmmm. Well, never had them and they don't sound very yummy form carang's description, but apparently wanfamily likes 'em so...
 
actually, they aren't that bad... they have a familiar taste that i can't place, but more than a touch is too much for me.
 
Absolutely....along with the dry sense of humour which led me to say it in the first place.(I really need to learn that forums don't portray the twinkle in your eye - it's going to get me in trouble one day!)
All above said with a smile and a twinkle.
 
geomum said:
Thanks MLBW you have provided me with a wealth of info about buying organic straight from the local farmers. I will be going to the Organic Vegetable Market at Star Ferry Pier tomorrow and also ordering from the Organic Garden Veggie Van :)
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I went to the Organic veggie market at Star Ferry yesterday. It was so refreshing to actually smell REAL veggies, (especially ginger, mint and strawberries :))).
I personally feel that even the Organic veggies in supermarkets don't smell what real veggies do. Please don't misread me here, I buy veggies from supermarkets all the time, and consider them healthy :)
We have a big veggie garden back home, and since I was a kid I used to pick my own veggies and grow some too in a little patch my grandpa used to alot us.
The prices however were little bit high, but I think its fair considering the hard work the farmer puts in to grow and transport his produce. Also there were only 4-5 stalls only, more than enough stuff for me actually. So incase you go there sometime please don't expect anything fancy or you'll be disappointed. I was very happy :))
 
Looked that over...it's not the same place that I was referring to but probably is quite close by. Anyway....lots of fun...of course I'm familiar with the ones by our house but I think there are quite a few places like that out here.
 
I've been to Tai Tong Lychee Valley, it's interesting and they are certified organic. It's more geared towards schools for field trips though.
 
Given the age of most of the women here (late twenties to fourties???) - just think about what you ate as a child. Chances are that the pesticides used wereWORSE than what is used today,simply because not all the dangers were as well understood.

I, too, find the whole organic/not, frozen/fresh a little pedantic. We buy organic when we can, fresh when it's good, frozen when it's not. We eat a balanced meal, and buy brands that we trust.

It's kind of irrelevent where meat/fish comes from - unless it's CHinese (don;t trust it at all) or organic. Chicken from Brazil/USA/Australia/'free range' is still from chickens whose food is pumped full of antibiotics. Fish free caught from Vietna, is only going to have marginally less mercury than that caught in Scotland.

The important thing is to be aware of the risks and to minimise them as much as you can.

If we shopped only organic, we'd go broke.
You can be healthy without having to go 100% organic.
 
Happy V, it's true that going 100% organic is way too expensive at this point but I'm glad you recognize the value in being careful about what you buy. I guess I'm the anomaly here as the entire time I was growing up I only ate home-grown organic produce and wild game on a regular basis (except for the 1-2 times a year I had soda at a birthday party--that sort of thing)--and I can definitely tell a change in the quality of my health since I haven't had access to that type of food for the past 8-10 years. Plus, well-grown veggies just taste better! I was just cutting up a carrot from Australia and it was the most anemic, yellow (bright orange on the outside of course), tasteless piece of veggie I've tasted in awhile. I think I'm going to start a roof garden and grow carrots on my roof! :0)
 
I think most of the australians agreed on what you said.
by the way, you can find australian grown carrot at the very reasonable price 10/kg at welcome.

before the age of 1, i never buy any fresh veggie which produce fr hk and china. i rather trust heinz bottled food fr aust.

aussiegal said:
MLBW, actually I don't trust many so called 'organic' producers, wherever they may be. If I lived close by to one as you did/do and I could see wth my own eyes that things were grown organically, picked at the peak etc I'd be more inclined to believe the hype. As it is even in Australia there have been lots of scandals about so called organic fruit and veg suppliers selling regular produce but heaping a bit of soil on everything to make it look organic!

This notwithstanding, I still don't see a big difference between the mainland and HK. If you compare HK to a place like Australia, a country without pollution, with clean water etc even regularly produced vegies in Oz would be healthier than 'organic' produce from HK. HK producers might not be as 'ethically challenged' as some Mainland producers but you can't get away from the fact that the environment here is one of the unhealthiest and it's in these conditions that fruit and veg are grown.

That said, I do miss good carrots so maybe I'll try out your contact :)
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Mocha, I know about the Wellcome carrots--are you talking about organic carrots from Wellcome? The cheaper carrots from Australia--I gave those a go--not impressed--no flavor--really. That's also the big difference between most organically grown stuff and the other "mass produced" veggies out there--the flavor is A LOT different. For one thing, most veggies that aren't organically grown have a sort of bitter or acrid taste to them--from the residue of pesticide and fertilizer on them. Then, the flavor is extremely washed out. It's sort of like having a veggie that looks like a carrot from the outside but only retains about 25% of the taste of a carrot on the inside. Looks can be deceiving. As far as the way most agriculture is done today--it's not done for nutrition's sake or for flavor's sake--many producers (big industrial farms) are simply in it for the profit so the quality suffers. If you've ever had a delicious home-grown carrot, you know what I'm talking about here. Sadly, most people haven't. I seriously have to set up some planter boxes on the roof of my house and grow some carrots!
 
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