Nourishing the natural approach

Eating healthy

Afraid you are consuming pesticides and chemicals through the food you eat? Do you spend needless amounts of time scrubbing away at your vegetables before adding them into the curry in the hope that no preservatives enter your body? 

If the above two questions are applicable to you, then a switch to organic food might be advisable. 

Rasa in Indiranagar, organised a farmer’s market with organic products on Saturday evening. The event takes place every alternate Saturday at their CMH Road venue. Eight participants, including Soukya Holistic Health and Ayurvedic Treatment Centre, who have been participating for the last three months, were there. 

   Organically grown vegetables, fruits, honey and baked goods were available. Pradeep, the outgoing manager, said that the demand for organic foods is growing day-by-day. According to him, they have established a customer base who want nothing more. 

Organic food might be the healthier option but it definitely isn’t the more cost-effective one. Shashikala Wilfred, the administrator in-charge of organic foods at Soukya, said that the reason it is so expensive is, “We grow the crops in clean atmosphere and give them rain-water which was harvested.”

 She said that organic farming is just something they do to make their holistic centre self-sufficient and they aren’t looking to market it widely. “We have some spare stock left so we come here every other weekend,” she said. When it was pointed out that most people would like to eat healthy but can’t afford it, she said, “These prices have been there from the beginning and we are just following the trend.” 

   She agreed that someone needs to take the first step and make it more accessible to people. Pradeep, on the other hand, said that the prices will come down as awareness about the products rises. 

   But most people remain oblivious to it because they are unwilling to shell out. Another problem that customers face is unavailability. 

   Charita, who happened to walk by, said she had never picked up organic food because it wasn’t easily available. “Once you get used to something, your body wants nothing else. If you can’t find that, it becomes a problem. I can’t go hunting for organic food,” she said 

But it has changed some lives. Parvathy, who was selling baked goods at the fair, said, “After I had my son, I became more health conscious and now, we eat only organic food at home.” She noted how people are willing to pay exorbitant amounts for small quantities just because it looks good but not for something that is healthy.