Organic Restaurants  

Drew T   

Intro: 

Organic restaurants are healthy and are important to us. I wanted to know more about organic restaurants. I asked many if they consider themselves to be a true organic restaurant. I started out by looking to see how you can become an organic restaurant. I then asked restaurants many questions about the farms in which they get there food from, and if they think it is healthier.

Getting yourself certified might take a little while and tricky but it is worth it. I learned that you have to apply to get your restaurants certified as organic through the USDA, and then fill out an app and if meet the requirements they come and inspect everything. They go through the restaurants past and even look at where you get your food from and inspect that. And if all that passes they will give you the certification but you have to get it renewed every couple of years or just one year and to do that they come back to inspect the restaurant and food recourse even more. I found two restaurant that had passed the test and is America’s 100% organic restaurant. GustOrganics. Restaurant Nora.

In a survey they asked how important is the "organic" label to you/your family? I was very disappointed with the results.

This showed me that most people either don’t care about, or even know about organic.  Finding this I wanted to know what organic restaurants were in my area.

This striking a nerve, I started on finding a way to turn our food industry into a healthier and better place for us and the animals. Now on my own personal quest I set out to find organic restaurants near me. I set out by thinking of questions that I would ask to get the information I would need.

Do you believe you can call yourself a true organic restaurant, why or why not?

If yes, then are you certified by the USDA as an organic restaurant?

Why or why not did you attempt to certify yourself?

Why or why not do you go to the farms yourself from where you get the ingredients for your foods from?

Do you know of any fertilizers or hormones or chemicals used at the farms? (If yes list, if no did that affect to make a decision to use that restaurant?)

Where are the farms located?

Do you believe the food is healthier, why or why not?

What are the comments your costumers say about the food? 

I asked these questions because they are important to us. We need to learn that it is important to eat more organic foods. Using and eating organic foods is healthier for us.  When the owners of the restaurants answered my questions it was amazing what they answered. They even said they wished that many more restaurants were like this. The data showed me that they do try and buy local and 100% organic for some of there foods, but it is hard sometimes. I spoke to a worker at the weather center. They told me that they usually do not handle any info about the farms from where they get there food from. It should not be hard; it should be easy and cheap. Not hard to get to and expensive. The animals should be fed more natural and organic foods also. Corn, hormones, and chemicals can not be all they eat. And then what they eat is passed on to us. "A man is what he eats" stated Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach. So if the chicken eats chemicals and hormones then we are also. It is the same thing with the vegetables. Organic vegetables grown by dirt and water are what should be happening. Not chemicals. So if a carrot is grown with fertilizers with chemicals in them and the carrot soaks up the chemicals guess what you are eating!!!

In the end it comes to this. We can either continue to let unhealthy food take over the entire industry, or we can try to start eating healthier and better. It may be a little more expensive now, but once more money gets invested into it, organic food will become either just as cheap, or hopefully cheaper. That’s the reason we eat crap food today. Its cheap, and easy to get. Well i know that if we start buying and eating healthier that we will see more organic restaurants than fast food restaurants in our cities, and lives. And its the same for our homes. Instead of eating the instant meals go to your grocery store and find organic foods. Cook those instead for your family or yourself. It is just all around better for you. Buying organic usually means local also. That means you will be helping your neighbors also.

Sources:  

GustOrganics  

Restaurant Nora  

The Weather Center  

Art Culinaire  

usda.gov