Is It All in Our Heads (or could organic food taste better)?

Last week, I had to text my running partner while sautéing my organic asparagus, as only someone who has tried it could fully appreciate why I was so excited about eating a vegetable that I just spent twice what I should have for no known health reason, as asparagus appears on the clean foods list.  The answer is simple: it tastes better, and with our food, shouldn't that be the best answer?

Studies debate whether organic food can actually taste better than conventionally grown products, but in many cases foodies can readily differentiate.  For the rest of us though, who may not be able to eat our steak and determine what the cow was fed, there are certain foods that have a better flavor when raised organically or locally, and below is the list of my favorites:

Sweet Potato: Organic sweet potatoes are juicy and have a full flavor that begs to be savored after roasting

Carrots: they may be convenient and can even organic but skip the bag of baby carrots and introduce yourself to what a real carrot tastes like with an organic full-sized carrot

Asparagus: organic asparagus has a cleaner taste than conventional that allows every element of the flavor to shine

Broccoli: one of my family's will-only-eat-organic" as it is just that much better
Lettuce: with organic greens, lettuce is no longer the salad filler but a flavorful addition to any salad

Grapes, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries: once you have tasted the organic, you will actually be able to taste the difference the chemicals make on these fruits

Chicken: Free range, organic chicken actually tastes like chicken and is well worth the upgrade

There are still other foods that even being raised organically does not significantly improve their taste over conventional mass production; these foods must come straight from the garden (yours or someone else's):

Tomatoes: ripened on the vine, these fruits are dripping with juice and flavor and bear no resemblance to the mealy hot-house imposters.  Add homegrown tomatoes to a burger?  No, they are a meal on their own!

Summer Squash: get yellow squash in January and they taste like water, but get them from the garden in June and you will experience a delicate flavor that is the essence of summer

Cucumber: if you eat a store bought cucumber, you wonder why everything is cucumber scented, as all you can taste is water, but a homegrown cucumber is ripe with smell and taste that embodies freshness

Peaches: being in Georgia, you know what a real peach tastes and feels like; they are sweet but with a light twang, juicy, never mealy, and a feast that one experiences in smell, taste, and feel, as that you will always get covered in juice from a homegrown peach.

Europe does not have the same eating problems that Americans do.  Research has shown that this is because they view eating as a social experience, taking time to savor their food, and not just consuming, as Americans do.  So though four extra dollars spent on asparagus may seem like a lot, if my family enjoys the experience of eating it, thus acting as its own positive reinforcement, it seems like a small price to pay for encouraging life-long healthy eating habits.   

Feel free to add your own organic indulgences!