Some years ago, when it was your turn to buy the drinks, it was de rigueur to ask your drinking mate ‘What’s your poison?’ Of course the question was not altogether serious although the dangers of alcohol were the truths that gave the question its barb. In today’s world, it is a wonder the question is not more often asked about our food.

We have long known that pesticides, chemicals and other processing tweaks make all that is destined for our stomachs look appealing but in the long term may have serious negative effects on our health. A pyramid of apples, large, shining and rosy, in a supermarket is an alluring invitation to come on and buy. Yet would we be so tempted if we could see the whole process of cosmetic and chemical wizardry that went into making the fruit look like something the devilish snake may have offered Eve?

That is the sort of question many Hong Kongers have become aware of as the health perils of mass-processed products – not only foods – became better known through the avalanche of media information that bombards us daily. Even mattresses and towels have come under scrutiny but we pay closest attention to food because it becomes such an integral part of us day after day. And so when, for instance, last April we learned of dangerous levels of pesticides in supermarket vegetables, many turned to look elsewhere for their produce – most obviously at organic food stores.

For a long time, organics were a fringe market where it was generally thought tree huggers and their friends with long hair and muddy boots found their sustenance. And because organic foods inevitably looked less appetizing than supermarket wares, they were also thought to be a whole lot less exciting. Plus, of course, organic food was so much more expensive.

And then we had SARS, bird flu and mad cow disease which, added to the information blitz about the dangers of mass-produced food, resulted in a huge turnaround in attitude to organics. More and more people have turned to healthy, safer ways of eating and so the organics market has grown – in the four years to 2004 it expanded by 80%, in the last three years by 100% and it is still growing.

So what makes organic foods more healthy? It is a simple question but the answer springs from a variety of factors. For one, organics are produced in a soil whose health is maintained by regular crop rotation. That is complemented with other traditional practices such as releasing controlled numbers of beneficial insects, planting cover crops, and using compost as a fertilizer. But organic farming is not just a return to the agricultural methods of yesteryear – farmers today also use biological know-how for non-toxic pesticides and methods of disease control.

Typically the average person believes that organic food is limited to vegetables. However, that isn’t true – organics are foods produced naturally without chemical alterations and pest controllers. The US National Organic Standards Board defines organic agriculture as “an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony.” Strawberries, grapes, rice, whole wheat, grains, cabbage, cauliflower, almonds, sunflower seeds, milk and milk products, eggs, and even corn are just a few of the foods to come out of such a system.

So making the choice to switch to a healthier diet does not mean we need lose out on our food favourites. For the most part, the same foods can be found in an organics store as in any other food market. Which guarantees that our favorite meals can still be prepared and consumed as we like them, just in a safer and healthier way.

Such a choice will probably cause more problems from friends and family than at the dinner table. Try something new or different and there is always someone whose face will fall and all the reasons against will come barrelling out. This can be very true when it comes to sudden interest in a change of diet. Many individuals not knowledgeable about organic foods may try to persuade a friend curious about better eating against a primarily organic diet. They may even say organic food only costs more money and has absolutely no extra nutritional value. Not only is that misleading but completely untrue.

Land around the world has been seriously affected by animal, crop and chemical overuse. In China alone between 1996 and 2004 arable land decreased from 130 million hectares to 122 million hectares. By the end of 2005, that had shrunk even further to less than 102.4 million hectares according the People’s Daily newspaper. The land lost, mainly through overuse, had become sandy desert. Yet the population is growing by 10 million people per year and grain production needs to increase to 600 million tons by 2030 – in 2004, it was at 469.5 million tons.

The problems are obviously huge, but intensive mass production strips the soil of higher quality nutrients while water and wind erosion deplete the topsoil until only a bare minimum of nutrition is left. Add that poor nutrition to a consistent consumption of chemicals and things do not bode well for the human body. It needs no stretch of the imagination to see that an organically produced tomato will be much better for us than an already nutritionally poor one nurtured in a chemical concoction.

Many people argue that the chemicals are not toxic – at least to humans. Yet chemicals are sprayed on our food for the purpose of killing. While the death threat may not be aimed at humans, the pesticides are still poisonous. And we eat, for instance, the bushy part of broccoli – the part in greatest contact with toxic pesticides ingesting even minute amounts of which over time can be harmful to the human body. Plus we have already had Sudan dye scares in eggs and malachite green has been found in fish. Both are toxic to humans and animals, the Sudan dye is a known carcinogen.

So the reasons for adopting an organic diet are compelling and the best way to start is to focus on foods that can obviously be produced the way nature intended. Organic fruits, veggies, whole grains, dairy, non-toxic and animal proteins are now readily available in Hong Kong stores – even in some big supermarkets like ParknShop. The demand is there and will certainly grow as incomes increase and more people become health conscious about their eating habits. While prices for organic foods can range from between 30% and 100% more than their conventional counterparts, it is a small price to pay when good health and even life is at stake.

This has become obvious to many who count Hong Kong as their home and the main provider of organic food in Hong Kong, Organic Gardens Ltd, in Cheung Lek is finding the high demand much to their liking: the company has opened a restaurant in Lan Kwai Fong together with a store and a healing center. And one of their main aims is to educate consumers on the pros of healthier eating habits and organic foods.

But many local farmers are also becoming aware of the high demand for toxin-free food and have started producing organic crops. The high costs of labour make it easier for smaller farmers to produce organic food for Hong Kong and that means some of the more popular organic foods still have to be imported to supplement local production. But that doesn’t seem to worry some food establishments like restaurants which, noting the demand and taking into consideration the health advantages of organics, are offering organic dishes on their menus. It may not be violent and it may be slow, but the agribusiness giants had better wake up – there’s an organics revolution in the making.