Things to do in the Languedoc: Eating: Organic
Food
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Organic food shops are no longer the beardy bean vending
operations of yesteryear but, in rural areas, sometimes
the only places to find ingredients such as Brazil nuts
and wheat and dairy free substitutes. They also tend
to sell meats and cheeses of a very high quality, fair
trade coffees and teas, cruelty free cosmetics and a
wide range of popular German foods.
 In
the markets many of the products produced locally will
be organic but producers do not subscribe to the organic
"label. They either produce too little, or they
regard the fees required to belong to this association
as another form of taxation. The official organic body
sometimes has lower standards than locals, allowing
for example a certain amount of antibiotics in meat
- reasoning that if an animal isn't sick then there
is no point in giving it medicine (and in most cases
even when it is, the best thing to do is to feed it
certain traditional herbs for its particular condition).
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  You
will also find organic wines and even organic honey (the bees
are not treated with antibiotics and they are transported
to places where they will find nectar from plants that have
not been sprayed with insecticides)
In large-scale production, pesticides and chemical fertilisers
are used liberally so you are well advised to buy seasonal
vegetables from the small producersat the markets or in an
organic shop. Those who sell in the markets often belong to
the generation that resent throwing money on things they have
old-fashioned remedies for, or the younger brand of idealist
small holders who resist on principle the spread of agro chemical
culture. If it isn't obvious if a trader is organic don't
be afraid to ask.
The other important piece of information you need to know
is that the French word for Organic is Biologique - Bio for
short.
Organic (Biologique) food shops in the Aude
Organic food shops are on the increase in the Aude
département. Arcadie which had for twenty years
been operating from a garage on a council estate in Espéraza
has recently opened two new shops. One is just outside Couiza
in the direction of Couiza and then a much larger shop which
opens through lunch time and has a large parking area at Cepie
between Carcassonne and Limoux. Here are some more useful
addresses:
TOURNE-SOL
ALLEE GUTENBERG-ZI LA BOURRIETTE
11000
Carcassonne
Tel; 0468 72 47 62
BIO VIVRE
104 RUE DE VERDUN
11000
Carcassonne
Tel; 0468 25 15 15
BIOCOOP TERRABIO
36 BLD MARCEL SAMBAT
11100
Narbonne
Tel; 0468 32 00 77
BIO-NATURE
BD FERROUL-HALL CENTRALE
11100
Narbonne
Tel; 0468 90 65 25
NATURE ET TERROIR
36 ZONE DU PEYROU
11130
SIGEAN
Tel; 0468 48 90 31
ARCADIE SARL
ROUTE DES PYRENEES
11190
COUIZA
Tel; 0468 74 03 80
JOHAN BEDDES
LES CASTAGNOLLES
11190
FOURTOU
Tel; 0468 26 37 81
GUILHOT SARL LE BIO EQUITABLE ET ARTISANAL
2 AVENUE DU PONT
11200
FABREZAN
Tel; 0468 32 50 78
ARCADIE
CHEM GERARD SUDRU
11260
Espéraza
Tel; 0468 74 03 80
AU NATUREL
37 RUE DE LA MAIRIE
11300
Limoux
Tel; 0468 312 457
SARL ECO MAISON STE NOUVELLE
AVENUE DE CATALOGNE
11300
Limoux
Tel; 0468 31 92 50
FLOREAL
41 AV FABRE D'EGLANTINE
11300
Limoux
Tel; 0468 31 05 11
ARCADIE CEPIE
19 RUE DU MAUZAC ZA DE LA PLAINE
11300
CEPIE
Tel; 0468 69 93 71
Click on the following link to visit agneau-biologique.com
the
website of a farm in the Languedoc specialisiing in organic
lamb.
Click here
for information about GM food, written by a Languedoc resident.
Click on the following link for recommended
books on Languedoc food, eating and regional specialities
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