Recent reports that Greek fruits and vegetables surpass the safety limit for chemical insecticide and fertilizer residue was the last straw in a European Union -wide string of food scares. And Greek consumers' increased awareness about the safety - or lack thereof - of the food they eat, is naturally fuelling the quest for organically grown products.
Organic food sections are now prominently displayed at both major and minor supermarkets and there is always a crush at the central Athens organic food store and vegetarian restaurant, Health & Ecology. Elsewhere, the Grecotel hotel chain offers organic produce on some menus, specialised shops, the likes of the Green Farm chain, are sprouting, while one of Greece's three organic certification bodies, DIO, plans to begin certifying guest-houses as well as restaurants and health-food stores.
"Year by year organic farming is growing," says DIO's Socrates Zabetoglou. But grains are still in short supply. "There is no rice, for example; just some lentils and beans," he says. As if to illustrate the difficulty in trying to introduce grain varieties, that staple of the vegans diet, tofu (made from soya) appears to be an ecological holy grail. "Organic soya is difficult to find," says Bio Hellas Costas Diamantopoulos, "because its hard to find non-genetically modified seeds."
Trend watered by need
From only a handful of organic farms a decade ago, DIO, Bio-Hellas or Physiologiki had certified a hefty 7,850 farmers by 2001, with about 880 of those for livestock. "The first organic animals - cattle, sheep, goats and chickens - will be certified in two or three months alongside milk products," says Diamantopoulos. "Farmers are now especially interested in animal husbandry," Physiologiki's Rania Patronopoulou concurs.
Its not hard to understand why. Mainland or island shepherds, who already graze their goats and sheep naturally, may as well get recognition for a practice they've engaged in for centuries. "Its an easy proposition for interested herdsmen," says Agathi Balbouzi, head of the agriculture ministry's organic department. This rise also ratchets up the organic hectare count.
Organic farming now makes up about one percent of Greece's total cultivated land (Germany's is 2.5 percent) - not insignificant, considering the method was initially met with scepticism. And current market conditions might be ripe for wide-scale conversion, despite the admittedly meagre subsidies earmarked for the all but cheap organic leap.
On the other hand, the government assists growers in peripheral ways. "Theres a lot besides subsidies," says Balbouzi. "For processing, standardization, getting a better price for their product on the market and through the European Union's Agenda 2000-2006 program," she says. "There is also a state organization in the process of being set up in Greece, Dimitra, which will provide organic agriculture training all over the country," Balbouzi informs.
Luring consumers
A major EU market that has embraced organic food is Germany, which bodes well for Greece. Demand for natural food grew 40-60% last year and German companies are actively seeking out more organic producers. Greek farmers are eager to oblige, mainly with olive oil (59%), wine (11%) and citrus fruits (9-10%), according to DIO. "As for other vegetables, fruits and grains, the market is buoyed purely by domestic demand," Zabetoglou says.
Most Greek consumers, however, still have to get used to choosing the healthier wilted lettuce and mottled tomatoes with a shorter shelf life than the aesthetically-perfect, mass produced specimens. Athens first entirely organic restaurant, on the other hand, was closed at time of writing - a mere four months after it opened.
But as more people turn to natural food, more organic farms and product varieties will come on stream and, in the process, flatten out the cost and availability of healthy food for all and perhaps help keep Greece's rural community in profitable work.
