Post-national Organic: Globalization and the Field of Organic Food in Israel - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 147

the global significance of the market. For example, following is a text written on a
web site that deals with lifestyle issues:
Orbanic market- to buy local: Equipped with my dynamic shopping cart I go shopping, like
in a small village in Italy or Greece. Fresh produce in small stalls. 9

This description illustrates how the consumption experience in the market is
perceived: hedonistic, trendy, young, vibrant and even with the feel of being a
tourist. But contrary to the global orientation and to the cosmopolitan and urban
atmosphere, most of the stalls are run by organic growers from rural and peripheral
areas in Israel. This is the reason that the market acquired some degree of organic
cultural capital.

8.4.4 Chobiza - Israeli CSA

The first Israeli Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) is located in the village
of Ben-Nun , not far from Jerusalem. In 2002, the founder of the CSA, a young
woman in her late 30s, returned to Israel from an extended stay in California. There
she was involved in community gardens and decided to try to establish an alternative
agricultural model in Israel. In her words: “I wanted to engage in agriculture but also
to see a human face”. She rented some farmland on which she started the “ Chobiza
Farm”. The chosen name “ Chobiza ”, taken from Arabic, is intended to describe
the plant malva , also known as “ Arab Bread” . This plant won a place of honor
in the pantheon of Israeli Jewish heroism because the residents of Jerusalem had
nothing to eat but Chobiza during the siege and starvation of the 1948 war - at least
according to legend. But contrary to the nationalism and rootedness implied by the
farm's name, what attracts the customers is a model that offers a worthy alternative
to industrialized agriculture in different places in the Western world:
A lot of our customers know what CSA is. There are many families of American Jews

:::
there are families who were overseas on a mission or from their hi-tech job where they first
met it (Taken from an Interview with Chobiza founder November 21, 2010).

But the Israeli model is different from other CSAs in America or Europe. CSAs are
based, by definition, on formal organization and an ongoing relationship between
growers and consumers. This is reflected by the consumers depositing money with
the growers during the establishment stages, taking part in the risks that may
arise, participate in decision-making and take an active role in the farm (Cone and
Myhre 2000 ; Stanford 2006 ). According to the Israeli model, the customers are
actually subscribers who receive a weekly vegetable box and pay a monthly fee
for the amount of vegetables consumed. Although subscribers give up the option
of choosing the vegetables included in the box and express their support of the
farmer who is free to grow seasonal crops without being subject to demand; they