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EVENTS: Mavibahçe Organic Market

November 12, 2016November 10, 2016EVENTS, FOOD, WEEKENDS Catie

In my opinion, Mavibahçe, also know as Blue(Mavi) Garden(Bahçe), is one of the nicest malls in Izmir. This shopping mall looks massive from the outside, but once you enter, you will see a beautiful open garden in the middle with all the stores line the perimeter. But we can chat more about that another time.

November has been a gorgeous month so far. Fall time has slowly crept into our days bringing the cold air with it. But the warmer days are still found every so often. This made for the perfect day to have a little organic market in the center garden of this mall.

During my previous time living in Turkey, I was still learning how to chop up veggies and cook much less did I care what I was actually eating. Eight years later (and some quirky food habits like kombucha and homemade cashew butter), I have been a lot more curious as to what foods I can find here in Izmir and how I can continue some homemade/healthy options. So far, I have been greatly impressed by what options are available here.

I am not a huge organic guru, but I have slowly been learning more about where my food comes from and what I am putting in my body. In the process, I have come to a new appreciation for those who work to keep their products chemical free via their convictions about pesticides and toxic residues.

So when a new turkish friend as if we wanted to meet up, we were totally up for his suggestion to meet at the Organik Pazaar (Organic Market) at Mavibahçe. This activity was organised by the Association of Ecological Agriculture Organization with the support of the Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock Ministry officials and the participation of the European Union. While it was small, the 12 vendors provided a wide option of products such as fruits, veggies, honey, bread, beauty product line and even organic cotton clothes for adults and children. All vendors have a certification paper that shows their products meet the standard to be classified as organic.

The goal? To help bring awareness of organic products to the people of Izmir.

Our loot you ask?

Celery root with baby celery stalk. I have found that it is still really hard to find celery here! Celery stalks are part of our Louisiana ‘Holy Trinity‘ of foods, but here they mostly just use the root for meze(little sauce appetizers) and soups. But we found some at this market!

Cute little mandarine oranges with the sweetest taste from the cutest old turkish man at the market.

Free box of testers from a local beauty product line, Iva Natura, made locally in Izmir in the Bornova neighborhood. I am actually really excited to learn more about this company. In the last year, I have slowly change most of my products over to a more natural non-toxic beauty routine for a few reasons I can tell you about in a future post. Since living in Turkey will make it hard on shipping, I have been hoping to find either something more local or european products to replace them in the future.