Organic Foods & Cafe, an organic supermarket and cafe in Dubai, brings a range of organic products to the United Arab Emirates and defines part of its mission as “furthering learning about what is healthy for us and our world and environment around us and promote it.”
The supermarket attempts to create a welcoming and warm environment where customers learn that eating organic doesn’t have to be scary or strange. The cafe offers delicious organic dishes (many of which are vegetarian), such as brie & apple omelettes, mushroom and turkey ham pizza, roasted pumpkin salad, an ostrich special, and freshly squeezed pineapple and cucumber juices.
While their organic values are in the right and their menu sounds delicious, many of their organic products are sourced from overseas and it seems as though very few products are local. In the “Meet the Growers” section of their website, farms are located in countries such as South Africa and Austria. (The one “local” Middle Eastern farm seemed to be Sekem in Egypt.)
Which leads us back to the big green food question: what’s more important – organic or local?
Organic food limits the amount of pesticides used and residual pollution resulting from the growth of produce, as well as eliminating the use of all the fossil fuels involved in the production of pesticides. Local food limits the amount of fossil fuels used to transport the products to a supermarket near you. Obviously the best option is to choose products that are both organic and local, but this is not always an option.
So what is better? Buying organic imported products and produce or going to the local market?
Read more about the organic vs. local dilemma::
Do Jaffa Oranges With Carbon Label Make Them Green Oranges from the Garden of Eden?
The Organic Food Debate Rages On
Fridge Voyeurism in Israel Because I Am What I Eat, I Guess
Author: Karen Chernick
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Turkey ham or otherwise, Muslims are not the only people that live in Dubai and public places cater to everyone. Muslims in Dubai “accept” the “ham element” just like a Jewish person in the States “accepts” someone else eating something non-kosher. Doesn’t mean they’re eating it, just means there are tons of other people out there. I’m moving to Dubai soon & am constantly faced with questions like this because people don’t realize how multicultural the region is. I’m just thankful a place like this will be available to me.
Never mind. I see it's “turkey ham” and obviously not pork.
What do you mean by the “ham element in their pizza?”
I wonder how the Muslims in Dubai will accept the ham element in their pizza. I think local is better than organic. Local and organic the best.