A Farmer's Feast

I love food.  I may have even thought twice about this trip if chocolate crosiants, gelato, curry, and pad thai, weren't so magical when eaten in their home countries.  Fruits, vegetables, baklava, gozleme, and these little cheese-stuffed breads are among the bounty Turkey has to offer.  I'm also interested in how food works in different countries and cultures: who can afford what, how food is produced, people's tastes, special customs, how food knowledge is passed on, etc. I've really enjoyed strolling through markets in Provence, learning recipes in Italy, and trying grilled squid while overlooking the Mediteranean in Greece.  Who wouldn't? =)  Turkish cuisines is one of my favorite so far, and the price is just right. 

Anyone who's ever shopped at the Union Square Farmer's Market can tell you that the setting is beautiful, the flowers are fresh, the food looks delicious, but it's expensive!  Sure there are deals on seasonal items here and there.  A bunch of basil in July for $1.  But $9 for a pound of, albeit perfect, little tomatoes?  Organic food bought at farmers markets is usually more expensive than comparable items in the supermarket. 

Union Square farmer's market in Manhattan

Having worked on organic farms, I understand part of the price premium.
Organic farming is hard.  (I'll speak to organic fruits andvegetables since that's what I've had more experience in; though after Pulicaro, I have tons of respect for farmers producing animal products organically.)  There are A LOT of weeds to pull.  Farmers must know how to prevent pest and disease damage without harmful chemicals, or risk losing their harvest.  No harvest means no paycheck.  Organic vegetables are often smaller than their conventionally grown look-a-likes.  Picking fruits takes time and energy, which farmers must pay for unless they're lucky enough to get well-intentioned (naïve?), city slickers like Andrew and I to do it for free.  Organic certification is expensive.  Conforming to standards can mean less profit during the transition between conventional and organic growing.  In economic downturns, the demand for organic dips.  Farming is naturally risky, with threats most of us don't even consider, like the wild boar that every farmer we've met has had to deal with.  And did I mention the weeds?

For those reasons, I think organic produce should cost a little more than conventional crops, which are usually picked before they're ripe, sprayed with ethane so they turn the right color, and then flown half way around the world.  Most importantly, organic produce tastes better.  I've never read the evidence, though I'm sure its out there, that equates taste with nutritional value.  Somehow, that just seems to make sense (Of course, there are many, many examples where taste does not equal nutritional value.  Those examples involve combinations of fat, sugar, and salt - as McDonald's discovered in 1940 - and that's a discussion for another time).

Buğday's farmer's market in Istanbul

Back to Turkey.  Organic produce at farmers markets does cost more.  Organic tomatoes are 2.50 Turkish lira (TRL) versus 2 TRL for conventional tomatoes.  Per kilo!  That's $0.75 USD a pound for organic tomatoes in Istanbul, a city of 16 million people where food is trucked in daily.  Prices are half or even a quarter of that in other regions.  Union Square may be an exceptionally expensive farmer's market, but you'd be hard pressed to find that price in any U.S. market.  (It's worth noting that Turks we've met agree fruits and vegetables are affordable and play a big role in typical Turkish cuisine.)  Yes, their currency isn't as strong, their purchasing power lower than in the U.S.  I don't know all the economics.  Still, it seems to me that feeding your family fruits and vegetables (organic or not) in Turkey costs less than it does in the United States, even after the exchange rate is taken into account. 

Why is that?

After a bit of digging in the CIA World Fact Book, a few random sites, and Wikipedia (the finest information source on the web), this is what I found out: 

72 million people live in Turkey.  As of 2007, about half of Turkey's land is devoted to agriculture, or 39 million hectares.  Roughly 30% of the workforce is employed in agriculture, a sector representing almost 10% of GDP.  Of the 3 million recorded agriculture holdings in 2001, most employ family labor, and the average size is about 6 hectares.  Most farming families eat what they grow, sending a small percentage to market.  Still, Turkey is the world's top producer of hazelnuts, cherries, figs, apricots, quince, and pomegranates.  About 20,000 farms are certified organic, and almost all their products are exported to Europe.  Many more farms grow organically yet lack official certification.  The countries climate, soil, abundant water, and cheap labor supports its large agrarian sector.

307 million people live in the U.S.  In 2007, 373 million hectares (also about half the U.S.' total 770 million hectares) were devoted to agriculture.  The average size of the 2.2 million registered farms was 170 hectares.  As of 2009, farming, fishing, and forestry comprises only 0.7% of the workforce.  In 1870, 70-80% of Americans farmed.  Today, agriculture represents 1.2% of GDP.  Unlike Turkish farmers, most American farmers sell, rather than eat, the vast majority of their products.  The top agriculture products in the US are corn, cattle, milk, chicken, soybeans, and pork.  As of 2007, there were about 13,000 certified organic growers in the U.S.  Organic production accounts for about 2% of the U.S.'s total food supply, but the organic industry has been growing considerably in the last 10 years.

This is just a quick sketch of the complicated food and agricultural landscape of two countries, and I'm not calling for the U.S. to go back to the 1870s.  This does, however, shed a bit of light on why eating fresh fruits and veggies is very affordable in Turkey and less so in the US.  Fresh produce is only so satisfying, so Turks make the most of their food dollars by purchasing cheap, unprocessed foods and cooking it like their grandmas would.  Homemade moussaka anyone?

Rehan with moussaka at Pastoral Vadi