As the owner of an organic food company, I guess it’s natural that I’m interested in organic products in general. Certainly on the food side of things, I have been a supporter of the organic movement and eaten organic food for many years. It just makes sense – I mean, why would you choose to buy adulterated food, ingesting potentially harmful chemicals into your body? By adulterated, I mean food that is grown using pesticides i.e. organophosphates (the worst kind), growth hormones and antibiotics.
I am very cautious about buying non-organic food. Admittedly, sometimes you have to when there isn’t an organic option and I guess, certainly here in Cyprus, it can be very expensive. Nevertheless it does pay to be careful about what you eat. I have a list of the worst offending fruit and vegetables on The Yum Company’s Facebook Page so even if you don’t buy organic, you can try to avoid the items that are on top of the list. Please feel free to contact me if you would like me to email you a copy. As for animal products, that’s an easy one to work out. What these animals are fed or pumped up with is well documented and doesn’t bear thinking about! Although I refrain from eating meat, even if I did there’s no way I would touch non-organic meat!
Thankfully, for a small island we now have access to more and more organic produce and you can purchase a wide selection of organic fruit and vegetables in specialist shops and in one or two of the supermarkets. It goes without saying that you can now buy organic ready meals too and we’re the first organically-certified ready food manufacturer in Cyprus!
If you are a meat eater, that’s a bit trickier because I am not aware of an organic farm that rears organic meat at the time of writing, although you can now buy organic chicken (and eggs) produced in Cyprus.
Because my interest in organic extends beyond just food, what about other organic or eco-friendly products? There are many good organic or eco-brands available both from health stores and now supermarkets whom until recently hardly stocked any of these products. Now you can find some really good brands in-store such as cleaning products and toiletries too. Carrefour recently introduced their own branded range of eco-friendly cleaning products which are reasonably priced such as washing up liquid, surface cleaners and a great shampoo which my children use, all of which are really effective and smell great. Nice to know you can clean up without the overuse of harmful chemicals! PLANET range is good too as is Ecover which, let’s say is top end price-wise.
And finally, what about organic clothing? Isn’t that going a bit too far I hear you say? Perhaps, but whenever I have bought any items made from organic cotton, the quality and texture feel divine! Trend-setting mums might want to check out BabyLegs adorable organic arm and leg warmers. All the rage in the US, Angelina Jolie’s kids wear them as do the children of Halle Berry, Gwen Stefani and Angie Harmon. Baby Legs uses organic cotton and dyes and make a fashionably green baby gift. I’m not sure if you can find them in Cyprus but you can purchase them online at www.amazon.com
And now back to food….It’s Monday morning, we’ve a busy production week ahead and it’s time to start cooking. Now where did I put that Organic Red Lentil & Vegetable Soup recipe?
