Features

Organic is the Way to Go!

Some of Ireland's leading restaurateurs tell Ruth O'Connor that the market for organic food is growing

David Miliband, Britain's Environment Secretary, may have shocked some people recently by announcing that organic food was a mere "lifestyle choice". At home, the Green Party manifesto advocates local, organic food production asserting that "People must be encouraged to buy direct, buy local and buy organic". We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of farmers' markets country-wide in Ireland and it is becoming clear that a change in consumer habits is underway. We now have the option whether or not to buy and eat organic at home, but should we have to sacrifice that "lifestyle choice" when we go to a restaurant? And just how easy is it for restaurateurs in Ireland to source organic produce?

Supply difficulties

The menu of Cork restaurant Café Paradiso is very much subject to seasonal availability and ease of access to raw ingredients. "Flour is easy, we use organic tofu and much of our yoghurts and vegetables are organic," says Bridget Healy. However, there is a supply problem when it comes to accessing organic produce - restaurateurs need goods delivered to their restaurants, often on a daily basis and many traditional carriers do not carry organic produce. "Obviously Ireland has quite a short growing season so that makes it easier to access organics in the summer." Sometimes there is not a huge difference between the price of organic food and non-organic, but, says Healy "If the price is three times as much, it's just not viable".

Healy has an amusing, if interesting, slant on organic food. "I have this premise that it shouldn't be called organic - everything else should be called chemical! I think that organic food should be unlabelled and pesticide-ridden food should be labelled. Something like: 'This carrot could kill you!'" Many of her customers enjoy the seasonal aspect to organic, locally produced food. "People will be looking forward to celeriac and salsify at different times of the year. With vegetarian food you get to eat a lot more widely than you would on a meat-based diet."

Increased awareness

Erik and Michelle Robson may well debate this point. All of the meat at their Ely winebars and restaurants is sourced directly through Erik's father's farm "Glencarn" in the Burren. Hugh Robson was selling meat at the Temple Bar food market in Dublin, but now, thanks to his son's success, he has enough on his hands supplying Ely with meat. Hugh can meet part of the restaurant's needs from his own farm and he also sources poultry and lamb from other organic farms.

"Our customers notice the difference in taste and people are becoming more aware of what they put into their bodies," says Michelle, while husband Erik says that as a restaurateur, it is just as important to consider issues of traceability, the quality of the food and the quality of life the animal has prior to ending up on your plate. "We are not going to serve Pyrenees milk-fed lamb, for example, just because it's fashionable or because the chef wants to be 'fierce fancy'," says Michelle, "serving organic should be about serving locally-produced food too."

Again the Robsons assert supply problems as an impediment to the use of organic vegetables in their restaurants - the initial problem was lack of storage space and now with two more restaurants, the problem is one of volume and daily delivery. Pamela Fitzmaurice of Blazing Salads cites similar reasons for not using organic vegetables, as well as issues of cost. "We found the costs too high and so the outlay of those costs to the customer was just too high. We did use organic vegetables in our juices but we were making a loss. We had to ask 'do people want organic or do they just want good food?'"

However, all Blazing Salad bread is certified organic. "All our flour, grains, oat flakes and beans are organic," explains Fitzmaurice, "as are the tomatoes for our pizza sauces, our apples and all our oils." For the Fitzmaurices, having a strictly vegetarian deli makes it difficult to rely solely on organic produce, however where their bakery is concerned it made sense to go for organic certification. "Definitely with our breads the best choice was to go organic. Market research showed that there was a market for good quality organic breads and it's going very, very well for us."

Acceptable margins

Ireland's only certified organic restaurant is The Strawberry Tree in the Brooklodge Hotel. Being located in Wicklow has made access to organic ingredients somewhat easier for Evan Doyle, who made the commitment to source organic, wild and free range foods back in 1993, when the restaurant was based in Killarney. "I was lucky that I landed beside Denis Healy who grows and imports organic vegetables and the guys at Gold River farm. I'm very lucky to have them on my doorstep."

Does Doyle believe that the price of organic produce is prohibitive? The good value meals at the Strawberry Tree would suggest not. "The cost is prohibitive if you step outside the season - I can't pick up the phone in February and order asparagus, it would cost me an arm and a leg, but if things are planned well and are bought within the season I would expect to pay no more than a 10% levy, which is acceptable to me."

Doyle believes that his customers are turning towards organic, traceable food. "We've seen the rise in the last 20 or 30 years of cancers, diseases of the colon and diabetes, and to me, it's no coincidence that the introduction of intensive farming and chemicals in our food happened at the same time. People are becoming more aware that they don't want intensive farming and they are using their pockets to vote. Supermarkets are giving up more of their shelf-space to organics, something they don't do lightly."

The other aspect of organics is traceability, says Doyle, echoing the Robsons' sentiments. "People are demanding that they know where their food is coming from, particularly their meat and poultry. All these things that we are now demanding in our foods are organic standards. There is a growing realisation that we have to be more careful about what we put in our bodies."

Add your comment

Your name:
Subject:
Comment:
Word verification:
	Post Preview

yvComment v.1.18.3