Organic food buzz at Marrickville

Organic food has been an emerging buzz in the 'food scene' for newly enlightened health food junkies in Sydney, I guess same goes at other rich countries where quantity alone does not satisfy any more. And there is more to it, people being aware of what goes on during the food production - pesticides, animal treatment, ethics and so forth. Some say, organic is for soul, probably they equate this to food being free of synthetic hormones, chemicals and other bio hazard, that billions put into their mouth everyday. There must be a link, 'cleaner' food - vegetables grown using only natural fertilizers and chicken fed with earthworms alone - and better soul? Emm..I am sratching my head, organic food..soul food..is it serious and here to stay, obviously it has a place in the food chain, but can it be real rather than a hippie sounding fad?

To find out, we went to an upmarket weekly organic food market in Marrickville last sunday to have a taste and fist glance. It has a seventies hippie buzz to it and the first thing that hits you in the entrance is a large poster welcoming the refugees, then the portraits of mostly African immigrants and refugees lined up in the walkway that leads to the actual market. I could not but wonder what's organic food got to do with that?? Is it a leftist, socialist hippie camp? Inside, a nice lineup of stalls selling 'organic' vegetable, meat, fruits produced with natural ingredients alone, so they claim. It reminded me of real markets in Kathmandu, back in the days when the food tasted real - a strong flavor of spinach when cooked, just the right toughness of savoury chicken, unforgettable taste of red onions. Steroid chicken of the developed world is not a match. Vegetable here are bigger in size, but milder taste. You can hardly tell eggplant from potato.

Marrickville
organic
food market is a good weekend getaway, kinda rebellious against the mass markets dominated by Coles and Woolworths. It seemed to have a steady flow of devoted fans clamoring for organic food stalls, restaurants and meats. Mixing the old book shops, discarded furniture shops and similar antique finish off the picture, it kinda felt like visiting an antique store, although we got more than what we went there for - organic food - but could not tell what was the main theme of the market - socio-cultural issues, refugees, organic food, hippies, rubbish..its a convoluted mixture of cultures.