After battling my way through Town Hall station to vote, I finally made it down to The Organic Expo and Green Show in Darling Harbour where Liss was already doing reconnaissance work to see what was good. At this show there are stands generously sampling their goodies and there are cooking shows featuring Tobie Puttock and Costa Georgiadis. I was talking to friends about eating organically and the one thing about it is that it can be expensive. Certainly people don’t want to eat chemicals and additives but it can be price prohibitive for many. However what we are pleasantly surprised about were the number of great deals on offer this weekend.
Spiral Foods
We start off at Spiral foods where people are helping themselves to samples of purple carrot juice. Did you know that carrots were originally purple and when it was the Dutch that cultivated orange carrots? Purple carrots are heirloom carrots and the taste is different from orange carrots. The purple carrot juice has overtones of tomato whilst having the aroma of grape. There is also concord grape juice and apple juice to try. Courtney from Masterchef is offering samples of the green pea chips and mung bean chips. The green pea chips are similar to wasabi peas without the wasabai whereas the mung bean chips are nutty.
One of the best buys here though is definitely the organic vinaigrette drizzles. There are three types for sale including a rose and white balsamic, a raspberry and hibiscus and a sesame shiitake. They’re all delicious and can be used as a salad dressing or as a basting for meat. They’re best before date is in December 2010 but it’s hard to pass up their deal, 2 for $5 or 3 for $6! These are usually between $7 and $8 each.
There are also free organic milk powder sachets being given away at the Fonterra stand.
At Organic times there are large 1 kg bags of organic rapadura suagr, organic cocoa powder and whole cane sugar.
Agape chocolate brownies
We sample the soups and risottos at Agape as well as their organic baked bread. We also try their fantastically gooey chocolate brownies which are absolutely moreish!
Tiny pasta!
Organic trout fillets
Next door is the Olive Green Organics stand which has fantastic gluten free quinoa and rice spaghetti which tastes just like regular spaghetti. Gluten free eaters know how varied gluten free pastas can be in terms of success but these are the closest I’ve tried to regular. There are also cute little Baby Anellini pasta for kids and Organic tinned trout ($6).
Licorice samples
We walk past the Junee Licorice factory stand. I was lucky enough to try some chocolate coated ginger from Kristy from Jetlagmama but today they are sampling licorice. I’m not a licorice lover so I leave that to Liss but they also have organic whisky for sampling.
Organic single malt scotch whisky
You can also buy Organic bubs pouches at three for $5 and if you buy three you get a bonus bar of Greens & Blacks chocolate (ahah something for your baby, something for you! 
). Win win!
Lakelands stand
We visit the Lakelands olive oil stand tended to by Kate and Danielle who is an NQN reader! They have a range of their divine agrumato olive oils (where the fruit is crushed along with the olives giving it an amazing flavour). They also have their Extra virgin olive oil single blend of Frantoio and the Special reserve which is a blend that they select using a balance of olives from the season.
Bio farm yogurt
I buy some Bio Farm drinkable yogurt in bush honey. It is a New Zealand brand of yogurt and I know that Mr NQN will love it. I know because I poked my tongue into the cup trying to get the last little bits!
The organic brown rice crisps are delicious and great value with each packet at $2.50.
The Absolute Organic stands has gorgeous date & almond and date & coconut bites as well as absolutely delicious fat and juicy California dates. The bites are 2 for $10 and sadly we can’t buy the dates but they invite us to eat as many as we can-what a challenge! They may live to regret that offer
The Unexpected Guest
I try The Unexpected Guests’s freestyle granuesli which is a toasted granola muesli sweetened with honey and fragrant with cinnamon. It’s deliciously crunchy and moreish and just the way I like muesli. And why free style? Each batch is made by hand and tastes slightly different so that your taste buds never get bored. See, you’ve got to think of your tastebuds!
Costa de miking!
We watch as Costa finishes his show and Tobie Puttock goes up next. The food that Tobie cooks smells gorgeous and has our mouths watering-one thing to note is that there is one small cafeteria that caters for lunch and they look to be curries in plastic compartmentalised plates. So it may be best to eat lunch before or after and snack on the goodies here (although we ate about a meal and a half’s worth of samples!). There’s also several organic wine stands and lifestyle stands.
Organic cardamom pods, black pepper and coconut oil
Bod body scrubs
Jackpot!
Beauty wise there are Bod products including a delicious rice body scrub that smells fantastic and Burts Bees has an amazing offer. I am addicted to their rhubarb lip shimmer which is a bit of a cult product and they have sets of 3 lip shimmers in a mirrored pouch for $10 (they’re usually $15 each) or three lip balm tubes and one metal container of lip balm for $10! I love a bargain!
There are also fragrant rose, geranium and peppermint & tea tree lip balms in pretty tins for $5 at the Figs and Rouge stand. We also have a look at the Eco Store which is a New Zealand brand that has household and laundry products. They’re giving away sachets of their laundry powder which I am eager to use as an eczema sufferer.
Our arms weighted down with all sorts of purchases I say to Liss that I wish I had one of those trolleys and I’m sure that Mr NQN will roll his eyes when he gets home when he sees how much I bought…
So tell me Dear Reader, do you buy or eat much organic food?
NQN attended the Organic Expo & Green Show as a guest of the show
Organic Expo & Green Show
Hall 1, Darling Harbour Convention Centre
Held on August 21 and 22, 2010
http://www.organicexpo.com.au
Tickets $16 per adult
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42 Comments | Add your own
Sounds like a wonderful day! Isn’t it fabulous how big the organic market in Australia has grown? Long may it continue to flourish!
Dear me, it’s time to vote again! I am glad I don’t have to vote any longer (as I am to stay here in Germany indefinitely)…But I miss Darling Harbour, I used to live so close to this beautiful place! Also my husband’s favourite place in Sydney!
Great report of the day!
The other thing I found surprising was the amount of people who I overheard travelled from interstate and far away to attend! It’s obviously the place to go if you are into organic – which as we found out – the bargains and opportunities to find the smaller quality suppliers is the drawcard!
I think we all need to ask where our food comes from.
We try to buy and eat as organic or certainly chemical/preservative free as is possible. We only slip up when we go to restaurants or get takeaway.
We went to the expo yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it too, was in 2nd row at Tobie’s session. Most of the food exhibitors we knew of, being avid “About Life, Rozelle” shoppers. Agape are a big favourite of ours.
Sadly Lorraine we don’t eat as much organic or free range food as I would like our family to do, but we do try. The range looks fantastic. I had planned to go today, but it will not be, hopefully next year.
What a fab day and products – hope they are bringing it to Brisbane !
I’m not a licorice lover, either. But chocolate-covered ginger is my downfall. Too bad there wasn’t a mountain of that there to dive into.
You just reminded me that I need to bring my trolley to Taste of Melbourne! Mister will be with me so there should be no surprises for me. And I didn’t know that carrots were actually purple first!
Looks very exciting, wish I could have been there. For anyone else interested in Organic Bubs (great product) you can buy it through their website online.
Looks like it’s a great expo. That’s really interesting about the carrots – I never knew that they used to be purple!
And those Burt’s Bees lip shimmers are such a bargain!
I am a big fan of spiral foods
We were there yesterday and wish we had eaten lunch before we went…thinking there would be lots of great organic lunch options…sadly no….but the samples helped fill the gap after our organic beef pie. And yes a trolley would have been great because the hike back up to Town Hall station was quite painful lugging our bags of goodies. One of our best finds was the organic dentist stand! we’ll be booking ourselves in for our next check up!
That looks like fun! I’d probably cave and get a whole bunch of those lip balms as pressies… dang!
looks like a great show. i have to get to it next year. i’m really keen to explore and use more organic products now after watching Food Inc
Looks like a great expo featuring excellent organic products!
I often eat organic chocolate, but not really because I search it out, more because I eat so much chocolate that organic just slips in there!
I’d love to buy organic but it doesn’t fit at all into my budget at the moment, and on the whole I’d rather spend the money on farmers’ market produce.
I desperately want that granuesli, though…
I’m so happy to see BIG shows like this highlighting our Aussie Organics on display. Its so exciting to see organic farming & produce get bigger and bigger every year. Loved the Lakesland Olive stand (I’m a bit of a sukka for a good olive oil
Those dressings taste fantastic. I wish I could buy more organic, but the cost is a bit much for families, so I grow as much as possible. The taste of fresh, organic is wonderful!
wow it all looks great! looks like lots of great bargains and goodies to take home too!
Corrie:)
I will always choose organic when it’s available, and my eggs definitely are, but it’s hard with store-cupboard items at times. The expo looks lovely!
things like this are well worth the price of admission considering all the samples i make it a point to put away…
This day looks super fun to me. I had the purple carrots and purple sweet potatoes. I love purple foods!
So many great goodies & bargains! Another here who had no idea carrots used to be purple. Strange some of the things humans have done over the years!!
I buy free range and organic wherever I can. We have had an organic fruit and veg box delivered each week for the last 3.5 years so it comes to us! The organic movement is pretty good in the UK although the same old argument on cost runs here. You need to pay a little more for the quality like anything else.
I’ve just started ordering mixed fruit and veg boxes from abundant organics. Great produce at a good price with a really convenient and free delivery service! loving it! Plus it’s like getting a box of mystery presents every week
What wonderful treats! And I LOVE finding a bargain too — it always feels like a treasure hunt!
I buy organic for certain types of produce and Mike and I recently started buying only organic for all our animal products.
I was wondering if we would bump into you here! But we went on Sunday. Saturday was spent EATING
I loved the show too! Though since we went on the last day, samples and products had diminished a little…
Yay!! Lorraine – my day was made meeting you and now to find myself and Lakelands on the blog is very exciting! Love love love reading what you have been up to and have been very inspired by you on many occasions. Glad to hear you had a good day on Saturday xx
I eat nearly all organic, and belong to a University Students Food Co-op, even though I am not a student. The veggie box we pick up on campus every Friday is good value.
Hi Lorraine,
I was really interested to see your comments on your visit to the organic expo. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get along. You mentioned that you were looking at a washing powder that would help with your eczema.
You may want to look at an alternative that uses no washing powder at all. In fact, the system eliminates most of the chemicals in the home completely. Have a look at http://www.kangenhealthy.net/usage.html and look at the section “Strong Kangen Water”. I have been using this water in my washing machine for several months without using any laundry powder. let me know what you think.
Wish I was there for that one…
next year…with bells on!
Just found your blog through The Unexpected Guest’s FB post. Love it! Loved the show too – yr pics brought back happy memories of sampling all those goodies!
Are you sure about the sell by date on the bottles of vinaigrettes at the Spiral Foods stand was December 10? I was extremely disappointed that I was handed in two bottles that I found to have a sell by date as 02/12/10 – seems more February than December to me… While I can understand offering cheap deals on products that are nearing their sell by date but to sell products at an Organic Food Fair that are past that date is just plain wrong
Hi Nadia-I think you may find the dates read 12/02/10 which is the American date system where they put the month ahead of the day and year.
This sounds like fun! Reminded me of the exhibitor hall at Taste of London festival.
I try and buy organic wherever possible, though it is easier to do with some things than others (for example it’s easier to buy organic and fair trade dry goods in the UK, but not so much meat and fresh produce in my experience). Similarly, I always try and go to a local vegetable shop or farmers market over a big store as that way I know i’m supporting local workers and more likely to get organic.
Briony xx
RED DRAGON ORGANIC GINGER BEER. Have NEVER tasted anything so delicious, or healthy. What a fantastic drink for kids too! Nothing in it but organic ginger, organic raw sugar, organic lemon, and Grander water. I bought 2 cases of it, and would have bought more but couldn’t carry it!
Oh – I wish I could have gone!!! It looks so interesting. I agree though, many times organic food is just out of many people’s price range.
This would have been brilliant! Sensory overload – so much to see, so much to do!
Heidi xo
Absolutly amazing, under one roof so many people that really care
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