Post-national Organic: Globalization and the Field of Organic Food in Israel - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 146

market in Israel. But there are some who denounce the chain, including journalists
who criticize it, similar to Michael Pollan's ( 2006 ) critique of the Whole Foods
Market ( Eden Teva Market's spiritual mother from the United States): “ This is a
monster that does not stop planting branches across the country and has already
been termed the 'IKEA' of the organic” (Taken from : Lavi, A (13 December 2008 )
“Not only organic”. NRG-online (Daily newspaper online). http://www.nrg.co.il/
online/1/ART1/824/656.html .
Thus, Eden Teva Market , quite similar to the late period of Harduf , represents the
conventionalization of Israeli organic and acquires high global orientation and low
organic cultural capital.

8.4.3 “Orbanic” Market

Reducing the gap between the volume of produce grown for export and the produce
for the domestic market (export 92 % 8 % domestic market) 8 is one of the

objectives that Israeli Organization of Organic Agriculture set for itself. Therefore,
one of the latest initiatives was the establishment of a market selling solely organic
agricultural products in the main urban center of Israel: Tel-Aviv.
And so, “ Hatachana ” plaza (“the station” plaza ) - an old train station com-
pound, which went through gentrification process, became a site for entertainment
and upscale shopping in May 2010. On this site, designed in urban-up to date-
luxurious style, a “purely organic farmers market” was established: the “ Orbanic”
market.
From the beginning of its establishment, the market was attributed cosmopolitan
images as a strategy to attract consumers. For example, the market's chosen name
“ Orbanic” - a combination of words organic and urban - symbolizes the founders'
intention to provide a sense of updated-global urbanism. There are 40 well-designed
and pleasant stalls in the market plaza. Prominently displayed on each stall is a
certificate testifying that the food products (which are aesthetically arranged) are
“organic certified”. In addition to the food products, visitors to the market are
offered participation in a “consumer recreation experience”: One can join Tai-Chi
practice, workshops on matters of health and ecology, and listen to “world music”
from speakers placed in the center of the market plaza.
While wandering the market, and while listening in on the conversations taking
place in it, I noticed that consumers and vendors alike respond to an imagined
imperative that encourages them to engage in “locality”: Consumers often asked
about the source of the crops, the vendors responded willingly and spoke about
their lives in the rural areas. Thus, during a conversation, the organic foods were
loaded with a local image. But paradoxically, this local image in fact strengthens

C