Turkey Going Organic! (the country, that is…)

Did you know that Turkey is the third largest exportor of organic food to the European Union? Did you also know that industrial agriculture is trying to move into Turkey and take over the independent farms and destroy their organic way of life? But there are people trying to stop this – and one of them came in to meet with me yesterday.

And to make it even more interesting, did you know that there are 50 Turkish restaurants in the New York area?

And to make it even more interesting, did you know that there are 50 Turkish restaurants in the New York area?

I was really surprised to find that out. And I was extremely delighted to find out they’re all thinking about going organic or sustainable. That’s huge! I met with Lincoln McCurdy, a representative from the Turkish American Chamber of Commerce to help brainstorm for a panel/conference they’re putting together for all the Turkish restaurants, which will happen some time in May.

The goal of this first meeting is to interest the Turkish restaurant owners in buying sustainable food – apparently, there’s already a lot of interest. And do you want to know how this all came about? Turns out that when Turkish people come to the States and eat in the Turkish restaurants, they find that the food isn’t as good. After looking into it, they discovered that the quality of the ingredients in Turkey was so much higher because the food was organic. So, they’re looking to do that here. I think this has the potential for a lot of press. They’ve asked us to co-sponsor the meeting, which I’m more than happy to do.

Are you sitting there thinking – hey, what is the Turkish National Anthem? Or, what the heck is up with Turkey? Check out the BBC’s Turkey page to find out more about it. The BBC link seems to emphasize the military and darker side of the country – for balance, try visiting Turkey Central.

And it seems word’s getting out about the organic movement in Turkey – NewFarm.org has an article about Turkey organic farming in their most recent newsletter.