Organico Bantry

The following text is a summary of a letter circulated by my colleagues in the Irish Association of Healthfood Stores. It was written by an Osteopath called Mardi Jameson in the Brixton Center in London. I feel that this information should be made available to more than our mailing list. I first published it a couple of months ago, and the responses I recieved are very interesting. Please see the bottom of the article. I have published every response rreceived regardless of what sentiment they expressed.

Dear Friend /Colleague,

You may not be aware that last week the controllers of BBC Health www.bbc.co.uk, one of the most accessed health websites in the world, decided to remove all coverage of complementary medicine!

They used to have substantial coverage with over 40 pages on this subject covering all the major therapies, their pros and cons, evidence for their effectiveness, how to find a qualified practitioner, etc. However the site has in recent months been targeted by the self-appointed ‘Quackbusters’, (scientists and medics vehemently opposed to complementary therapies such as Prof David Colquhon et al) who sent a deluge of letters and emails claiming that complementary therapies such as homeopathy and cranial osteopathy were ‘unscientific’ and should be removed. As a result large chunks of this part of the site were simply removed overnight and now, following recent cutbacks, it was decided that, rather than update this part of the site, it should simply be removed altogether!

It may seem incredible that a public service site this prominent can deem complementary medicine so insignificant that it no longer warrants any coverage other than the odd news story. This is despite the fact that complementary medicine is used favourably by a significant proportion of the population (recent surveys have estimated that around 1 in 5 Britons use it at some point or other) and that increasing numbers of people are now seeking to train in these therapies. However, as the ‘quack busters’ become more organised and active, evidence of the backlash against complementary medicine is appearing all over the place - such as the removal of NHS Trust funding for homeopathy, the threatened closure of the homeopathic hospitals, many negative news stories in the press and so on. Rather than taking a reasoned view and considering the evidence from good research studies on complementary medicine these individuals seem simply hell bent on trying to ’stamp out’ complementary medicine in any way possible. The BBC removal of complementary medicine coverage (which has been in place for almost 15 years!) is one example.

If you care about complementary medicine and believe information pages on it should be returned to BBCi, please, please take just a minute to express your views using their online comment form at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/feedback/ to make your view known. As a public service company they to listen to your views so your email will make a difference. Apparently for all the many letters and emails that they received that were against complementary medicine they only received a handful in support…

Therefore if you are in support please let them know so they may revise their thinking on this subject.

Please act as soon as possible and pass on these details to anyone else you know who may also be willing to write in support of complementary medicine.

Thank you.

Blogged by Hannah Dare

Bantry Fair Trade group in support of fair trade fortnight is showing the documentary Black Gold on Thursday the 28th of Febuary in the Cinemax. Black Gold is a film by Nick and Marc Francis that highlights the plight of Ethiopian Coffee growers. The wedsite states: ‘As westerners revel in designer lattes and cappuccinos, impoverished Ethiopian coffee growers suffer the bitter taste of injustice. In this eye-opening expose of the multi-billion dollar industry, Black Gold traces one man’s fight for a fair price’.

For more information please look at http://www.blackgoldmovie.com

Clouds West Cork

The current exhibition in Organico Cafe is work by Anne Marie Mcinerney from Skibbereen, West Cork. Anne Maire’s work has a wide range of influences, from the wild seas and wide skies of West Cork to drousy Italian vinyards. Anne Marie studied fine art in the Crawford College of Art and Design in Cork and then went on to Belfast to do a Post Graduate Diploma in Fine Art. This exhibition is titled ‘Skyscapes’. The canvasses are large, striking and well worth a viewing!

Come and view Anne Marie’s work in Organico Cafe during Febuary 2008 (we’re going to keep in for some of March if we can - we’re enjoying it that much!)

Mindfullness meditation is starting in Organico Cafe in Bantry on Monday Febuary the 18th and running for 4 weeks. The evenings will be facilitated by Marjo Osterhoff, who trained in Burma and Thailand as a Buddhist nun before moving to Ireland. She now lives and works in Adrigole where she has a Meditation Centre.

The classes will involve sitting and walking meditation, as well as relaxation excercises to help relieve stress. Mindfullness meditation (or Insight meditation) is a simple and direct way to develop our capacity to be present in each moment, to learn to recognise habits, patterns and challenges that may be preventing us from enjoying living in the ‘now’. The classes will be suitable for beginners and non-beginners.

Starting date: 18th of Febuary 2008 for 4 evenings in total, continuing if there is enough interest;

Time: 8pm sharp

Duration: 8-9.30pm

Cost: €50 for the 4 weeks

For more details or to book please ring Marjo on (027) 60223 or email moosterhoff@eircom.net.

Last week some of the staff in Organico were fortunate to attend a lecture training by Dr Smallbone, the man behind a range of vitamins called ‘True Food’ made by a company called Higher Nature. This was a real honour as we often get to talk to ‘Representatives’ or ‘Trainers’ but not often to the person who develops the products from start to finish! Being able to question Dr Smallbone further over lunch in Cafe Paradiso was pretty nice too…

We have recommended True Food supplements for years now, having been convinced a long time ago that the idea behind them makes a lot of sense. That idea is basically that rather than swallowing lots of sythetic vitamin pills, which are hard to absorb and can even sometimes put pressure on our systems, what we should be taking is vitamins in a ‘food’ state. In a nutshell that means vitamins and minerals that have been complexed or bonded with the relevant lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins to closely resemble the way those nutrients are found in our food. This means we need to take far smaller doses of vitamins or minerals, because the body sees these substances as foods rather than as chemical isolates and is able to absord a far greater proportion of them.

What Higher Nature have developed is a highly sophisticated procedure whereby vitamin and minerals are fed to live yeasts, and the mixture (smelly I should imagine!) is allowed to ferment, so that the yeast absorbs all the nutrients into itself, ‘digests’ them as it were. the yeast cells are then killed off, leaving a highly absorbable food supplement that is as close to nature as possible. In adition to this process, they also add in concentrated foodstuffs to the tablets - for example organic carrot puree is added to the Beta Carotene tablet.

According so some research carried out using true Food products, the various vitamins and minerals are between 2 and 12 times more potent that the equivalent synthetic nutrient. As I said above, this means smaller doses are needed, which is very beneficial when you think of, for example, citamin C. If for theraputic reasons, very high doses of what is normally called vitamin C (the chemical Ascorbic Acid) are needed, it causes in most people a severe laxitive effect. Taking True Food C you can reach the same level of vitamin C in you blood without that effect.

There are still some cases in which we may need conventional, synthetic vitamin supplements. But for many of us, who want to take a multivitamin because we suffer from a few too many minor ailments or who are lacking in energy, a True Food supplement makes a lot more sense.

For advice on which supplements are appropriate in your case please call in to Organico and talk to our now even-better informed staff!

We are delighted with the review we recieved from John and Sally McKenna in the Bridgstone Guide 2007. We have always loved the Bridgstone Guide for the recognition John and Sally give to all the small food business in Ireland, so this review means a lot to us:

‘Rachel and Hannah Dare’s Organico is top-notch, 24 carrot, top-of-their-game. A superb Bakery. Brilliant organic vegetables arranged like a still life. Great wines. A lovely Cafe with an ever-changing roster of local artists, plus lots of PC’s so you can gab away to your friends. Organico is not just a shop, it is a hub of activity and a hive of evergy, and it is one of the stars of the west cork firmament’ (Bridgstone Irish Food Guide, 2007, page 104).’

Thanks John and Sally - we really appreciate your supportive and encouraging words.

I just made a delicious light dinner and would like to share the recipe…the inspiration came from the back of a jar or pate, so it’s not all mine, but I have personalised it. It is a really quick fairly light meal (that kind of depends on how much pasta you serve yourself…) and is a great ’store cupboard staple’). I did use white spaghetti here, with I try not to do too often, but I think the delicacy of the Artichoke Pate needs white pasta. You could substitute parmesan or some other hard cheese for the Cratloe Sheep’s cheese, but personally I like to buy Irish and Cratloe makes a great substitute for parmesan. In my opinion!

Spelt Spaghetti with artichoke, red onion and Cratloe sheep’s cheese

(For 2)

1/2 a Packet of Biona white Hand-rolled Spelt Spaghetti

1/2 Jar of Sunita Organic Artichoke Pate

I large organic red onion

1 medium organic courgette

2 handfuls of grated Cratloe Sheep’s cheese (you could use Parmesan but I love Cratloe Cheeps’s cheese!)

2 cloves of garlic

Olive oil

lots of black pepper

A nice crunchy salad to serve, for example celery, onion, cherry tomato, cucumber and lambs lettuce with a balsamic vinegar/olive oil dressing.

Method: Slice and sweat the onion and garlic in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes, then add the sliced courgette and sweat for a further 5 minutes

Meanwhile boil plenty of slightly salted water and cook the pasta

And make the salad!

Mix the Artichoke Pate and the grated cheese in with the onions, keeping a little cheese for garnishing. Add lots of black pepper fresh from your grinder.

When the pasta is done, combine, and serve immediately. Eat slowly and quietly, and enjoy!

If you make this for more than 2 people, it might be easier to mix in a really large pan or in 2 batches, as the pasta behaves more like fresh pasta than dried and is a bit unwieldy.

Yogatic! is a new yoga website set up by well-known yoga instructor Esther Ekhart which aims to become an all-round information center on yoga. The site features some great yoga video. Esther teaches at the Boab center, near Kealkil in West Cork, and is so popular Read the rest of this entry »

Call in to Organico to see all our luxury Christmas goodies, and choose your own hamper which we will present for you in a wicker basket…or tell us who it’s for and we will select for you! Organic Booja Booja chocolates, Green and Black’s biscuits, delicious organic wines and ports, Luxury Gluten Free Mince Pies (or our own spelt mince pies), Gluten free Cakes (or our own amazing cakes!) chocolate covered ginger…and much much more!

Or chose skincare…Dr Hauschka Rose Cream, Bath oils, Masks…we have the full range of face creams and body products!

In Organico Cafe we have Amnesty Cards, Fairly Traded oil burners, seaweed baths, essential oils, beautiful tea pots, hand made irish soaps…

Organico, Glengarriff Road, Bantry. (027) 51391.

Organico shop now has organic certification? Yes, it’s true - shops now need to be certified by an official certification body. If we want to sell loose organic vegetables, that is. And don’t want to be taken to court by the Department of Agriculture. Or don’t want to sell our lovely organic veg in plastic packaging, which is the only alternative to certification.

In Organico we sell lots of organic fruit and veg loose, which we buy from certified organic suppliers. And we are very careful about how we source our fruit and veg, because we feel passionately that fresh organic fruit and veg should be affordable and available to everyone. And we use it in our cafe too, so we would want to be getting the best quality. But until this summer we had no idea that we were technically ‘breaking’ Irish law.

Becoming certified (we chose to join the Irish Organic Trust) was actually very easy, because we were already doing most of the things they want us to do. To keep our certificate we need to do a bit of paper work and we need to keep in good contact with the Organic Trust. And they will visit us every year, and next year we hope to obtain Organic Certification for our Bakery.

All this is good - we are very happy to be working with the Trust and to be improving our service to our customers. What I think is very wrong is that many shops would be very put off by the way the Inspectors from the Department came in to our shop and started telling us how ‘bad’ we were. When actually, we were only breaking the letter of the law, and their job is to inform us of the law, which they had never done. And their attitude was such that we felt harassed, when their job should be supporting retailers selling organic produce, not terrifying them so much that they give up, or even worse, start to sell their vegetables in plastic packages like supermarkets do.

If you want more information on this topic, or if you have a shop and want to become a certified organic retailer of fruit and veg like Organico, please contact me (Hannah Dare) at info@organico.ie or the Organic Trust, and beware of the Department of Agriculture Inspectors!