by Silvia Casabianca

Created on: August 17, 2007   Last Updated: March 22, 2012

Statistics show that decade by decade people spend less money on food while they spend more money on health. Frank Oakes, who has been a militant for organic food for almost two decades thinks there is a direct correlation: cheap food equals bad health. "Industrialization has made food less expensive, and less nutritious," he concludes.

We should eat only what nature provides in the way nature provides it, Oakes said. "We're duped into believing that any veggie or fruit is okay. But produce that is not organic, that has been picked green and forced to ripen, contains little enzymes and thus is not good for our digestion. Non organic produce contains toxins and has poor nutritional value. I tell vegetarians who don't eat organic produce that there might be more minerals in a McDonalds hamburger because at least the cow ate some grass that contained minerals."

Oakes, is the owner of an all organic place, half cafe, half grocery store, a totally non-toxic site with walls painted with old-fashioned milk paint, and wood tables; chairs and counters finished with tung oil. The place uses only full spectrum lighting, which mimics daylight. Oakes says this is the least toxic place in town.

"This place gives me the opportunity to let people know that there's another way to eat and this is better accomplished through the restaurant than simply with a grocery store. When people eat here, they realize that organic food tastes really good."

Oakes belongs to a family that for almost a century has been growing or retailing produce in Delaware, where he learned to love the land. When Oakes realized that Delaware was using an increasing amount of chemicals in its crops, he deemed Florida would be a better environmental choice for his whole family.

"My oldest son partnered with one of his best friends (in Delaware), a red headed kid, a good mannered person... he was spraying cucumbers with an organophosphate pesticide one day and the next day he was in a coma from which he never recovered."

This experience made Oakes highly aware of the poisonous nature of pesticides for humans and animals.

"This poison is in every cucumber that you eat," he said. "The use of chemicals in food is ubiquitous. The more digging, the more reading I do, the more I realize that what we are doing is so unnatural."

With chemical stimulation, it's possible to grow food without good soil. We're growing food in a way nature never would. "Farmers today don't care about nutrition. They want to offer a cheaper prize. They don't let the food ripen on the plant. Fruits and vegetables may have potassium and nitrogen that are contained in the fertilizers but lack all other essential oligoelements. Because the food we eat is lacking these minerals we feel always hungry," Oakes said.

Farmers hybridize or genetically modify the crops, they work on soil without minerals. Crops are geared towards supermarkets, aiming to appeal the eye, and the supermarket doesn't want to throw things away. But actually, organic produce holds for longer time, it stays in good shape.

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