My visitors from Singapore stare in disbelief when I take them to the Andalan Health Food Store. "Thirty cents a kilo for organic tomatoes? Ten cents for an organic egg? We pay eight or ten times as much! Fresh bagels in Ubud? And home delivery? I can't believe it!"
I feel pretty smug. It was purely by chance that I contracted a house just 5 minutes from what may be Bali's only organic produce store. And when it started a home recycling service a few weeks ago, I had even more cause to smile.
The colourful little shop opposite the Post Office in Ubud stocks a good variety of veggies: exotic lettuces, peppers, zucchini, cukes, beans, cauliflower, broccoli, snake beans, beets and lots of fresh herbs subject to availability. Baskets brim with tomatoes, potatoes, chilies, avocados and lots of other garden bounty. Organic fruit includes papaya, watermelon, pineapples, bananas and limes. On the shelves are organic coffees and teas, snacks, three kinds of organic rice and sea salt.
In the chiller is fresh organic soymilk, preservative-free tofu and tempe, homemade yogurt, soups, salad dressings and peanut butter. Then there's the baking - the best bagels I've ever tasted, chocolate mud cake, breads, muffins and quiches. All this can go into a reusable cloth bag purchased on the spot. For a small charge, anything in the store will be delivered to homes in the Ubud area between Sayan and Pejeng.
How did this little gem of a store come about? Brenda Ritchmond wanted a source of wholesome organic food for herself and her family, and the only option seemed to be to open a store herself. In making her vision a reality, she's created a wonderful resource for the community and provided employment for a widening circle of Balinese.
She partnered with Paul Righetti a year ago and the duo now run the Andalan Health Food Store and Bali Buddha, the café upstairs. A spotless kitchen across the street turns Andalan's produce into tasty salads, soups and sandwiches for one of Bali's handful of 100% organic eateries. Every meal is prepared from scratch when the order is received, so patrons are encouraged to relax with a magazine and a fresh juice while they wait.
Ibu Kartini, who runs a vermiculture business in Denpasar and represents a group of organic farmers, approached Brenda for help in marketing the organic produce being grown island-wide. Andalan now brings in 550 kilos of vegetables and fruit every week and has begun supplying a restaurant in Sanur and a store in Seminyak. Brenda and Paul are starting to think about opening another store in Sanur.
As far as Brenda is aware, no commercial farms on Bali have been certified as organic by international organizations in Geneva and California. It is expensive to bring in these experts - well beyond the means of local farmers. But the growers that supply Andalan have been chemical-free for three years and use only organic fertilizers and integrated pest management techniques to produce their food. The produce sold at Andalan is as close to internationally recognized organic standards as can be found in Bali at this time.
The Balinese staff of 21 (most of whom are female) were initially encouraged to eat organic foods prepared in the kitchen, but most opted a few months later to take a cash differential instead. Now they are noticing that their health is not as good, and that the rice in the bungkus they buy in the street is not as tasty as freshly cooked organic rice. Many are now deciding to eat meals prepared for them at the Bali Buddha kitchen after all.
Products and produce at Andalan are sold at very reasonable prices and a further discount for Ubud residents is under consideration. Brenda wants to keep the organic food as affordable as possible, which means that profits are razor-thin.
Brenda, who has lived in Bali since 1993, is constantly thinking of new products and services for her customers. She noticed that mothers were buying organic vegetable soups to use as baby food, and is now trying to find a source of suitable jars so she can start meeting this need. She stocks dairy-free ice cream and is working on a line of wheat and dairy-free products. Almond milk will soon be on the menu and she is working on a reliable source of free-range chickens and eggs and organic jams. She'd like Andalan to become a distribution centre for local and organic products. "We do have to import certain things that people want like almonds and olive oil, but the goal is to use local suppliers as much as possible."
With so much food moving through the store and restaurant every day, composting and recycling soon became an issue. "We wanted this to be a responsible, environmentally friendly business and to recycle everything possible," says Brenda. With assistance from IDEP's Eco-Trainers, the Bali Buddha and Andalan now compost much of the kitchen waste they produce. When the volume is too great, some of the organic farmers take it to feed their animals or for their own compost. Brenda and Paul are planning to set up a worm composting system in the near future.
They recently came up with ABC Andalan Bali Buddha Conservation Solutions -- a weekly home recycling program for the Ubud area. For Rp 50,000 a month, customers receive colourful bags for their plastics and paper which is collected every Thursday along with glass and metal for recycling. Customers who sign up for the ABC recycling program can arrange to receive a variety pack of fresh organic produce worth Rp 25,000 or Rp 40,000 to be delivered when their recyclables are picked up each week.
ABC Solutions works with selected pemulung who retrieve many of the recycled items such as aqua bottles for resale. "Pemulung perform a valuable service," she points out. "The ones we work with take the glass, metal and plastic and sell it at resale collection points, helping keep the community clean while generating some income for themselves."
Clean plastic bags, the bane of Bali's environment, are collected and sent to Surabaya, where they are turned into other products such as buckets. Brenda is looking for someone who knows how to crochet old plastic bags into reusable shopping bags. Paper is kept for schools that make recycled paper products as income-generating projects.
I explain all this to my Singapore friends, and ask them why no entrepreneur in that business-worshipping republic has ever come up with such a service. "There isn't enough profit," I'm told. I ask Brenda about this. "It's not about profit - we make enough to live on here in Bali," she says. "It's about doing the right thing and setting a good example."
So don't ditch that aqua bottle. Take it around to the Andalan Health Food Store to leave in their recycling bag, and pick up a wedge of carrot cake or a bag of chocolate chip cookies while you're there. Sometimes doing the right thing can be very rewarding.
To sign up with the ABC Solutions recycling program in the Ubud area, contact Andalan Health Food Store/Bali Buddha at 361-976-324 or Brenda at 0812 393-0962
