We all want to eat healthy, tasty, varied products without a trace of chemicals. But we also want to spend less time cooking, to protect animals’ well-being, to protect the environment, for farmers to earn a decent living, etc. And to for ourselves to be able to get food as inexpensively as possible, preferably at a huge supermarket!

Organic food has found its place amidst those sometimes contradictory goals, and is expanding rapidly (more than twenty percent per year over the past five years), despite prices that are up to a third over the average. But what does organic actually mean? Does it mean the same thing whether it’s produced in France, Ukraine or India? Is it really better for your health and for the environment? To what extent can we call something organic if the term becomes industrialized to satisfy increasing demand?

Does organic really mean nothing more than a label certifying the absence of chemical additives? Should the brand, geographic origins, taste, relationship to the land, the agricultural methods etc. not also now be included in the criteria for the organic label?

Ay, there’s the rub: if you want to be organic can you buy anything that has the word organic on the packaging, or should you only buy things that really benefit small farmers, the soil and biodiversity? And finally, shouldn’t an organic product be first and foremost a fairly traded one, for both the men and women who produced it and for future generations?

The stakes are huge, as the boom in organic products actually starts hurting their image, which is becoming fuzzier and fuzzier to consumers.

This hard-hitting essay obliges us to consider the implications of going organic. While its success has become undeniable, the label covers highly diverse realities, raising consumers’questions and doubts.