Immediate Relief, purchasing organic China veggies

Shanghai is a large, roaming city. For many, the first hunt for greens for dinner will take them to their neighborhood grocery store. The unease that most people have with any kind of Chinese grown vegetables, organic or not, is China happens to be a large producer of agricultural chemicals, DDT included, which are banned in USA. While there are plenty of markets and grocery stores to chose from (Look for future blogs), the task of completing a shopping list of vegetables is not easy.

Today’s quest for organic vegetables in Shanghai led me to check out, a one stop cornucopia delivery service. Organic Delivery services around the world have taken off, fueled not only by the sustainability movement but also the reduce your carbon footprint, support artisan farms, eat local agenda.

The idea is simple, a single delivery company sources all the organics you need and delivers them to you, typically once a week. I have been impressed over the years by companies supporting an entire culture around the farmers and the food movement.

At a 129 RMB (around $19.00 USD) my package of super clean produce arrived. I purchased mine from OSTORE or BIOFARM.

The colorful box included what I now think of as a truly Chinese experience. While many readers might expect a rough dusty basket filled with carrots covered in dirt, I received perhaps the most pre-washed produce I have ever seen.

These radishes looked more like artist recreations than something grown in the ground. Typically, my purchases from the Seattle’s market don’t look this clean even after I take them home, wash them, chop them up and throw them in a salad.

In my excitement I made a video. Full disclosure, I ordered two boxes of vegetables, for 258 RMB, so while 18 USD still may seem like steal for one box, don’t get too carried away by the price of cilantro in China.

BIOFARM, the actual grower of my produce, only has capacity to grow for 250 families. I snuck in the rank, actually I am purchasing two spaces on the list at the moment; though, while I am happily and again naively eating my greens, this is as much for research as it is filling my pantry. Questions remain, the quality and reality of organic labeling as well as exactly what it means to purchase from the BIOFARM. Again, look for more in-depth blog entires to come. In the meantime, I will say after the enthusiasm of receiving vegetables that look so clean, I don’t even need to wash them, I am a bit disillusioned by ordering a box of groceries so neatly packed in plastic, which hardly seems non-toxic nor sustainable. It was also apparent I wasn’t helping any small scaled farmer either. However, this certainly could at least fulfill the safety element amongst some readers. (Edits to come)

As a foot note:

I found some great images measuring the population density of Shanghai. Be sure to click the art work below to see a larger image.

Shanghai can look a bit romantic even with 8 lanes of traffic. It must be the green belt.

Another view of the same part of town, the Bund.

In Search of the Food Movement, meeting Christian Rassinoux

Looking to find the pulse and epicenter of the organic food movement, I went straight to the top. I asked epicurean and sustainability expert Dean Decrease of www.thefourthelement.org for any food leaders he knew in Shanghai. No surprise he sent me over to Christian Rassinoux who is the executive chef at the Portman Ritz-Cartlon and overseas all of Ritz' restaurants in China.

Christian is a princely, handsome gray haired master chef. His charm made it no surprise when I later found out he was knighted by the president of France. Over our two hour discussion I learned of his adventures being shot at in Africa and growing most of his vegetables at the Laguna Niguel Ritz Carlton. Dean suggested I talk to Christian because he can be credited for introducing organic foods into the Ritz Carlton brand and having a reverberation that has gone beyond impacting merely all of its chefs and clientele but helping associate food sourcing with high end dining. In China, his commitment to organic has an additional priority, and that is safety. He doesn't believe in the certifications or other safety measures. He goes and visits every farm that he buys from and helps farmers grow his produce the way he wants, inspecting the water sources, making sure the land the farmers purchase is free from toxins and no chemicals are getting into his food. This is no small task for someone already running multiple restaurants and maintaining a dynamic changing menu, but important. My questions were about everyday consumers, eating around Shanghai and buy produce at stores and looking for trusted sources. Sadly, Christian had no answers. He said he doesn't trust anything and visits all the farms himself. He kind of enjoys that experience...and who wouldn't but who has time to do such things. The search goes on for trusted sources in China. In the meantime, Rassinoux gets his strawberries from small scale artisan farms barely producing enough for the Portman so if you want to enjoy those you'll have to go down to the Ritz for the high life.

When asked about chef collobartives or other food movements, Christian couldn't put his finger on anyone regularly reporting or promoting an organic movement. Rather, he had stories of his HK controller concerd about his own family' health in China and talking with Christian on how to tell if something is safe, which is the same "go to the source" answer as before.

I had recently been in Guilin and we discussed how some ancient farming methods are inoverently Organic. The rice growing at high hill tops with clean mountain water and natural vertilizers is far safer than many labeled organic productions. Sadly, much of this traditional green produce isn't labeled organic, doesn't make it to regular market channels, and is consumed safely by the locals who grow it--good for them. Meanwhile the rest of us in Shanghai probably eat the most dangerous produce on the planet. Christian had stories of a lady making cheese from Manchuria milk that for all intents and purposes is natural but hasn't gone through the Chinese process of being labeled organic. Since the Organic label is provided by a number of outsourced certifiers, many don't trust this label anyway. The challenge is how to find the food in China that is safe and delicious.

Thanks to Christian for making a splash with his delicious foods. Hopefully his high profile and the government officials eating at the Ritz will continue to take notice. The rest of us will enjoy our cavier dreams and spinach wishes.

Organic China the beginning

I started this blog because despite my best attempts and the raw power of a search engine like Google, I cannot find anyone reporting regularly on Organic food movements in China.

So here you have it. This is my attempt to find those reporting on Organics, report myself, and solicit stories from you.

This will be everything and anything organic.

Featuring

• Organic produce
• Chefs
• Food movement leaders
• Farms
• Restaurants
• Stores
• Food Safety
• Deliciousness
• Accountability / Green Washing

I'll need help. I aspire OC to be in English and Chinese so we can get the most readers, contributors, and hopefully inspire consumers as well as farmers do to better.


At little bit about me. I am Sean Howell, an American businessman living in Shanghai, not your typical Organic Blogger. On the contrary, even those without a sustainability background have heard and are concerned about the food safety in China that we face everyday. Sure we want to eat the local yummy dumpling delights, the spinach with sweet gravies, the dried beans, the celery, the green onions, of course the garlic...all the things that make local Chinese food absolutely wonderful.

About the sustainability background, well aside from running in for-profit circles, I spend most of my time on Sustainability activism, New Urbanism, arts. I co-founded Friendsofseattle.org a green urban and livability political powerhouse in the Pacific Northwest, I am involved in a number of food movement groups in the USA and hope some of them migrate to Asia, and I have special interests in developing economies and have worked on a number of development projects in and outside ofAfrica. Though, I hope you get to know me through my posts as well as in person.

Many of us fall into two camps. The Dragon is fine camp, those of us who try and not think about where this food is coming from. What water source it had or what chemicals were used on this exceptionally green lettuce. The Dragon is the Dragon and we have no choice but to eat what is here. Sadly, I have been looking for the great green Dragon and options so far are few.

With that said, please help. Share your recommendations for restaurants, chefs, articles you read, food safety scares, farms, produce stands, anything. Email me ideas or write submissions, send me links. Tell your friends to read this. Recommend it to a Chinese colleague. We have to get people talking to each other.

I am looking for

• People to send in ideas of stories or recommendations
• People to submit journal entries
• Translators. Let's get this in Chinese to help pass it on.