Thursday, September 4, 2008

Between a Rock and a Hard Place


I always try to cook with fresh, organic and healthy foods. It's the way I feel everyone should shop; of course some stores make it easier and more affordable than others. Fortunately, I have a great big pantry that holds all of my goodies. (When you buy in bulk, you save.) But the other day, I spied a moth in my pantry. If you've ever had a moth in your pantry, you know the nightmare that awaits: the hunt for bugs.

So, I began my quest of conquer and toss. It felt horrible to throw out boxes of food because they were contaminated with larvae, but it had to be done. After several hours, I was satisfied that I'd taken care of the problem and went to bed. But the next morning, when I went in to make my coffee, what did I find? Another moth on the wall. Furious, I made a call to my lovely exterminator.

After a lengthy conversation, he said that I could put up pheromone traps in my pantry. Unfortunately though, he told me that the real problem wasn't coming from the pantry: the moths were riding in on the food that I'd purchased. Without chemicals in my food, there would be bugs.

So, here was my dilemma: if I bought chemical-infused products, I could be assured there would be no bugs, just chemicals. If I continued on with my organic regime, I would have to be prepared to greet a bug from time to time.

I decided to go with the lesser of two evils: if moths won't eat the chemicals, neither should I.