In defense of organics and whole foods

Okay, being back at work means a lot of things, and one of those things is being surrounded with differently-minded people. Most importantly, eating lunch with these people, and encountering the inevitable questions everyone always has about what is coming out of each person's paper bag, lunch box, or microwaveable container. My lunch today was not very grand, and certainly gave me no bragging rights -- lima beans and jasmine rice, strawberry shortcake for dessert. What got the attention of my lunch-mates was the book I'm reading, In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan. I guess the big vegetable on the front caught a co-worker's attention, and he mentioned that he thought organics was a "crock of shit". Oh man... where do I begin...

First of all, I don't need to push too hard to complete the installation of a brass label across my forehead (at least while I'm at work) that reads "Hippie. Commie. Destroyer of the American Dream." Second, I kind of agree, in a way. A lot of "organics" are a crock of shit. So... how do I explain my point of view, with the added benefit of educating someone (just a little bit) without coming across as the afformentioned Commie Destroyer, or, more plainly, an asshole?

How, in the five-minute window of an acquaintances attention span, do I explain the difference between naturals & organics, organics & whole foods, whole foods & Whole Foods Inc., grass & grain-fed, antibiotic- and hormone-free & cheap-easy-readily-available!? This, my friends, is a dillema. Worst of all, I feel like one of those newly-converted Charismatic Christians who sees an "opportunity" to "bring people to Christ" with every word uttered by anyone within their listening distance. And that feeling, that makes me distrustful. Distrustful of the information I think I believe, and what I'm learning about, and distrustful of my own ability to give this information to other people. Without being an asshole, again.

The truth as I see it is that a lot of people, myself included, don't like being told what they're doing might be wrong, dangerous, or - gasp! - bad for their kids. There are many facets to the argument for whole foods, local foods, and organic foods. For me, its mainly a moral issue (including in "morality" my own personal ability to keep for a farming family the right to profit from their own product and produce, and the attempt to take the power out of the hands of big corporations), with a little bit of health issue mixed in for good measure. Who doesn't want to look better, feel better, and live longer with less disease!?

Anyway... what I'm getting at... how do I inform people, or at least defend my stance on food, my love and adoration of good food, without making the whole "cause" look worse, like a bunch of food missionaries who just want you to spend too much money on organic food and to smoke weed and to go back to Mother Earth in the Appalachian Mountains, pounding your drum and shaking your beaded dreds all the while?