Green without envy

Organic shelves and refrigerators filled with (fresh) organic products can be found in most Lebanese supermarkets these days. A few years ago, these products would have been hard, if not impossible, to source. Nour Farra-Haddad lists 23 companies and food stores under “bio and organic products” in “Eco-Lebanon Nature & Rural Tourism: A Guide to Unveil Lebanon” published in 2013 — clearly organic products are no longer leading a shadow existence and the sector, though small, is growing in Lebanon. In the United States and Europe (notably France, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany), the organic sector reached two-figure growth rates in 2012. According to a press release issued by BIOFACH, the world’s largest trade fair for organic food, organic sales in Germany that year attained a record high of 7 billion euro ($9.6 billion), up by 6 percent, with demand exceeding supply. Organic products tend to be considered a privilege