The Hindu Business Line : Going organic is the way

Think ghee, think cholesterol? No, not after the introduction of a low-cholesterol, organic version of the product. In fact, organic foods offer you a range of healthier, heartier substitutes.

Ghee without cholesterol? Vegetarian eggs? Sounds like a contradiction in terms, but a couple of new products point towards a trend which, up till now, has been confined to urban, well-heeled pockets: Going organic is the way to be.

Specially created for the Indian market, Le Bon Ghee positions itself as a `healthier' product, with 80 per cent less cholesterol. Currently manufactured by Le Bon's sister concern in Belgium through a process called `decholesterolisation', the ghee is available at select stores in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh. "It is the same process we use for our butter," says Sumeet Anand, CEO, Dabon International Pvt Ltd, "but the intention with the ghee is to preserve its natural taste, as our consumers remember it."

If you remember, ghee in most traditional North Indian homes would be bought in 18 kg tins (one kg of superior ghee would cost Rs 5), which would last a month. No one used any other medium while cooking: These were the pre-Dalda days, and much before vegetable oils flooded the market. But with the robust lifestyles they led in those days, people could afford to use so much of ghee.

Today, however, increasingly sedentary days and nights, when the most strenuous thing you do is push computer keys, and an alarming increase in the incidence of heart disease has forced people to re-evaluate their dietary habits. The very latest research dubs even `good cholesterol' bad, making ghee a strict `no-no' in most households. But if, like most old-timers, you believe in the efficacy of ghee for strong bones (when consumed in small quantities, of course), or like most old-fashioned cooks, you know that nothing tastes quite like ghee, then a low-cholesterol ghee is a good idea.

At Rs 145 for a 500 gm tin pack, Le Bon Ghee is pricey, but it goes down well on the taste-aroma-texture scale: It smells just the way it should, and is also satisfactorily grainy. Soon, the ghee will travel to Southern stores, promises Anand, who is currently test-marketing Le Bon's freshly-packed paneer.

Organ egg, a new egg brand, boasts of an interesting USP. It terms its pack of six eggs priced at Rs 22 as `herbal', and `satvik' (pure). The hens are fed on a special `vegetarian' diet fortified by herbs.

Haryana-based Tagma Agrotech Ltd's research in innovative organic foods, and specifically `dietary engineering' has resulted in the eggs, which are said to have `ultra-low' cholesterol (80-120 mg per egg compared to 200-240 mg in conventional eggs).

Sanjiv Wadhera, a director with Tagma Agrotech Ltd, refuses to divulge more than the fact that the hens are fed a mix of ashwagandha, neem and other herbs. "The eggs are also high in vitamin E, and zinc, and most importantly, the sodium content is very low, less than half of the conventional egg, suitable for those with hypertension," he says.

A taste trial proved nice. The aroma is pretty much egg-like, but the lingering after-taste that egg-haters abhor isn't there. Organeggs are available in high-end stores in Punjab, Haryana and New Delhi. The placement is still being worked out, says Wadhera, given the pricing. In September-October, the eggs will head South, via Mumbai.

Going organic is, in a sense, going back to the way it used to be. A time when fertilizers did not automatically mean harmful chemicals, and when the vegetables and fruit you ate came from soil, which would be replenished with healthy manure and mulch.

A visit to the Dubden Healthy Living Store, located in a swish New Delhi `urban village', tells you that eating organic has just become easier, because that's the intention of Jayashree and Ganesh Eashwar: To provide the consumer a range of organic foods. "It could be one organic product as opposed to another, which could be more or less expensive, but the important thing is that you go away with something that is organically grown and produced," says Ganesh Eashwar, who along with his wife, quit high-profile, fat-salaried corporate jobs to run the store.

The thing with staying on the organic track, always assuming you've decided to go the route (with a 15 to 20 per cent hike in your monthly grocery bill because that's how much more organic produce costs, on an average), is the difficulty in finding it all under one roof. Dubden stocks not just vegetables and fruits, but also pickles, jams, preserves, cooking oils and whole grain breads, which says Jayashree, are all sold out long before the day is done. So you'll find Navdanya products, as well as other brands, which may not necessarily be organic, but are `healthier' options, on the shelves.

The spacious store also has corners that displays hand-made woollen garments, as well as a counter where you can get a whole bunch of essential oils. Just the fact that the store has so much space is indicative of the way things are: There are not so many people who have turned organic just yet.

The Eashwars, who started out with a farm on the outskirts of Bangalore, soon realised that departmental stores give cursory attention to organic products, with a neglected, ill-stocked shelf or two. And that NGOs who work directly with farmers do not have the tools to link up directly with consumers. "Basically, what we are doing is the opposite of NGOs — by linking with others who do the same thing, we are making sure that we manage to provide a range of products — rice from the South and the North East, pulses from the hills for example, in our own store, and in other stores. Pretty much like the old time barter system," they chuckle together.

My favourite, from the Dubden store: sun-dried fruit, good for a post-meal treat, or a mealtime snack. Both the banana and mango, which one chose from an array of other fruit, were tasty and aromatic.

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