Istanbul, Turkey's major port city, is located on both sides of Europe and Asia. The beauty of culture from ancient times and the enormous mosque that many of transformations from the Christian church, the lively shopping market with a wide variety of products, the cuteness of product negotiation of people. These are all factors that attract tourists from all over the world to come to experience the charm of this Istanbul city by themselves.
It is fortunate for tourists like us on the sadness of the Turkish people because of the impact of the conflict with the US and the chronic economic deficit, causing the Turkish currency in the last two years to be much weaker from one Turkish Lira that was equal to ten Thai Bath to one Turkish Lira that is equal to five Thai Baht right now.
In this trip, we found that Istanbul people tend to live a slow life. On both sides, whether in Europe or Asia, the thing that must be seen throughout the street is the coffee shop. Turkish coffee is very bitter, so it is commonly served with chocolate and water. On some days, Turkish people stop to sit and sip coffee together more than four times. One day, we stopped for a sip of black tea in a traditional coffee shop sitting with a low table and chair down the side of the road. Not long after sitting, the man on the left table turned to invite us to try snacks from he bought from the roadside shop. Not until we had tried just yet, another man on the next table also joined us to taste the snacks all of the sudden. This cuteness reflects the friendliness of the people here very much.
Speaking of the organic food, we had the opportunity to talk with a 50-year-old Turkish woman Nuray about the organic eating trend in Istanbul. Nuray laughed and told us that under this economic situation, people don't care about organic food. Because it is organic, therefore, the price is very expensive. Most people can’t afford it. But that does not mean there is none.
“If you want to find organic products, then go to a specialized supermarket like MiGros Sepermarket, which will sell only organic vegetables. But the price is much higher than the general market. The person who can afford it must be a person with good economic and social status.”, said Nuray.
So we went to explore both the bazaar and the supermarket. It was clearly the difference. We went to see MiGros Sepermarket where we saw that fruits and vegetables that are on sale here were completely unattractive. In contrast to the vegetables we saw from the fresh market where the plump tomatoes were twice as large as those from the organic market. They had smooth skin and vivid colors that seem to be very appetizing. But when we looked at the price, we were quite shocked because this was so cheap. We ran back to Nuray and asked her why. She told us that the reason it is cheap because it’s not organic. Because usually there would be a clear label to indicate if that products are organic, and of course, it comes in higher price.
Honestly, if you could choose to consume the organic products, who would say no. But because many times, financial problems cause many people to have no choice. This situation does not only happen to Istanbul but also in Vietnam and Thailand. This is cecause of the country's economy that greatly affects to the living conditions of the people. If you go to the developed countries like the United States or Japan, there would not even be a single organic label attached on their products, be because everything comes from organic agriculture in the first place.
To develop organic farming systems in the end, it must develop at the same time throughout the country, from the economy to the public utility system or even the transportation network. Everything must be developed together. We still hope that one day we will see fresh markets and supermarkets in Thailand that do not need to have the word ‘organic’ to separate separately indicate the ingredients. Because every raw material should be all non-toxic to begin with.
Author
Paranee Lerdwattanasombat
Independent Writer