New Zealand Organic Food Directory
In the fast-paced world in which we live, it is often difficult to find the time to follow our commitment to honouring our body, family, community and the ecosystem in which we all live. One of the biggest commitments we can make is to 'go organic'; to buy, prepare, eat and promote only organic food. This single decision with all the contingent implications such as supporting bioregionalism, community food systems, and the Slow Food movement, creates social change from which everyone and everything will benefit.
What would it be like if we all had time
to do other things?
By making this decision, each one of you has already taken a step towards a better life, and so congratulate yourself and be proud of yourself. The New Zealand Organic Food Directory is here to support your decision.
The New Zealand Organic Food Directory is intended to be a resource. A resource for both organic businesses and consumers. This directory supports organic food production, distribution, processing and consumption in New Zealand. You can use this directory to enhance your position no matter where you are placed in the organic food system. By supporting the organic movement you are supporting the change to more sustainable ways of living.
Currently, the majority of people buying organic produce do so at outlets that they have found through word of mouth. Unless someone you know tells you about an organic store, or unless you drive past one, you probably don't know where you can buy organic products. This directory aims to change this. Now New Zealanders will be able to search this directory to find organic food suppliers, restaurants, cafes, and markets in their local area.
The benefits of organic food are now well recognized with research findings that confirm that organic foods have far higher nutrient, vitamin and mineral content, as well as not having harmful pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and artificial fertilizer chemicals that are present in non-organic products. Organic food is especially higher in vitamin C, antioxidants, iron, phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium.
The general public is becoming increasingly aware of the benefits, as evidenced by the growth of the organic industry in New Zealand and around the world. New Zealand is following a boom that is transforming the way people eat. Global organic production is expanding at the rate of 10-15 percent a year – making it the fastest growing food sector. For many New Zealanders, organic food is seen as a 'must-have' because of the realities of conventional food production systems and their inherent issues eg food safety, the environment, genetically modified organisms and sustainability.
Many people would like to make the change to organic food but the misconception that organic food costs more stops them. Generally you will pay a little more money for your organic food, but the benefits of organic food in the longer term are significant and outweigh the immediate costs. Eating non-organic food will lead to ill-health with medical costs that will be far greater than the price of healthy eating. It is not only the monetary cost we have to consider. Good health and vitality lead to economic productivity and social fulfilment. What value do you put on good health?
The majority of people would buy and consume organic food if availability and price were not a problem. Between us we can help to overcome both of these problems.
Problem 1. Availability. The Organic Food Directory makes access to organic food easier. You can help make organic food more available to others by simply telling us about any organic business you know of that is not already in this directory. Also, tell all your friends and family about this site so that they can benefit from access to information and local organic suppliers.
Problem 2. Cost. Buy organic and support your local organic businesses. This will help to make the products more available and create economies of scale that help to bring the cost down. In this regard the individual does make a difference as your purchases have a multiplying effect.
We have included a substantial resource of information on organic food and related issues, to accompany the directory of organic food. When we talk about organic food, it is not just organic fruit and vegetables that we need to be aware of. It is also important to convert to organic beverages, sweeteners, herbs and spices and depending on your diet, organic meat and animal products. Organic fruit and vegetables are grown without chemicals so have higher levels of antioxidants, phytosterols, phytonutrients, glyconutrients and dietary fibres. All of these are beneficial for our health.
To be certified as organic, produce must be grown, processed and prepared in an environmentally friendly and humane way; so organic certification does not just mean health benefits for the consumer. The organic movement represents a important move away from conventional broadacre monocropping that has serious environmental consequences, and away from intensive livestock production that not only has serious environmental consequences but has animal welfare consequences as well.
Our information resource in the New Zealand Organic Food Directory provides information on a range of general issues. The importance of organic food for children is one such issue. Many people are giving their babies organic baby food because they want what is best for their babies. This is especially important as young children are particularly susceptible to the toxins created through conventional farming and food processing. If you want to know how we can protect our children see the 'What can we do?' page.
A general issue that can have enormous effects on our social, economic, and environmental systems is the marketing and distribution of food. Community Food Systems are alternative food production and distribution processes that support social, health, economic and environmental systems at all levels. Today large supermarkets dominate our food systems; the result being lower prices for farmers and higher prices for consumers. The existing system also means that food travels long distances to reach the consumer. For example, apples grown in Hamilton are purchased by a leading Supermarket, are trucked to a warehouse in Wellington before being trucked back to the local Supermarket just 10kms from the farm, more than 6 weeks later. Another example of the failure of the current predominant food system is the Royal Gala Apple. Royal Galas are a half / half variety; that is, 50% red and 50% green. The supermarkets, working on the misconception that the consumer wants redder apples, asks farmers to produce 80% red apples. This means more inputs of chemicals and fertilisers and the end result is an apple that is redder, but not as cruchy, tasty or nutrient rich; all of which are actually important to consumers.
Under the heading Community Food Systems, you can read about community supported agriculture, box schemes, farmers groups, consumer groups and coops, farmers markets, you-pick-it farms, and community gardens as mechanisms to reverse the ineffective supermarket-driven food systems.
Another hot topic related to organic food is genetic engineering and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). There is considerable controversy surrounding the topic stemming from the fact that we do not know enough about the technology.
It is very important to be informed of the issues to support a move towards organic food consumption and production. Take the time to browse this resource of information.
How do you know you are getting organic food? The only way is through organic certification. Certified organic produce means that not only has it been organically grown, but that it has been harvested, prepared and transported via systems and processes that guarantee the product is not contaminated by synthetic chemicals and that it is not irradiated.
So make use of the New Zealand Organic Food Directory. The directory includes an extensive list of organic restaurants and cafes, suppliers of organic fruit and vegetables and groceries and the location of organic markets and market stalls.
Our search facility is free and gives you access to the largest organic food directory in New Zealand.
Help support your local organic businesses. Tell others how easy it is.