Let's Have an Organic Dinner Party

By Susan Stewart, Organic Certification Coordinator

I think the best way to introduce friends to organic foods is through their taste buds. We dine regularly with a couple who usually live and dine outside the "organic circle." One very pleasant summer evening, we roasted racks of lamb on a wood-burning grill. Now, I know this gentleman very much likes lamb. I set a formal table in our viewing deck/screen porch, opened a bottle of red wine and lit some candles. It was a lovely dinner of organic produce and grass-fed lamb from the Wedge. We roasted zucchini and red peppers on the grill. I prepared a nice salad and set out a baguette with cheeses—nothing really fancy, but it looked impressive and it tasted even better than it looked.

The lamb was so delicious our guests could not stop talking about it, which naturally led into a conversation about the difference between grass-fed and grain-fed lamb, beef cattle and dairy cows. The gentleman was trying to limit meat in his diet to lose weight and watch his cholesterol. He was most receptive to information that suggested some meat could go back on his shopping list and he liked what he was hearing about all the good things on our table. The lambs are grazed throughout their life (a natural process for their digestive systems) and therefore produce omega-3/omega-6 fatty acids in a properly balanced and available form. The meat has less fat and more lean muscle than meat from grain-fed animals— in other words, all the right reasons for someone with health concerns to eat meat.

Not only is the grass-fed meat a delicious product and good for you, the dollars spent on it support all the other benefits of grass-fed meats, including healthy farms and rural communities. The benefits to the environment that are associated with the absence of chemicals on the farm (hormones, antibiotics, herbicides and pesticides) cannot be overstated.

Our friend was excited about all the good things he can support by purchasing grass-fed meats and curious about why he never knew about this. Even if you only eat meat infrequently, he asked, why would you choose anything else?

We talked into the night as the gorgeous moon and stars filled the sky and the coals smoldered. One thing led to another and the discussion of grass-fed and organic meat moved on to the wonderful organic greens, vegetables, baguette and cheeses. My guests were satisfied, renewed and invigorated.

I was exhausted.

But as I bid them goodnight and watched their lights dim in the distance, I wondered how many other dinner parties have featured this topic. My husband has patiently participated in a number of versions of this conversation, and he reminded me that our personal budget can't convert the world to organic, but that I could surely write about it and suggest that others have similar dinner parties this summer. What a pleasant way to spend the evening: cooking, eating and conversing about all the good things in the world.

Susan Stewart is the Organic Certification and Sustainability Coordinator for the Wedge.