Once
only found in specialty shops such as health food stores, organic food can now
be found in supermarkets across Metro Manila. Organic food is generally sold at
higher prices than traditionally farmed food, so why are some people willing to
pay more for what often looks and tastes the same?
According to an article by a famous health care organisation in the USA, Mayo Clinic, the key
differences between conventional farming and organic farming are:
Therefore, people go for organic mainly for health reasons, because
many chemicals used in traditional farming are toxic to humans, and these people also
have a desire to protect the environment.
How “Organic” Is It?
In the Philippines, it is hard for shoppers to know how “organic” a produce is actually: where does it come from, what was the farming
process used that qualifies it as organic, etc. Organic food that is imported
from the USA, for example, and carries some sort of (US Department of
Agriculture) certification label can provide a certain amount of
assurance, as the certification means that the item is produced and
processed according to the USDA standards.
In
the Philippines, there are two third-party certification bodies (The Organic
Agriculture Act of 2010 defines third-party certification as the confirmation
of an independent organization ÔÇô accredited by government ÔÇô that the
organic farming conditions mandated by law are being met by the practitioner; source: www.organic.da.gov.ph), namely the Organic Certification Center of the Philippines and Negros Island Certification
Services. The farms certified by them are listed in the website of the
Department of Agriculture.
However, many of the produce that we can find in
supermarkets in The Fort are sold by farms not on the list of
certified farms. So buyers have to do our own research when
buying so-called “organic food”; some of the farms that sell organic
food here welcome visitors to their farms, so it is possible to check their
production process.
Buying Organic Food in The Fort
- Selected vegetable stalls at the outdoor market of Market!
Market! For example, free-range chicken and organic eggs from Pamora
Farm are sold at Stall No. 65. Their produce is also sold at Mercato
Centrale weekend night market, Metro Supermarket at Market! Market!, as
well as the Sunday market at BHS Central. Dizon Farms also has some
organic vegetables for sale at their stall at the outdoor market. - Organic food section of the two local supermarkets (SM Aura Mall,
Metro Supermarket at Market! Market!) and one buying club (S&R at
32nd Street) for locally produced organic vegetables and imported organic meat. - Healthy Options store in SM Aura Mall (imported organic meat). The branch in Bonifacio High Street does not sell raw produce.
- ECHOstore at Serendra Piazza (local organic vegetables and juices)
- Herbana Farm sells organic veggies at Mercato Centrale Saturday night market in 26th
Street corner 7th Avenue, near The Fort Strip.
Some brands of vegetable that claim to be organic and sold in SM Aura Supermarket are:
- Dewi Sri Farm (Laguna): here
- Gourmet Farms, Inc. in Tagaytay: here
- Healthy Options, which has a branch in SM Aura Mall that sells
organic meat produce, has a partnership with Costales Nature Farm in
Majayjay, Laguna, to produce and sell free-range and organic chicken and
eggs. The farm also produces organic pork and duck. Costales Farm is
certified by NICERT.
There are also sources in The Fort that offer products that, although not organic, are healthier than the everyday food we eat or ingredients we use.
- RustanÔÇÖs Marketplace at Central Square, Bonifacio High Street: quinoa, olive oil, potassium salt
- Robinsons Select at Burgos Circle: quinoa, stevia, olive oil
Prices of Organic Food
Everyone
knows that organic food produce commands a higher price. We assume that that is
because it is more expensive to keep vegetables pest free if we do not use
commercial chemicals. But how much more expensive should it be? Eggs from
free-range chicken, for example, sell for 15 to 18 pesos per piece, whereas
regular eggs cost 8 pesos or less per piece. Organic white rice sells for 70 pesos
per kg at BHS Central, whereas regular local rice sells for half that price.
Cherry tomatoes at Healthy Options cost 500 pesos per kg. At such prices,
organic food can reach perhaps less than 1% of the population. We can only hope
that as people are more aware of the benefits of organic food and more farms
produce organic food, the price of organic food can go down so that more people
can enjoy them.
Order by Phone/Email
Apart from going to a store to buy organic food, residents in The Fort can also get organic food by ordering by phone or email. The following
are some sources that deliver to The Fort among other places:
Are
you one of the many The Fort workers who have no time to cook? Here we have here a
list of a few restaurants that offer and deliver ready-to-eat healthy food. Not
all of them use certified organic products and ingredients, but all of them are
certainly healthier than the other greasy fast food options.
There
are many others that sell organic food, such as Detoxify Bar that sells organic
fruit and veggie juice and organic meals. Unfortunately, they have minimum
order sizes that are more for wholesale purpose than for home consumption. We
are building a group order function in this website so that members can invite
others to jointly order from such shops in order to meet the minimum order
requirement. Until then, our choices for organic food are limited to those
listed above. If you know of other suppliers, do share with us by submitting a
comment to this article.
There
is also Sap Juicery in SM Aura, which sells unpasteurized, raw and all-natural
cold-pressed juices. They use organic cane as the sweetener for their juices.
Among the options they offer are O1 (pineapple + apple + carrot + orange +
cucumber), R1 (pineapple + apple + red beet), and B1 (organic coconut water).
Organic Food Restaurants
Only
a few months ago there were just a handful of restaurants in The Fort that specialise in organic food. Now there are quite a few. The newcomers
include the Wholesome Table (30th Street corner 7th Avenue, BHS Building C3),
Earth Kitchen (BHS Building C2) and The Farm Organics restaurant along
Forbeswood Heights. Crisp at 28th is a restaurant owned by a
celebrity chef known for cooking healthy food. Not all ingredients served there
are organic, but their organic quinoa salad seems to be very popular with many
health-conscious foodies.
The Organic Market at Burgos Circle
It
is easy to find weekend food markets in the metro, but it seems that not many
are focused on all-organic products. Good thing organizers Stella Que, Miguel
Que Rodriguez and Samantha Que Rodriguez thought of putting together a food
market that features shops that offer organic and/or all-natural products,
aptly titled ÔÇ£The Organic Market.ÔÇØ You can find the following unique merchants
in the bazaar: Down to Earth, The Butchery Sausage, Cocolatto, Vom Fass,
Perfect Mushroom, Sprout, Coco Green, Sushi Nori, and many more!
The
market kicked off its first day last October 25. The second day will be
happening on November 8, 2015, Sunday, at Forbestown Road near Burgos Circle
(just outside Tipsy Pig and Frank & Dean). ItÔÇÖs open from 8AM to 6PM. So
grab your bayongs and ecobags, and get ready to shop.
