Organic, but Without the Performance: What I Really Choose

Article

I often return to organic food out of preference rather than principle. In the way I live LaBouffe, I have never sought an impeccable stance or a reassuring label to display. Instead, I am looking for a fairer way to choose what goes into my basket, with the quiet attentiveness that suits me. As a lawyer, I need things to have clear contours, and organic food speaks to me most when it remains concrete, easy to understand, without grand speeches. I prefer simple gestures to declarations, thoughtful shopping to promises that are a little too polished. When I choose organic, I do so because I find in it a coherence with my rhythm, my desire for gentleness, and my way of approaching things without forcing them. In my daily life, I do not switch everything to organic, and that is precisely what keeps this choice alive. I often reserve it for the vegetables I cook most often, the fruit I eat raw, and a few staples where I can truly taste the difference in the kitchen. I like it when food has character, when it smells of something, when it calls for simple preparation rather than unnecessary dressing-up. It also reflects the way I am in relationships: I prefer what is built slowly, what leaves room for listening, nuance, and a gentle encounter. Organic food is not a moral performance for me; it is a way of preserving pleasure without losing balance, of eating with greater presence, and of staying true to my minimalist, discreet, attentive temperament. Between two coffees and a museum visit, I find something there that truly suits me: a calmer, clearer, more breathable kind of cooking.