Slow evolution

Beijing's organic farmers and food activists take to the stage with Alice Waters (second from left) and Food Rules author Michael Pollan (fourth from left) in the Food as Culture forum. On the left is Shi Yan, founder of Little Donkey Farm. Pauline D. Loh / China Daily

Alice Waters and her Chez Panisse team fired the opening shots for the US-China Forum on Arts and Culture. Pauline D. Loh continues the story.

It's hard to eat organic in Beijing. You pay a lot more than ordinary and you have to plan way in advance. You also need to be an investigative reporter. Those are the reasons why I had enormous empathy for Alice Waters and her team as they searched for real organic ingredients, and an equal amount of respect and admiration for the fact that they managed to pull it off at all.

It also saddened me slightly that it needed a team of Americans to showcase the products of Beijing's organic producers and give them the chance to borrow some of the limelight generated by the US-China Forum on Arts and Culture.

Beijing had literally sparkled with the star power radiating from the National Center of Performing Arts. The top brains and talents of arts and culture from the United States and China had met, exchanged opinions, agreed, disagreed and agreed to disagree in two-and-a-half days of lively discussions and performances.

Hopefully, they also exchanged e-mail addresses so the exchange will continue.

And it had all started at dinner.

The US embassy in Beijing opened its fortress gates to welcome a gathering of guests, and a few reporters.

The reception itself was a stargazer's dream come true. Circulating among the guests were some of China's top literary, music and film celebrities, a rare sight within the US embassy compound.

But it was the dinner that was the highlight. As guests sat down at the long tables placed in the atrium hall, they browsed the menu.

Highlighted on it were the "sustainable purveyors from China" - a list of organic farmers and producers, mainly from Beijing but with a few contributors from Hangzhou and Guilin.

Many of those names were familiar, and I was happy to see the De Run Wu farm mentioned. They are the suppliers of my weekly organic box and Ji Yunliang and his wife Alison have long been committed to the green lifestyle.

God's Grace Garden, Teresa Zhang's farm in Fangshan, contributed chicken, flour, the Jerusalem artichokes served at the pre-dinner reception, and milk.

Her farm is the first organic farm certified in Beijing and is a member of IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement).

The Little Donkey Farm also contributed vegetables to the dinner, and one of the founders Shi Yan, was part of the panel on the forum Food As Culture.

When I spoke to chef Waters afterwards at the Forum, she had told me she was worried about the authenticity of the organic claims by the farms. That was why, as early as July, two chefs from Chez Panisse had arrived in Beijing to do the homework.

They were helped by Lillian Chou, food editor of Beijing Time Out. She was appointed "chief forager" and given the task of sourcing credibly organic ingredients.

Apart from the vegetables, there was also the meat.

Waters wanted duck for her menu, but could not find any reared to Chez Panisse standards. That was disappointing, considering duck is what Beijing is known for.

Fortunately, guests were saved from a totally vegetarian dinner when Chou located some black pigs reared in the clean, unpolluted countryside of Miyun, near the large reservoir from which Beijing drinks. They became the main course of grilled and braised pork served on a turnip mash, with a red-wine sauce on the side.

Chou also found the leg of Yunnan ham that was shaved on site at the reception. It was made by a farmers' cooperative and specially shipped to Beijing for the occasion. It was served on a bed of greens which came from Happy Green Cow.

Apples from God's Grace Garden topped a buttery galette with pastry made from organic flour that is stone-milled, while a cheese platter showcased organic curds made locally by expatriate and local cheese makers.

All in all, the dinner did indeed showcase the best of organic food now available in Beijing. It was also meant to break the ice in a historic meeting of creative minds from both sides of the Pacific.

But for me, the dinner was a clarion call to take a more active role in protecting both our culinary heritage and our resources. Alice Waters has showed the way, and we must keep the path cleared of weeds.

There are still many obstacles to totally organic eating, such as cost and convenience. But if those of us who are able do not take the first steps, organic farmers will never achieve the economy of scale they need to get profitable, and lower the prices.

We pay more now, or we pay a much higher price later when the environment is totally exhausted. Going organic is also one path to peace of mind, especially in these days when food safety is a major concern.