maybe pesticides aren't a bad thing

Ever since I started Henry on solid foods in early January, I've been making almost all of his organic baby food from scratch. I have been purchasing fresh sweet potatoes, bananas, apples, squash and whipping up various concoctions a couple times a week with our Cuisinart. I was also using frozen vegetables - and when I noticed that Swistle was making her own baby food too, but was also throwing in a can of garbanzo beans with her green peas, I thought I'd do the same.

So, this past weekend, I picked up a can of organic garbanzo beans at Trader Joe's to mix with my frozen organic green peas.

This afternoon, when I was preparing a batch of baby food, I dug out the can of garbanzo beans, opened it up, rinsed them off, and poured them in to my food processor. I noticed a little bit of black on the inside of several of the beans, but somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I must have been thinking "That's part of the bean. Or something. Because it couldn't be... you know ... a bug." And because I was so certain that it wasn't something like a ... you know ... bug ... I tossed one of the beans in to my mouth.

Tasted fine to me.

But then, I figured that since this was food that I was giving to my precious infant child, I should probably just confirm.

You know.

Just to be sure.

So I peeled back the bean and this is what I found.


If I better understood how to use my fancy SLR camera and lenses, you would see that this isn't just any black speck. It is a black speck with an abdomen, thorax, head and wings.

It also has two eyes, antennae and six little legs.

On closer evaluation, there were bugs in almost 30% of the beans.


My organic garbanzo beans were riddled with bugs.

Now if I had not deleted my etiquette post, you would know that there are very few things that gross me out anymore.

Bugs throughout my food?

That would be one of the few things that makes me want to heave.

Although, some might argue that there are a lot of bugs in food that we eat that we don't even know about. And to them, I would say: Yep. That may be. But when I can see the bugs and intentionally grind them up and spoon feed them to my baby?

That right there ... that is cause for ferocious gagging. I can't even do Dim Sum Chinese food brunches because they give you platters of fish with the heads still on.

The reason I'm eating beans in the first place is for protein. I don't need any extra protein in the form of a garbanzo beetle. So, the beans are going back to Trader's. Not because I'm overly concerned with recouping my $0.79, but because what if the whole batch is tainted?

Wouldn't you want to know?

"Oh good heavens, can't we please just stick with breastmilk?"