Eating judgmentally

"Food you feel good about"

Finger Lakes residents, perhaps more than any other Americans, are constantly harassed by our elites:  "spend three times as much to buy organic food, or you're no better than Bush!"   While we're usually too polite to question our neighbors' religious beliefs, Diane Mapes has the cojones to ask the question:  "Does organic food turn people into jerks?"

Renate Raymond has encountered her fair share of organic food snobs, but a recent trip to a Seattle market left her feeling like she'd stumbled onto the set of "Portlandia."

"I stopped at a market to get a fruit platter for a movie night with friends but I couldn't find one so I asked the produce guy," says the 40-year-old arts administrator from Seattle. "And he was like, 'If you want fruit platters, go to Safeway. We're organic.' I finally bought a small cake and some strawberries and then at the check stand, the guy was like 'You didn't bring your own bag? I need to charge you if you didn't bring your own bag.' It was like a 'Portlandia skit.' They were so snotty and arrogant."

To see if Raymond is just a crank, or might be on to something, Mapes asked a scientist.

"There's a line of research showing that when people can pat themselves on the back for their moral behavior, they can become self-righteous," says author Kendall Eskine, assistant professor of  the department of psychological sciences at Loyola University in New Orleans. "I've noticed a lot of organic foods are marketed with moral terminology, like Honest Tea, and wondered if you exposed people to organic food, if it would make them pat themselves on the back for their moral and environmental choices. I wondered if  they would be more altruistic or not."

If you're not already singing harmony, and we suspect you are, read the whole thing.

h/t Museum Guy.

5/21 update -  Rush Limbaugh piles on: 

 Which Came First, the Jerk or the Diet?