* The Best Of The “All Things Organic” Trade Show

* For three organic jam-packed days at Chicago’s McCormick Place, we attended the 7th Annual All Things Organic conference and trade show, which highlighted the potential of organic, conscious businesses to be successful AND have a positive impact on the world. Check out raw and organic delights like guilt-free cacao coconut butters, gluten-free vegan baked goods, and nut-based raw vegan gelato! Plus cool organizations who educate to stop GMOs, organize a traveling sustainable village festival, and a popular bodycare company that spreads magic and hope and organic soap around the world. *

 

THE HOT POTATO
Serving Up a Weekly Helping of
Sustainable & Organic Gardening, Food, Health, and Community

by Adam Brockman & Aireen Joven, May 2007, # 16

THIS WEEK’S DISH:
THE BEST OF THE “ALL THINGS ORGANIC” TRADE SHOW

ARTISANA’S ALL THINGS ORGANIC TEAM. Cole Meeker-Artisana Sales; Matt Gochman-Artisana Co-Owner; Loi-Natalie Laing, Esq. (CHC, AADP)-Artisana Assistant, Chicago-Area Vegan Baker and Caterer (www.happybuddhabakery.com) (www.sankalpaorganic.com), and Certified Nutritional Health Counselor (www.loilaing.com); and Aireen-Artisana Assistant and Hot Potato columnist and photographer.

FOLLOWING closely on the heels of April’s Green Festival, Chicago hosted another big event with organic foods and businesses as a central theme. The Organic Trade Association’s 7th Annual All Things Organic conference and trade show (www.organicexpo.com), which ran from May 5 to May 8 at McCormick Place, was a gathering place for several hundred businesses as well as community action groups, organic certifiers, and organic farms to make connections and forge ties to get their products and educational messages to wider audiences. With more organic products being exhibited than any other show in North America, all products on display must be certified organic, made with certified organic ingredients, or be approved for use in organic production.

For three organic jam-packed days, representatives from independent natural food stores and co-ops to national chain stores, regional and international food brokers and distributors, caterers, restaurant owners, journalists, non-profits, farmers, producers, and just plain ole organic enthusiasts came together to exchange ideas on how to continue to expand the quality and message of what is becoming the future of food, farming, clothing, and nearly every aspect of the marketplace. Attendees also came together to sample some of the healthiest foods and products from companies and farmers both big and small.

OUR FAVES – RAW, ORGANIC, & MADE WITH INTEGRITY

Besides organic, the raw foods movement is the next big thing in food and health. Like organic, eating raw, whole foods has actually been the norm for thousands of years, since before the term “raw” even existed. It’s with good reason that more and more people are beginning to re-embrace the values of eating organic foods in their purest, most intact state. Far beyond fruit & salads, culinary creations that fall under the raw category are endless as the raw chef’s imagination.

The term “raw” refers to foods that have generally not been heated above 118 degrees fahrenheit during processing, thus retaining all of their essential enzymes needed for proper digestion and preserving heat-sensitive vitamins and minerals like Vitamin C, all of which are destroyed by high-temperature cooking. Methods like dehydration, soaking, sprouting, and sun-drying are all used in place of high-temperature cooking to maintain as close as possible the original purity and vitality of the food while creating delectable dishes like raw pizza, fakin’ bacon (made from dehydrated eggplant and spices), and even raw cakes, cookies, and ice creams that are not only just as delicious as their un-raw counterparts, they’re healthy and guilt-free.

The reason for raw foods’ superior health benefits are because most other processed foods have been so denatured from their original purity by excessive heating, the addition of chemicals for flavor and texture enhancement, and the use of health-damaging sweeteners like white sugar and high fructose corn syrup (which we will cover in an upcoming Hot Potato article), that they have been rendered, to differing degrees, harmful to our bodies. When you consume food in its most pristine form, meaning with all of its original vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and enzymes intact, whether it is an apple or a raw apple pie with a sprouted buckwheat crust, your body is able to fully utilize and absorb these compounds without having to expend extra energy expelling toxins and producing digestive enzymes to replace those destroyed by overheating. We found several companies at the show that are not only making delicious, high quality raw, vegan, and organic foods, they are helping to spread the message that eating such foods can be transformative to one’s health and the health of the planet.

Thanks to our lucky stars and a search for “organic” on craigslist.com (an online free classified service), Aireen scored a gig helping one of the best vendors at the show. And thanks to Aireen’s wonderful co-worker with an extra pass, Adam was also able to check out the show that is otherwise closed to the public. Aireen spent much of the show sharing samples of products by Artisana (www.premierorganics.com), whose raw nut butters, coconut butter, and coconut butter blends are some of the most consciously crafted and delicious we’ve tasted anywhere. A common reaction from people who sampled Artisana’s Cacao Bliss, a blend of coconut butter, raw cacao nibs, and agave nectar, which won best new vegetarian product by VegNews magazine, was “Oh my god” and “I’m going to get addicted to this stuff.” We are hooked for the taste, the health benefits, and to support a socially and environmentally responsible company run by some cool people. You’ve also got to try the Goji Bliss, a blend of coconut butter and high-antioxidant goji berries, and the Amazon Bliss, a superfood combo of coconut butter, cacao nibs, goji berries, agave, and acai – an extremely high-antioxidant berry fruit sustainably harvested from palm trees that grow in the Amazon Rainforest.

Interestingly, many of the products at the ATO show featured acai and other Rainforest foods. An increase in consumer demand of sustainably harvested Rainforest foods provides jobs, healthcare, and schools for the farmers’ communities while creating incentive to protect the Rainforests, the lungs of the planet, which are being logged for wood and paper products on a scale far beyond fast recovery. On a side note, we will not be eating heart of palms ever again. A vendor at the show told us that the vegetable known as heart of palm, which I had tried for the first time a couple years ago and thought was delicious, is found in the inner core of certain palm trees and is harvested by chopping the head off of the palm, killing the wild tree. Apparently, certain domesticated varieties like the “Peach Palm” will not die because they are self suckering, instead of single stemmed, but like organic animal products and mercury-free seafood, the informed consumer must seek the out the safe version or avoid all versions entirely.

Manufactured in a peanut-free facility in Oakland, California, Artisana’s nut and coconut butters are 100% raw, organic, vegan, gluten-free, and kosher. We learned that coconut butter differs from coconut oil in that the coconut meat is first dehydrated at a low temperature and then processed to retain both the fiber and the oil resulting in a more creamy and nutritious product. Artisana will soon be in the Midwest, but in the meantime you can find online retailers listed on their website above. Search for Artisana under “Nut & Seed Butters” at www.naturalzing.com. The site carries a great selection of Artisana nut and coconut butters as well as Artisana’s Black Sesame Tahini, perfect for women, vegans, and health-conscious people, because of its extremely high calcium and iron content, 35% and 26.2% respectively in just a two tablespoon serving. Another Artisana favorite is the Soynut Butter, which is a fabulous alternative to peanut butter and all nut butters, for people who cannot tolerate any nuts.

Pure of Holland, a local company based in Holland, Michigan, recently launched the Pure Bar (www.thepurebar.com), an organic, raw, and vegan food bar that was among the most delicious food bars we sampled at the show. Learning the unique story behind the Pure Bar and owner and creator, Veronica Bosgraaf, we knew we had to share it with Hot Potato readers. At the age of six, Veronica’s daughter announced that she wanted to become vegetarian, explaining that the she didn’t like the taste of meat and that she objected to the inhumane treatment of the animals. Veronica not only supported her daughter in her decision, she vowed to join her, and they became vegetarian together. Three years ago, she created the Pure Bar with her daughter’s nutritional needs and tastes in mind, and the result is six flavors that adults and children alike can appreciate, from chocolate chip trailmix (made with raw cacao nibs, one of the highest antioxidant foods in existence) to cranberry orange. Ever since then, her daughter has eaten a Pure Bar every day, including one in her lunch bag when she goes to school.

In the realm of raw desserts, two companies in particular stood out in terms of flavor and uniqueness. One of those companies, Raw Creations (www.raw-creations.com), is based in the Chicago area, and specializes in raw cakes, cookies, biscotti, pies, and other desserts. Founder Jason Janiak was inspired to launch this business after healing his allergies on a living foods (raw) diet. His desserts use no processed sugars, gluten, dairy or eggs, sodium, or soy, so no matter what your food allergy or sensitivity is (unless you’re allergic to nuts) you’re free to indulge without fear of any health repercussions. They are dehydrated at low temperatures rather than baked, yet they taste just as good if not better than their considerably less-healthy, sugary, baked counterparts. Like most raw food chefs, he uses agave nectar, a low-glycemic sweetener that even the most sugar-sensitive can relish without worry. Additionally, Janiak uses some recycled packaging and packaging made from corn which, like plastic, is still unsustainable due to the fossil fuels that are still needed to grow, ship, and process the corn, but is at least biodegradable and will not harm animals if properly disposed.

The other dessert exhibitor that stood out had a product so unique and tasty, yet so uncharacteristically healthy, that several fellow vendors began to hang out at the booth and enthusiastically recommend their favorite flavors to newcomers. Reawaken the side of you that dashed for the ice cream truck as a kid, and prepare your palette for a new Raw, Organic, Dairy-Free, Agave-Sweetened Gelato, made by Organic Nectars (www.organicnectars.com). For those who have not tried gelato before, it is an Italian desert much like ice cream, only it is made more dense with less air whipped into the product, its ingredients are unhomogenized, and it uses milk instead of cream which results in less fat. The richer, creamier taste of gelato over ice cream still comes with the negative health effects of sugar, calories, artificial food dyes (depending on where you get it), and sometimes cholesterol (if eggs are included in the recipe), but Organic Nectars Gelato has come to the rescue! This just-released Gelato is not made from soy or rice milk like nearly all other non-dairy ice creams, but from sprouted, blended nuts! You did read that right, a gelato made out of raw, sprouted nuts. You’d never know the difference: from the rich and creamy chocolate hazelnut to the fruity goji berry blend and the sweet & green pistachio, even the most avid ice cream addict will be instantly converted and scratching their heads, wondering how they did it. Organic Nectars is currently seeking distributors and retailers to get this healthy dessert alternative into the hands of people outside of their home base of Woodstock, New York. You can request your local store to carry it and order for yourself by emailing info@organicnectars.com.

BODYCARE ACTIVISTS, ANTI-GMO CRUSADERS, AND SUSTAINABILITY ON WHEELS

In the world of organic bodycare, few companies truly set the standards for purity, fairly-traded ingredients, sustainable packaging, and profit-sharing with community groups and employees alike. One company that continues to lead the way on all fronts is Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps (www.drbronner.com). Not only are the oils used to make their soaps certified organic, including organic hemp oil, 95% of their olive oil is fair trade certified from the West Bank in Palestine. The bottles that hold their liquid soaps are 100% post-consumer recycled, and the paper used to wrap their soap bars are 10% hempflax and 90% post-consumer recycled.

Over the last five years, their charitable gifting to social and environmental causes has closely matched their after-tax income, with 30-50% of their profits having been used to help over 20 “human charities”. These charities have included: building freshwater wells in China and helping “street women” become nurses in Nigeria to supporting organic farms and disadvantaged children in the United States; safeguarding meaningful organic standards; and fighting for American farmers’ rights to grow industrial hemp, truly a miracle agricultural crop. The Bronners’ profit-sharing and healthcare plans combined are the most generous seen in any industry. The company annually gives bonuses totaling at least $10,000 per employee for warehouse positions. Two years ago, family executives chose to lower their total compensation from six to five times the lowest-paid warehouse position.

Taking their pursuit of quality and sustainability one step further, Bronner’s has taken an active role in making sure that the organic standards for bodycare products are not tampered with, and that any companies who use the term “organic” in their name or on their packaging live up to the purity of ingredients that the label is supposed to imply. Having worked in the holistic health department of a natural foods store, I (Adam) have seen that most of the bodycare companies on the market, with very few exceptions, who sell their products under various organic labels, still use synthetic ingredients and preservatives. Dr. Bronner’s continues to circulate petitions and educational material, and has even gone to court, to make sure that the organic standards are safeguarded, and that bodycare companies who use the label for extra profit are not taking advantage of unknowing consumers. All this while selling five million bottles and bars with very little marketing, besides the bottles’ own trademark labels covered in thousands of inspirational words spreading the message of Dr. Bronner (who passed away peacefully in 1997) that we are all One Family on Spaceship Earth.

In past articles, we have addressed the dangers that genetically modified foods pose to our health and our food supply. One organization present at the All Things Organic show, BioVision 2020 (www.biovision2020.org), brought together a team of experts on GMOs to hold four workshops at the conference, to generate momentum for the passage of legislation banning GMOs and requiring GMO foods to be labeled, to gain media exposure on this issue, and to educate the public. I stopped by the booth, filled out a petition, and picked up a copy of The Organic & Non-GMO Report (available at www.non-gmoreport.com), a newsletter published ten times a year which provides the latest updates and findings on the environmental and human health effects of GMO foods, antibiotics, and pesticides, along with stories on organics and related issues.

One of the last booths I visited, at the very end of the show, belonged to The Sustainable Living Roadshow (www.sustainablelivingroadshow.org). Their booth was almost completely dismantled by the time I got there, but I managed to speak with one of the organizers, and learned that this traveling festival of education and entertainment will be touring the U.S. in a caravan of veggie-oil powered buses, stopping at university campuses, elementary schools, and community festivals to “empower communities and individuals to utilize sustainable living strategies for a healthier planet”. Wherever they set up camp will become “an experiential learning village” with workshops, speakers, films, art, music, theater, a natural health “farmacy”, and a green marketplace. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about everything from composting to green building techniques, traditional healing modalities such as herbalism from experienced practitioners, and witness health-conscious cooking shows. Sadly, the Roadshow is not scheduled to spread the fun in Illinois anytime soon; they’re focusing on swing states during the election year, and the West Coast this year. Still, if you’re interested in having them come to your community, or if you want to make a donation to help their work, you can visit the website listed above and get in touch with this sustainable learning village and festival on wheels.

THE ETERNAL GREEN: MORE THAN MONEY CAN BUY

For a conference and trade show that was supposed to be highlighting sustainable and organic businesses and business practices, All Things Organic was clearly lacking in one major area: the amount of waste generated was enormous. Unlike the Green Festival, there were hardly any recycling bins to be found. The use of compostable materials was not encouraged, and even if it had been, there were no compost bins. Almost every article of waste at the conference (and there were easily several hundred tons of it, especially with the amount of food left behind at the end) went straight to the landfill.

This is representative of the deep disconnect that still exists within the organic industry. The journey to sustainability and responsible environmental stewardship must be made on all fronts, not just in the business piece of the puzzle, because these are the cornerstones of the organic movement. In board rooms and business meetings around the world, some companies are still under the illusion that social and environmental responsibility runs counter to successful business and high profits. The Hot Potato would like to debunk this notion once and for all. The example of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps’s says it all. Fifteen employees manufacturing 1.5 million bottles a year, as well as bar soap, all packed by hand, with no machinery n Escondido, California, the home of the $7 million dollar company that donated a thousand-acre rain forest worth more than $1 million to the Boys and Girls Clubs. For the Organic Trade Association to have held such a huge event and not to have done all they can to lessen the conference’s environmental impact is not acceptable, for people, planet, and future generations. If the Green Festival can do it, All Things Organic can do it…and needs to do it, like all of us here on Spaceship Earth need to.

Although All Things Organic was no Green Festival, it was similar in that many important connections were made with like-minded individuals who share the mission of promoting personal and planetary healing. We made some new friends, learned a lot about food in our many dialogues and taste-testings, and exchanged important information with others who are interested in creating peace and good, healthy food for all. As illustrated at both the All Things Organic show and the Green Festival, organic businesses, responsible ventures, and educational earth-conscious endeavors are popping up fast like radishes in spring time. The trade show was so exciting and successful that when McCormick Place turned down the lights at the end of the last day, a large group of vendors spontaneously applauded to celebrate the end of the show and the beginning of the next wave of the organic, green revolution, already well on its way.

Until next week, the Hot Potato is in your hands. Pass it on!

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