As a precursor to World Environment Day, City Centre Salt Lake hosted Go Organic in association with t2 in its Kund area from June 1 to 3, inspiring Calcuttans to embrace an organic way of living.
Prakriti Organic Farm Fresh (India), an online marketplace focused exclusively on organic and natural products, put up several stalls to showcase vegetables, fruits, spices, pulses, clothes, accessories and more — all “produced in an eco-friendly way”. Live counters whipped up dishes such as chilla, dosa, idli and turmeric milk using ingredients from the stalls.
Mannu Choudhary, managing director of Prakriti Organic Farm Fresh, took t2 through some products to help curate a nature-friendly lifestyle.
Packaged products
The cows that have been bred to make Prakriti’s Organic Desi Cow Ghee are on an organic feed.
The MIM Darjeeling Tea, grown the organic way in Darjeeling, has antioxidant properties. “To make the soil fertile in the tea gardens, farmers add micro-organisms instead of chemical pesticides,” said Choudhary.
Prakriti’s gluten-free Organic Black Rice is grown in the farms of Midnapore and parts of north Bengal, where chemical fertiliser and pesticides are not used.
Fashion & accessories
The threads to make such handwoven kurtis are made using an ambar charkha from indigenous cotton. The pretty pink comes from a natural dye.
Keep your funk factor on point with this organic jute bag. The raw jute is derived from sustainable resources and machines are used only to turn the raw jute into fabric. The rest is handmade.
Exercise
Reduce your carbon footprint and get healthy at the same time by choosing bicycles over motorbikes and cars.
Fruits and veggies
Prakriti’s fruits and vegetables come from their Bankura and Barasat farms. All of these are grown naturally, without using pesticides and chemical fertilisers. “The high moisture level in the soil in these farms makes it easier to grow veggies. Prakriti’s organic honey is derived from honeycombs and is not processed,” added Choudhary.
What they loved
Nidhi Jha (right) was on a family day out. “Everyone should be eating such healthy food on a regular basis. I bought organic ghee, tea and even tried some ice lollies. You can feel the purity in these items. When I opened the ghee it had that proper desi smell,” said the homemaker.
Bobita Gope (left) loved the organic clothes collection. “From spices to vegetables and clothing, you could see how clean and fresh they were. It is very important to go organic; people are becoming health-conscious. Events like this should happen more often,” said the homemaker.
