Lunch in Organico is available from 12; we serve a refreshing range of salads, soups and hot meals. See here for more on our menu.

Helping Heart Health

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in England is urging GPs to prescribe more statins to patients at risk of cardiovascular disease. An extra 1.5 million people are going to be identified as potentially benefitting from these drugs. The fact that the potential benefits are hugely outweighed by the potential side effects is barely mentioned.

Apart from age and sex, smoking, raised blood pressure and raised cholesterol are the factors which contribute the most to the risk of cardiovascular disease, and out of these blood cholesterol has been identified as the ‘key modifiable risk factor’. Why does smoking seem to have dropped off the end of the scale there as vastly more modifiable?

A combination of harmless Cynara and a dairy-free diet has a truly wonderful effect on cholesterol levels, without any danger of the sort of side effects associated with statins.

For information on starting a dairy-free diet or taking Cynara, please call in to Organico Shop.

Please check out this YouTube video (click here) for an amusing but to the point comment on the contradictory nature of the way our lives are being regulated.

Just a reminder to e-mail your elected representatives about the EU’s over- regulation of food supplements. It’s easy! * Go to www.saveoursupplementsireland.com (copy and paste if link doesn’t work).

* Click on GET WRITING (bottom left). * Copy and paste form letter into e- mail (or re-word as you wish).

* Copy and paste e-mail address of your TDs and MEPs (do separate e-mail for each one).

* Send Preferably send off your e-mails before next Friday’s referendum, as politicians are on full alert right now. Many initiatives are currently underway in relation to protecting freedom of choice in healthcare, both in Ireland and in other EU Member States.

We would welcome any suggestions or ideas you may have. Please be sure to forward this reminder to all your contacts!

Opening Thursday 5th June 6.30pm , Organico Cafe

Alison Trim is a local artist, living in Bantry for the past 13 years. She is best known for her work with children and young people through her role as Schools and Youth Coordinator for West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen. She is currently studying in the third year of the BA in Visual Art course with Dublin Institute of Technology on Sherkin Island. She has previously exhibited in group shows with West Cork Arts Centre, The Courtyard Gallery, Middleton, Talbot 101, Dublin and was shortlisted for the Markowicz medal award at United Arts Club, Dublin in 2005.

Scorch and Surge.

These two canvases explore two of the biggest fears that climate change confronts us with, flooding, or desertification. The images combine layers of information based on many different sources of information about weather, tides, migration patterns, including maps, charts, and photographs. The more we seek to understand the way our planets systems work the more complex it becomes, and when it comes down to it, all most of us really understand is whether we feel wet, or dry, hot or cold. Weather is natural, beautiful, complex, dangerous, known and unknown, a wealth of contradiction.

Stones

“A thing is a hole in a thing it is not” Carl Andre This work is inspired by a collection of stones the artist gathered during walks on Snave Beach, Coomhola, over the past ten years. “There is a mystery to me about these stones that suggests a breaching of boundaries. Stone is a solid material, in fact emblematic of solidity, and yet something has passed through leaving a hole through the core of its solidity. It almost feels as if we should be able to see the stones insides, or that it has been violated, and yet the shape of the stone itself feels very contained, as does the negative shape of the hole. Alongside the documentation of these stones my painting work had become very much to do with, surface, and layers, and the notion of ‘containment’ has recurred in my practice for some time now. This painting brings these two strands of my practice together, using the shapes of the stones with a surface which feels almost permeable, like skin, or almost ready to burst like ripe fruit.”

Organico Cafe is delighted to welcome a new exhibition of illustrations from a children’s book called ‘Into The Serpent’s Jaws’ by Spark Deeley.

Spark Deeley was born in Birmingham in 1961. She studied in Cardiff, South Wales, graduating with an honours degree in Fine Art. After much travelling, she is now settled in Cork, Ireland, and divides her time between illustration, fine art, mural art and community art projects.

Her career has been a broad one. She has held one woman shows, taken part in a number of selected group shows, established a community print training centre, as well as instigating and contributing to a variety of artistic projects throughout Ireland, the U.K., Spain and the U.S.A.

‘Into The Serpents Jaws’ is Spark Deeley’s first illustrated book for older children and adults. Part fable, part art book, it symbolically tells the story of a woman who has the courage to embrace her fears, allowing them to become her allies. As the woman crawls with trepidation through a glowering jungle, she meets the face of her own fear in the guise of a serpent and a jaguar. Her fear becomes reality when the serpent consumes her, beginning a journey of transformation within the protection of its jewelled skin.

Richly illustrated with exquisite ink paintings throughout, the images perfectly compliment the theme by slowly transitioning from black and white into full colour.

An unusual book full of mystery and depth, which speaks to all ages of our potential to grow stronger through challenging times.

‘Into the Serpent’s Jaws’ was launched at Tigh Fili, Cork Arts Theatre, Carroll’s Quay, Cork,
on Friday 9th November 2007.

The book, as well as prints of the art works, will be available to buy in Organico Cafe from the 10th of May.

To find out more about Spark Deeley’s work, visit her website: www.sparkdeeley.com

Recent news coverage would suggest otherwise. The most recent controversy surrounds a recent “study” led by Serbian scientist and “visiting researcher” at Copenhagen University Hospital, Goran Bjelakovic. His name is now synonymous with vitamin meta-analyses (studies of other studies) which appear to show that vitamin supplements either don’t work or end up increasing your risk of death. Two recent bursts of negative international headlines on vitamins supplements (1 October 2004 and 28 February 2007) followed releases of previous research papers (see asterisked articles in Reference list below).

So how did the researchers come to their conclusion, which was that anti-oxidents increase the risk of heart attacks? how did the Cochrane Library arrive at such a conclusion? According to http://www.laleva.org ”it’s easy: The researchers considered 452 studies on these vitamins, and they threw out the 405 studies where nobody died! That left just 47 studies where subjects died from various causes (one study was conducted on terminal heart patients, for example). From this hand-picked selection of studies, these researchers concluded that antioxidants increase mortality ”.

How does this kind of ‘’science” make it to the front pages, one might ask? 

In the UK there is a groups called The Alliance for Natural Health. Their response to this study can be found on their home page.

I have taken several points of interest from their argument:

1. This is not a new study - it is a rehash of the very same data sets that led to the previous negative studies – and these methodologies tell us nothing about the way in which high quality combinations of nutrient supplements work. This is a re-analysis of studies that have been conducted and reported on previously, by a man at a computer. In this case a group of men with a known axe to grind, who have never produced a study favourable to supplements, which is itself statistically unlikely unless you have a bias.  
 
2. This isn’t meaningful. When you select or reject studies on criteria that only mean something to statisticians, and ignore important things like duration, how long the study ran for — which ranged from 28 days to 14 years — your findings are immediately meaningless. Even the huge difference in dose of supplements between different studies — Vitamin E ranging from 10 to 5000 units daily, for instance — they didn’t deem important.  

3. These studies apply only to synthetic forms of vitamins (as produced by the pharmaceutical industry). The authors of this latest Cochrane review state: “The present review does not assess antioxidant supplements for treatment of specific diseases (tertiary prevention), antioxidant supplements for patients with demonstrated specific needs of antioxidants, or the effects of antioxidants contained in fruits or vegetables.” This shows that the study has no relevance to natural sources of vitamins and minerals or antioxidants sourced from plants (e.g. flavanoids, anthocyanins, sulforaphanes,  salvestrols/resveratrol, etc.), which are included in many of the leading-edge natural health supplements claiming potent antioxidant activity.

As the ANH states, it has to be asked what the Cochrane Collaboration is doing, allowing, endorsing and indeed promoting unscientific, invalid rehashes such as this. Cochrane were supposed to be the only guys you really could trust.

REFERENCES (from the ANH Article):
 
**Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Gluud LL, Simonetti RG, Gluud C. Mortality in randomized trials of antioxidant supplements for primary and secondary prevention: systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA. 2007 Feb 28; 297(8):842-57. Review. 
 
Bjelakovic G, Nagorni A, Nikolova D, Simonetti RG, Bjelakovic M, Gluud C. Meta-analysis: antioxidant supplements for primary and secondary prevention of colorectal adenoma. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2006 Jul 15;24(2):281-91. Review.
 
Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Simonetti RG, Gluud C. Antioxidant supplements for preventing gastrointestinal cancers. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004 Oct 18;(4):CD004183. Review.
 
*Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Simonetti RG, Gluud C. Antioxidant supplements for prevention of gastrointestinal cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet. 2004 Oct 2-8;364(9441):1219-28. Review.

** Paper on which latest Cochrane review is based; negative findings created wide media interest
 
* Paper which created extensive media interest and formed basis of Cochrane review published in the same month.

Please leave your responses below and I will publish them. Hannah Dare.

1 red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 leek, finely chopped
1 red pepper, chopped into small lengths
1 medium sized sweet potato, peeled and chopped into roughly 3cm cubes
300-400g butternut squash, peeled and chopped to roughly the same size as the sweet potato
350g Passata
100 ml water
1 organic stock cube (Kallo are good)
10-12 dates, chopped
small handful of cashew nuts
1 can chick peas
handful of parsley chopped
1 tbsp olive oil

spices
Cinnamon 1tsp
Cumin ”
Corriander ”
Sweet Paprika ”
Smoked paprika ”
chilli flakes 1/2 tsp

Lightly fry the onion in the olive oil for a few minutes on a low heat till it begins to soften. Then add the garlic, leeks, peppers and spices and sautee unitl the leeks soften. then mix in the sweet potato and butternut squash, stirring for a few minutes to coat in the spices. Add the passata, water, stock, dates and cashew nuts. Bring to the boil then reduce to simmer, put a lid on the pot and leave on a low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionaly - until the sweet potato and squash are soft. Now add the can of chick peas, lemon juice and parsley and set the pot aside with the lid on for at least an hour to let the flavours infuse.
When you are ready to serve reheat for a few minutes.

I like to serve this with a mixture of brown rice and quinoa. Cook 3 cups of brown rice with 2 cups of quinoa. Soak in water then drain, add 8 cups of boiling water and cook on a low heat with a lid on, watching it doesnt stick.

Thanks again Jess!

250g Wild garlic - mix of leaves and flowers
50g toasted sunflower seeds
50g cashew nuts
3 generous tsps of miso
Olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to season

Toast the sunflower seeds and leave to cool. Roughly chop the wild garlic. put all the ingredients in a blender, starting with 4 tbsps of olive oil and adding further depending on consistency, blend till a dark paste is formed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Put into a container and cover with a thin layer of ollive oil to preserve.

Pesto tip - If when making pesto it turns out really bitter and you cant seem to right it add a small bit of boiled potato. It can often be the quality of olive oil, or the nuts being slightly rancid, but the potato rights all!!

Recipe Thanks to Jessica Mason - Cheers Jess!

The first event planned for the Bantry Bay Convivium is being held here in Organico Cafe on Sunday the 20th of April. The theme is a Spring Tea Party and we are delighted to have Myrtle Allen, the Eurotocque Chair, and Giana Ferguson from Gubeen to assist us to launch Slow Food in Bantry. Artist Martha Cashman (currently showing in Organico Cafe) will also talk about her work.

Organico Cafe will serve a menu crammed with delicious tea-time treats (we’re currently getting very excited aboutclotted cream…mmm…) and, of course, organic fair trade tea!

Tickets are priced at €10 and will very shortly be availabel from Organico, from O’Connor’s, from the West Lodge and from Val’s in Ballylickey.

Membership forms will be available from these places also, and on the Sunday afternoon we will be delighted to invite new members to join us in the Bantry Bay Convivium.

‘Mollie’ from the exhibition entitled ‘Womanagh’ Showing from the 18th of March to the end of April 2008 In Organico Cafe Bantry.

Martha on her own work: ”My work is a homage to the teachers of my past, the farm helpers and local women who visited and helped my mother in the house.Their understanding of the daily running of a small holding impacted on my greatly and led me to appreciate and respect the land we took from daily. The pieces are records of their life stories and teachings.

I received the UCC Purchase prize and Scarva Pottery Prize, two of my pieces are in the UCC Art Archive Collection, also in the CIT Art Collection and the Crawford Student Collection”.

Martha’s previous exhibitions include a solo show in Etain Hickey’s Gallery Clonakilty, Feb 07; a solo show in Milano’s Restaurant, Cork Dec 07/Feb 08, a group show in The Lavitt Gallery Cork Dec 07, the Christmas show in the Courtyard Arts Centre Midleton 07, a group show Courtyard, Midleton Aug 07, Degree show Crawford, Cork July 07, Group show Courtyard Midleton Aug 06, Group show Granary theather, Cork June 06, Group show Tig Fili Cork, Vision Centre, Cork Feb 04.
Next show: Medici Palace, San Marino, Italy April 29-May 18 08