Nutrition

A menu of organic foods at your doorstep

Newsday, Sylvia E. King-Cohen
Published September 26, 2006

Ordering in on Long Island? Chances are you're not getting the healthiest fare, most likely pizza or Chinese food. But with a little advance preparation and planning, you can indulge in fresh, organic meals and produce delivered directly to your home. While Long Islanders in parts of Douglaston, Little Neck, Great Neck and the Hamptons have enjoyed FreshDirect, the city dweller's delivery service of choice over the summer months, other Islanders can now indulge in alternatives that offer similar convenience and service. From produce to prepared foods, organic cuisine arriving on local doorsteps is an increasingly familiar sight. With businesses catering to the demands imposed by current standards of healthy living and busy lifestyles, however, consumers sometimes lose options and incur high costs. Here are the ups and downs of a selection of organic delivery companies that service the Long Island area. Eat Well and Be Well A family operation run by husband-and-wife team Bob and Lynda Rice, Eat Well and Be Well (eatwellandbewell .com, 631-650-4777) has a healthful, homey appeal. Founded in 1999 and based in Huntington, Eat Well and Be Well offers handmade, prepared organic vegan meals and snacks for individuals and families. Lynda Rice, a trained chef, creates the menus and recipes and presides over the cooking. Recent menu items include seitan (a wheat-derived meat substitute) medallions made with Jamaican jerk seasoning, lentil-quinoa salad with lime-curry vinaigrette and pistachio chocolate chip macaroons. The menu changes weekly, and customers can order online, choosing meal plans and add-on snacks and meals, although they must place a $30 minimum order and fork over a $7 delivery charge. Eat Well and Be Well delivers its chilled food in thermal insulated bags to Nassau and western Suffolk counties weekly. The company receives most of its organic produce from another Long Island-based distributor, Nature's Source, so customers can give themselves a pat on the back for eating locally as well as organically. Although the company may be willing to accommodate certain dietary requests, cooking with meat isn't one of them. The Rices have been vegetarians for more than 25 years, and they're not about to add meat, or even animal byproducts like butter or eggs, to their menus. Diamond Organics Diamond Organics (diamond organics.com, 888-ORGANIC) is the king of organic delivery services. With nationwide overnight delivery and a staggering array of produce, meat, baked goods and household products, you'd be hard-pressed to come up with an organic item Diamond can't get to your house within 24 hours. Buffalo filet mignon? Baby artichokes? Champagne? They're all available, alongside prepared foods like sushi, lasagna and whole cheesecakes. The variety, speedy service and quality, however, drive up the prices. Though Diamond offers some deals, like free delivery on samplers and gift baskets, other orders cost about $20, plus $1.20 per pound shipping, and individual prices don't offer much relief (avocados are $3.59 and king salmon filets are $21.19 per half-pound). EcoMeal Charmingly upfront and low-tech, EcoMeal and its Web site, ecomeal.com, 718-451-2828, offer a substantial range of organic produce and products, from apple-mango baby food to beer. EcoMeal even offers a selection of items like waffles and tofu triangles from The Organic Grill, a popular East Village spot. The company was founded as a natural food distributor and warehouse and maintains that portion of the business, delivering to more than 500 New York-area markets. Now, because EcoMeal's home delivery arm is simply an extension of its existing business model, the company charges no membership or delivery fees and doesn't pass along middleman costs. And because the company packages many of the products as well, prices stay low across the board, from 32-ounce containers of yogurt for just $2 to avocados for $1.29. EcoMeal's vice president, Oleg Koshul, says customers tend to save between 20 and 30 percent off prices charged by local health food stores. On the down side, EcoMeal delivers to Long Island only once a week, making poor planners or those with last-minute cravings out of luck. DineWise Finally, diners should take note of another upcoming organic meal delivery option. Farmingdale-based DineWise (dinewise.com, 800-749-1170), which serves 2,500 people in Nassau and Suffolk, plans to offer an organic line by spring. DineWise, which launched in August 2005, offers delivery of customized, prepared meals. Customers can choose from more than 2,000 combinations of main courses and side dishes. When organic is essential If you want to make your own organic meals but aren't sure which fruits and vegetables to buy, Lauren Sucher, director of public affairs for the Environmental Working Group, which monitors pesticides in vegetables and fruits, offers this rule of thumb: If the skin is thin, or if you're going to eat the product without peeling it, consider going organic. Here are its recommendations for avoiding pesticides: DO BUY ORGANIC (because they are most contaminated): apples bell peppers celery cherries imported grapes nectarines peaches pears potatoes red raspberries spinach strawberries DON'T HAVE TO BUY ORGANIC (the least contaminated) asparagus avocado banana broccoli cauliflower corn (sweet) kiwi mangoes onion papaya pineapple peas (sweet)