Texan cuisine is the food associated with the Southern U.S. state of Texas, including its native Southwestern cuisine influenced Tex-Mex foods. Texas is a large state, and its cuisine has been influenced by a wide range of cultures, including Tejano/Mexican, Native American, Creole/Cajun, African-American, German, Czech, Southern and other European American groups.

The cuisine of neighboring states also influences Texan cuisine, such as New Mexican cuisine and Louisiana Creole cuisine, as such New Mexico chile, Cayenne peppers, and Tabasco sauce are often used in Texan cooking.

Agriculture

In the 1880s, citrus growers in Texas and Florida discovered pink-fleshed seedless grapefruit mutations like the Ruby. Early varieties like the Duncan had many seeds and pale flesh.

Specialties

Barbecue

Texas barbecue was influenced by the cooking technique barbacoa, a method of slow cooking meat that has been wrapped in leaves in a covered pit.

In the 19th century, cowboys developed techniques to cook the tough beef from range cattle over coals and colonial style open pit barbecue was brought to the state when blacks arrived from the southeast, but later developed into closed pit Western-style barbecue which uses indirect heat instead of coals and imparts a smokier flavor.

Barbecue in Texas is most commonly served with white bread, spicy sauces, pickles, sliced onion, and jalapeños; sides include pinto beans, potato or rice salad, and cabbage slaw. Common desserts served with barbecue are fruit cobbler, banana pudding, and pecan pie.

Steak and beef
Texas is among a handful of states that developed an early preference for beef barbecue, alongside other states in the neighboring cuisine of the Southwestern United States and the cuisine of the Western United States. Beef brisket (slowly cooked in smoke in a wood-fired "pit") is the most common barbecue.

The influence of steak on Texas barbecue is so great that it is often highlighted in popular culture, for example the animated sitcom King of the Hill. Restaurants that serve Texan cuisine, such as The Big Texan Steak Ranch, and even national brands like Texas Roadhouse, often specialize in steak in particular.

It is illegal to defame the cattle and ranching industries, of either Texas or the Southwestern United States, within the state of Texas.

Pork
Near the end of the 19th century, immigrants from Germany and Eastern Europe introduced their distinctive culinary traditions, including sausage making, marked by bold and sometimes piquant spicing and coarser texture, which became part of Texan barbecue culture and smoked sausage remains a popular dish at Western-style barbecues. Early American traditional whole-hog barbecues and later rib barbecues were prepared with pork.

Dessert and pastry

Czech immigrants brought a tradition of pastry-making including fruit-filled kolaches  and sausage-filled klobasniky, pastries. The Texas Legislature has declared West, Texas the "Home of the Official Kolache of the Texas Legislature," while Caldwell, Texas is "Kolache Capital of Texas." Strudel was brought to Texas by European immigrants.

Sopapillas are a simple fried pastry dough sweetened with sugar and cinnamon. The dish has roots in a lard-fried pastry made by the Tigua Pueblo and Franciscan friars from New Mexico in Ysleta, El Paso. This early form of the pastry dates to at least 1682, as the style originates in New Mexican cuisine, making it one of the earliest pastries known found in Texan cuisine.

Pecan pie is the official state pie of Texas.  The crust for another local specialty, peanut butter pie, is made with crushed vanilla wafers and peanuts. The filling is a sweetened peanut butter pudding made with milk, sugar, peanut butter, corn starch and egg yolks.

Though the origin of the term Texas sheet cake is unknown, with some speculating it's a reference to the cake's large size or decadence, and others who believe it's because the cake includes Texas-style ingredients like buttermilk and pecans, the cake has become a popular dessert throughout the United States since the original recipe was  published by The Dallas Morning News in 1957.

Peach cobbler is the official cobbler.

Hamburger
An early claim to the invention of the hamburger was Fletcher Davis of Athens, Texas, who claimed to have served it at his restaurant at a time when there were more cows than people in Texas. According to oral histories, in the 1880s, he opened a lunch counter in Athens and served a "burger" of fried ground beef patties with mustard and Bermuda onion between two slices of bread; with a pickle on the side.

The claim is that in 1904, Davis and his wife Ciddy ran a sandwich stand at the St. Louis World's Fair. Historian Frank X. Tolbert noted that Athens resident Clint Murchison said his grandfather dated the hamburger to the 1880s with "Old Dave" a.k.a. Fletcher Davis.

A photo of "Old Dave's Hamburger Stand" from the 1904 connection was sent to Tolbert as evidence of the claim. Also the New York Tribune namelessly attributed the innovation of the hamburger to the stand on the pike.

Southern

European settlers and African American slaves brought the culinary traditions of the  Deep South with them including biscuits, red-eye gravy, pan-fried chicken, black-eyed peas, mashed potatoes, cornbread or corn pone, sweet tea, and desserts like peach cobbler and pecan pie.

Even after emancipation, many former slaves who had been cooks and domestic servants were not able to afford the highest quality meats and are recognized for the skilled preparation of simple ingredients like greens and beans flavored with salt pork, hog jowl, peppers and spices.

These staple dishes were served alongside game meats, fried chicken and fried catfish. French immigrants from Louisiana introduced influences from Cajun and Louisiana Creole cuisine.

Some claim the corn dog was invented by vendors at the Texas State Fair.

Confederate cush is a dish associated with Confederate troops, the preparation of which was described by one Texas native in 1863 as follows: "chop up a small quantity of fat bacon into a frying pan, get the grease all out of it, put in a quart of water, when it boils crumble in cold corn bread and stir until dry".

Fried okra is a quintessential side dish throughout the American South, including Texas.

Hybrid cuisines

Dating back to the era of  French and Spanish colonial rule in Texas, relations between ethnic groups were tense throughout history, but despite these animosities they have enjoyed food from varied cuisines and incorporated borrowed ingredients into their own, contributing to Texas's varied and rich food culture.

Tex-Mex is the best known hybrid cuisine from Texas but there are many others with contributions from around thirty ethnic groups including Czech, Korean, and Indian. Korean donut shops sell jalapeño kolaches, Indians make fajitas with chutney, and Czech-Tex style hot dogs are topped with both sauerkraut and chili con carne. Other fusion dishes like bulgogi and banh mi burgers can be found as well.

The origin of chicken fried steak is unknown. The town of Lamesa, Texas is claimed as the source of the dish. Governor Rick Perry declared it the "birthplace of the chicken fried steak" in 2011. Lamesa hosts the Chicken Fried Steak Festival each April. Another view is that the dish developed in the cattle country of Texas and the Midwest and still another holding that it's a variation of German schnitzel.

Tex-Mex

Tex-Mex refers to a style of cooking that combines traditional Northeastern Mexican cuisine that makes heavy use of beef and extremely hot, tiny chiltepin pepper. Combination plates featuring tacos, enchiladas and tostadas served alongside rice and beans are not found in traditional Mexican cuisine.

This custom developed only when Mexican-American cooks adapted offerings for customers who preferred a full plate, rather than the traditional style of eating small, separate dishes.

Commercial manufacture of chili powders began in Texas in the 1890s. Today, chili is the official state dish. Texas is known for its variation of chili con carne.

Texas chili is typically made with hot peppers and beef (or sometimes game meats like venison) and is sometimes served with pinto beans, either as a side or in the chili itself.

The dish can be topped with an assortment of garnishes including fresh or pickled jalapeños, raw onions or crumbled soda crackers. Thick chili gravy is served over tamales and enchiladas.

Frank X. Tolbert's 1953 recipe included beef-kidney suet, ancho chiles and lean beef for stewing such as chuck seasoned with oregano, garlic, cumin and cayenne pepper.

Breakfast items include scrambled egg in flour tortilla tacos as migas and huevos con chorizo, huevos rancheros, and empanadas of various meats.

King Ranch casserole is made with chicken, cream of mushroom and chicken soups, cheese and tortilla chips.

Entrees are commonly accompanied by pan fried potato and refried beans.
Ingredients commonly used in Tex-Mex cuisine include goat, chicken, pork, beef, venison, eggs, cheese, milk, beans, masa harina, peppers, chocolate, and various spices.

Puffy tacos made with deep-fried handmade corn tortillas and served with beef picadillo are a San Antonio specialty.

Pan de campo is the official state bread. Also called "cowboy bread", the simple recipe was traditionally baked in a Dutch oven.

Desserts include flan, tres leches cake, sopapillas and pralines.

In the ranch lands of the 1930s, after cattle were butchered, the hide, the head, the entrails, and meat trimmings such as skirt were given to the Mexican cowboys called vaqueros as part of their pay.

Hearty dishes like barbacoa de cabeza (barbecued head), menudo (tripe stew), and fajitas or arracheras (grilled skirt steak) have their roots in this practice. Considering the limited number of skirts per carcass and that the meat wasn't available commercially, the fajita tradition remained regional and relatively obscure for many years, probably only familiar to vaqueros, butchers, and their families. Modern "fajitas" were introduced at a county fair in Kyle, Texas in 1969 by Sonny Falcon, who later opened an Austin restaurant offering fajitas as a main fare.

Other dishes associated with Tex-Mex cooking include guacamole, chile con queso, tostadas with red salsa, tortilla soup, nachos, tacos, quesadillas, chimichangas, burritos,  and carne guisada.

Notable restaurants
The now defunct Kirby's Pig Stand was the first drive in restaurant in the United States. Founder Jessie G. Kirby reportedly pitched it to potential investors in Dallas as a type of roadside dining establishment where people could order and eat without leaving their vehicles. The restaurant served "pig sandwich" made with roast pork, pickle relish and barbecue sauce.

Food and beverage industry
Dr Pepper was founded in Waco, Texas. The Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas is the oldest independent brewery in Texas, and produces Shiner Beers, including their flagship Shiner Bock. The frozen margarita machine was invented in Dallas by Mariano Martinez.

Frito-Lay is headquartered in Plano, Texas and Frito pie, a dish of Texas chili topped with corn chips and cheese, is a popular recipe to serve at large events.

Blue Bell Creameries is a famous ice-cream manufacturer founded and headquartered in Brenham, Texas.

References

External links

 Tex-Mex foods at Texas State Historical Association
 Texas barbecue at Food Network
 Cuisine of Texas at Allrecipes.com

Cuisine of the Southwestern United States

Texan cuisine


Stephen H. "Suey" Welch (born 1898 or 1899 – January 16, 1974) was an Akron, Ohio-based manager who handled boxers from the 1920s through the 1970s. He specialized in bringing fighters from Ohio to Southern California, where many of them went on to become main event fighters. Most notably, he managed Middleweight Champion Gorilla Jones. One of the last fighters he brought to Southern California in the 1970s was Gil King of Akron. He purportedly got his name of Suey, while catching rides on a Chinese laundryman's truck as a child.

Work at the Olympic Auditorium
Welch was named the matchmaker at the Olympic Auditorium on March 16, 1937, after previous matchmaker Joe Waterman was fired (Waterman's claim) or resigned (Olympic's claim) from his position. Welch made his debut on March 23, 1937, with a main event between Baby Arizmendi and Wally Hally. In January 1938, Welch was made the supervisor of all of Olympic manager Harry Popkin's boxing operations in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Waterman was then reinstated as matchmaker at the Olympic, though Welch would still assist him in making matches. Welch left his position at the Olympic in April 1939, amidst allegations that Lou and Jack Daro managers of the Olympic and powerful figures in the wrestling game, were paying sportswriters and local politicians. Welch was subsequently cited for tax evasion by the State of California in 1937 and 1938, during which time he was paid $19,000, while claiming a salary of $100 per week. The state also invested claims of fixed boxing matches, which included the Chuck Crowell and Al (Big Boy) Bray bout.

Akron Indians
For a few years, Suey played alongside his brothers Chang and Howe for the Akron Indians of the "Ohio League" from around 1916 until 1918. The Indians were reestablished in 1916 and temporarily called the Akron Burkhardts, after a local brewer. In 1921, Welch bought the "Akron Indians" name and fielded his own independent team.

Welch, a bachelor, died January 16, 1974, in Long Beach, California, after a series of heart attacks. He was later inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

Stable
Other boxers in his stable included:
Andy Bundy (1934, while in Los Angeles}
K.O. Christner
Charley (Killer) Coates
Art Hafey
Hank Hankinson
Tommy Hart
Gus Lesnevich (1936, while boxing in Los Angeles)
Al Manfredo (1935–37)
Emilio Martinez (1936, after drawing with John Henry Lewis)
Sammy O'Dell
Billy Peacock
Charley Powell

References

External links
Summitt County Hall of Fame Inductees
Box Rec Boxing Encyclopedia

1890s births
1974 deaths
Akron Indians (Ohio League) players
Akron Indians coaches
American boxing promoters
Players of American football from Ohio
Sportspeople from Akron, Ohio

Suey Welch


Alexandre Astier (born 16 June 1974) is a French writer, director, editor, scriptwriter, humorist, actor and composer.

Astier is most known as the creator, director, writer, editor, composer, and lead actor of the French television series Kaamelott, in which he also plays King Arthur.

Life and career

Alexandre Astier was born in Lyon on June 16, 1974, to Joëlle Sevilla and Lionnel Astier, both actors and producers mostly in Lyon's theatre scene.

Alexandre Astier studied music at the conservatory and at the American School of Modern Music of Paris. He also studied acting and screenwriting.

Four of Astier's seven children have featured in Kaamelott, and both his parents are main characters in the series. His daughters Ariane and Jeanne Astier play respectively Mehben and Mehgan, the daughters of Karadoc and Maevanwi (in the episodes Pupi and Exiles). His son Neil (who also appears as Karadoc and Mevanwi's son in Pupi) plays young Arthur in the season Book V, and in the final scene of Book VI. His son Ethan plays Arthur's dream heir in Book V. Moreover, the mother of his first five children, Anne-Gaëlle Daval, is head of the costume designs on Kaamelott and the short film Dies Irae.

In 2012, he plays Johann Sebastian Bach in his humorous show "Que ma joie demeure !" at the theater.

In 2014, his comic show "L'Exoconférence" begins at the theater in September.

Debut at the theatre

Alexandre Astier first got attention from the Lyon's public thanks to the play Le Jour du froment. He also acted in Nous crions grâce, a play written and directed by Jacques Chambon, to whom he gave the role of Merlin in Kaamelott.

Cinema
In 2001, he was the co-screenwriter and the songwriter of the short movies Soyons sport and Un soupçon fondé sur quelque chose de gras.

In 2002 he was the director of Dies Irae, a 14-minute short movie that is also the first draft of the Kaamelott TV show.

In 2006, he featured in Hey Good Looking!, a French movie by Lisa Azuelos. The same year, he appeared in Asterix at the Olympic Games by Frédéric Forestier and Thomas Langmann, and in Home Sweet Home by Didier Le Pêcheur.

In 2009, he played the role of the ex-husband of Sophie Marceau in the comedy LOL (Laughing Out Loud).

In 2014, he was the co-director and the screenwriter of Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods.

In 2015, he appeared in the film All Three of Us, directed by Kheiron.

In 2018, he wrote an original screenplay for a new Asterix movie: Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion. Like Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods, he co-directed it with Louis Clichy.

Kaamelott
Alexandre Astier became famous as the writer, director and actor in the TV show he produced. Kaamelott is inspired by the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
This humorous series is broadcast on the French channel M6. The episodes lasted three and a half minutes until 2007. Then, the format changed to seven minutes and finally reached fifty-five minutes per episode in the last season Book VI.

He also composes the music of the series.

He has the ambition to extend the TV show to the cinema as a trilogy, but not before 2012, since Alexandre Astier plans to work as a director on another movie before launching Kaamelott on the big screen.

In June 2010, invited on the set of the show "J'irai LOLer sur vos tombes", he unveiled his project to publish a series of graphic novels titled Kaamelott Resistance as a transition between the TV format and the future cinema films.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

See also
 Kaamelott

References

External links

1974 births
Living people
Mass media people from Lyon
French male television actors
French television directors
French male film actors
French film directors
French male screenwriters
French screenwriters
20th-century French dramatists and playwrights
21st-century French dramatists and playwrights
20th-century French male writers
French people of Spanish descent
21st-century French male writers
Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

Alexandre Astier


Sarkis Assadourian (born January 25, 1948) is a Canadian politician from the Liberal Party of Canada. He became the first Armenian-Canadian to be elected to the House of Commons, with great support of the Armenian community of Toronto.

Background
Assadourian was born in Aleppo, Syria. His family emigrated soon after. He studied painting at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In 1970 he moved to Toronto where he worked as a property manager. He also worked as a consultant on multiculturalism for both the provincial and federal governments.

Assadourian and his wife Zaza have four children. He remains a supporter of Armenian causes and is an active member of the Richmond Hill Provincial Liberal Association.

Politics
In 1988, Assadourian entered politics as the Liberal candidate in the riding of Don Valley North. He won the Liberal nomination over rival Sarmite Bulte. During the campaign debate he said that he wanted, "honest and open government, for a change." The New Democratic Party candidate, Anton Kuerti reminded him that the Tories were elected in 1984 criticising the Liberals on the same issue. Assadourian stated that he was staunchly against abortion which was a hot button issue during the campaign. He lost the election to Conservative candidate Barbara Greene by 604 votes.

In 1993 he ran again and this time won against Greene by 14,054 votes in what was a general rout of the Conservatives in Toronto and nationwide. In 1997, Assadourian moved seats to Brampton Centre. In 2003, he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. He did not run in the 2004 election.

Assadourian ran in the 2010 Richmond Hill Municipal Elections in Ward 3. He placed fifth out of seven candidates. He ran again in 2022 in Ward 5, placing eighth out of 10 candidates.

After politics
He now serves as a Citizenship Judge in Toronto.

Electoral record

References

External links

1948 births
Canadian citizenship judges
Canadian people of Armenian descent
Liberal Party of Canada MPs
Living people
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
Politicians from Aleppo
Politicians from Brampton
Syrian people of Armenian descent
Syrian emigrants to Canada
Ethnic Armenian politicians
21st-century Canadian politicians
Syrian Christians
Armenian Christians
Canadian people of Syrian descent

Sarkis Assadourian


Gail Dines (July 29, 1958 in Manchester) is a British-American radical feminist and anti-pornography activist. Her book Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked our Sexuality was published in 2010. She is Jewish.

She moved to the United States in 1986. She is Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at Wheelock College in Boston.

Dines says that modern pornography is cruel and violent. She started a group called Stop Porn Culture.

References

1958 births
Living people
American activists
American feminist writers
American radical feminists
American sociologists
Anti-pornography activists
British activists
British feminists
British sociologists
Feminist writers
Jewish activists
Jewish American academics
Jewish American writers
Jewish British writers
Jewish feminists
Naturalized citizens of the United States
Writers from Manchester
Radical feminists

Gail Dines


Bagrat IV (; 101824 November 1072), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the King of Georgia from 1027 to 1072. During his long and eventful reign, Bagrat sought to repress the great nobility and to secure Georgia's sovereignty from the Byzantine and Seljuq Empires. In a series of intermingled conflicts, Bagrat succeeded in defeating his most powerful vassals and rivals of the Liparitid family, bringing several feudal enclaves under his control and reducing the kings of Lorri and Kakheti, as well as the emir of Tbilisi to vassalage. Like many medieval Caucasian rulers, he bore several Byzantine titles, particularly those of nobelissimos, curopalates, and sebastos.

Early reign

Bagrat was the son of the king George I () by his first wife Mariam of Vaspurakan. At the age of three, Bagrat was surrendered by his father as a hostage to the Byzantine emperor Basil II () as a price for George's defeat in the 1022 war with the Byzantines. The young child Bagrat spent the next three years in the imperial capital of Constantinople and was released in 1025. He was still in Byzantine territory when Basil died and was succeeded by his brother Constantine VIII (). Constantine ordered the retrieval of the young prince, but the imperial courier was unable to overtake Bagrat – he was already in the Georgian kingdom.

After George I died in 1027, Bagrat, aged eight, succeeded to the throne. Queen Dowager Mariam then returned to prominence and became a regent for her underage son. She shared the regency with the grandees, particularly Liparit IV, Duke of Trialeti, and Ivane, Duke of Kartli.

By the time Bagrat became king, the Bagratids' drive to complete the unification of all Georgian lands had gained irreversible momentum. The kings of Georgia sat at Kutaisi in western Georgia from which they ran all of what had been the Kingdom of Abkhazia and a greater portion of Iberia/Kartli; Tao/Tayk had been lost to the Byzantines while a Muslim emir remained in Tbilisi and the kings of Kakheti obstinately defended their autonomy in easternmost Georgia. Furthermore, the loyalty of great nobles to the Georgian crown was far from stable. During Bagrat's minority, the regency had advanced the positions of the high nobility whose influence he subsequently tried to limit when he assumed full ruling powers. Simultaneously, the Georgian crown was confronted with two formidable external foes: the Byzantine Empire and the rising Seljuq Turks. Although the Byzantine Empire and Georgia had centuries-long cultural and religious ties, and the Seljuqs posed a substantial threat to the empire itself, Constantinople's aggressiveness on the Caucasian political scene contributed to an atmosphere of distrust and recrimination, and prevented the two Christian nations from effective cooperation against the common threat. With assertion of the Georgian Bagratid hegemony in the Caucasus being the cornerstone of Bagrat's reign, his policy can be understood as the attempt to play the Seljuqs and Byzantines off against one another.

Dynastic wars

Shortly after Bagrat's ascension to the throne, Constantine VIII sent in an army to take over the key city-fortress of Artanuji (modern Ardanuç, Turkey) on behalf of the Georgian Bagratid prince Demetre, son of Gurgen of Klarjeti, who had been dispossessed by Bagrat IV's grandfather, Bagrat III, of his patrimonial fief at Artanuji early in the 1010s. Several Georgians nobles defected to the Byzantines, but Bagrat's loyal subjects put up a stubborn fight.

Constantine's death in 1028 rendered the Byzantine invasion abortive, and, in 1030, Queen Mariam paid a visit to the new emperor Romanos III (). She negotiated a peace treaty, and returned with the high Byzantine title of curopalates for her son in 1032. Mariam also brought him the Byzantine princess Helena Argyre as wife. Helena was a daughter of Basil Argyros, brother of Emperor Romanos, and the marriage was a diplomatic effort to establish a strategic association. However, Helena's death shortly afterwards at Kutaisi presented the Georgian court with the opportunity to pursue yet another diplomatic initiative through Bagrat's marriage with Borena, daughter of the king of Alania, a Christian country in the North Caucasus.

In 1033, the royal court faced another dynastic trouble, this time with Bagrat's half-brother Demetre, a son of George I of his second marriage with Alda of Alania. Demetre and Alda lived in Anacopia, a fortress in Abkhazia, which had been bequeathed to them by the late king George I. Although an attempt by some great nobles to exploit Demetre's possible aspirations to the throne in their opposition to Bagrat's rule failed, the Georgian court's efforts to win his loyalty also went in vain. Threatened by Bagrat, the dowager queen Alda defected to the Byzantines and surrendered Anacopia to the emperor Romanos III who honored her son Demetre with the rank of magistros.

In 1039, Demetre returned to Georgia with Byzantine troops. This time, he was supported by Liparit IV, of the Liparitid clan, the most powerful noble in Georgia.

Liparit, as duke of the district of Trialeti and later as a commander-in-chief of the royal armies, had appeared as the defender of a boy-king Bagrat early in the 1030s. Liparit's military prowess had been demonstrated once again in 1034 when, at the head of a combined Georgian-Armenian army, he defeated a Shaddadid troops in Arran. In 1038, Liparit was on the verge of capturing the ancient Georgian capital of Tbilisi, which had been a Muslim stronghold since the 8th century. Fearing his growing power, the Georgian nobles persuaded Bagrat to withdraw Liparit's army and thus thwarted the plan. As a result, Liparit became a sworn enemy of the king and began actively cooperating with the Byzantines for vengeance on Bagrat and his nobles.

On behalf of the pretender Demetre, Liparit enjoyed a series of successes against Bagrat. In spite of Demetre's death in 1042, Liparit continued his struggle in alliance with the Byzantines and David I of Lorri. After the defeat at Sasireti, Bagrat was left with the western provinces only. During the Seljuk campaigns in Anatolia in 1048, Liparit, who had been fighting on the Byzantine side, was captured at the Battle of Kapetrou. Bagrat took advantage of this, and returned to his eastern possessions. The king's fortunes were quickly reversed, however, upon Liparit's return from captivity. The rebellious duke forced Bagrat to flee to Constantinople where he was kept, as a result of Liparit's intrigues, for three years. In the absence of Bagrat (1050–1053), Liparit was an effective ruler of Georgia; he even installed Bagrat's son George as king and declared himself a regent. After Bagrat's return, Liparit again warred against him. Eventually in 1060 his followers conspired and surrendered the duke to King Bagrat, who forced him into a monastery. Now, Bagrat gained a momentum to restrict the power of dynastic princes, reduced the kings of Lorri and Kakheti to impotence, and briefly held Tbilisi.

Seljuk attacks
In the 1060s, Bagrat faced with an even greater problem: the Seljuks under Alp Arslan started to penetrate the frontier regions of Georgia. Bagrat had to buy peace through marrying his niece to Alp Arslan sometime after 1064.  She later married the Seljuk Persian vizier Nizam al-Mulk.

The Seljuk threat prompted the Georgian and Byzantine governments to seek a closer cooperation. To secure the alliance, Bagrat's daughter Mart'a (Maria) married, at some point between 1066 and 1071, the Byzantine co-emperor Michael VII Ducas. The choice of a Georgian princess was unprecedented, and it was seen in Georgia as a diplomatic success on Bagrat's side.

On 10 December 1068, Alp Arslan accompanied by the kings of Lorri and Kakheti as well as the emir of Tbilisi again marched against Bagrat. The provinces of Kartli and Argveti were occupied and pillaged. Bagrat's long-time rivals, the Shaddadids of Arran, were given compensation: the fortresses of Tbilisi and Rustavi. After Alp Arslan left Georgia, Bagrat recovered Kartli in July 1068. Al-Fadl I b. Muhammad, of the Shaddadids, encamped at Isani (a suburb of Tbilisi on the left bank of the Mtkvari) and with 33,000 men ravaged the countryside. Bagrat defeated him, however, and forced the Shaddadid troops to flight. On the road through Kakheti, Fadl was taken prisoner by the local ruler Aghsartan. At the price of conceding several fortresses on the Iori River, Bagrat ransomed Fadl and received from him the surrender of Tbilisi where he reinstated a local emir on the terms of vassalage.

The last years of Bagrat's reign coincided with what Professor David Marshall Lang described as "the final débacle of eastern Christendom" — the Battle of Manzikert — in which Alp Arslan dealt a crushing defeat to the Byzantine army, capturing the emperor Romanos IV, who was soon deposed and died in misery. Bagrat IV died the following year, on 24 November 1072, and was buried at the Chkondidi Monastery. The suzerainty over the troubled kingdom of Georgia passed to his son George II.

See also
Bagrat III of Klarjeti
Gurandukht of Georgia

References

Bagrationi dynasty of the Kingdom of Georgia
Kings of Georgia
Medieval child monarchs
Eastern Orthodox monarchs
1018 births
1072 deaths
Nobilissimi
Sebastoi
Kouropalatai

Bagrat IV of Georgia


John Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer and songwriter.

The Lovin' Spoonful
His career first started in 1965 as the leader of the folk-rock band The Lovin' Spoonful. The group had popular songs such as "Summer in the City" and "Do You Believe In Magic?". Sebastian left the band in 1968.

Solo
John played at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, where he performed the Lovin' Spoonful song "Darling Be Home Soon".

He wrote and sang the opening theme song for the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back Kotter.

1944 births
Living people
The Lovin' Spoonful
American singers
American songwriters

John Sebastian


The Battle of Marciano (also known as the Battle of Scannagallo) occurred in the countryside of Marciano della Chiana, near Arezzo, Tuscany, on August 2, 1554, during the Italian War of 1551. The battle marked the defeat of the Republic of Siena in its war against the Duchy of Florence, and resulted in Siena losing its independence and being absorbed into the Duchy of Florence.

Prelude
In 1554, Cosimo I de' Medici, with the support of Emperor Charles V, launched a grand campaign to conquer Florence's last remaining rival in Tuscany, the Republic of Siena. His army was under the command of Gian Giacomo Medici, Marquess of Marignano, best known as "Medeghino" ("Small Medici"). The Florentine-Imperial troops were divided into three corps: Federico Barbolani di Montauto, with 800 men, landed in southern Tuscany to conquer the area of Grosseto; Rodolfo Baglioni, with 3,000 men, invaded the Val di Chiana to conquer Chiusi, Pienza, and Montalcino; and the main corps under Medeghino himself, consisting of 4,500 infantry, 20 cannons, and 1,200 sappers, was deployed at Poggibonsi for the main attack against Siena.

The Sienese entrusted the defence to Piero Strozzi, a fierce rival of the Medici family and a general in French service. French troops, as well as some Florentine exiled by the Medici, took part in the war under the Sienese aegis.

The Florentine troops approached Siena on the night of January 26, 1554. After an initial failed assault, the Marquess of Marignano laid siege to the city, although his men were not numerous enough to totally cut it off from the countryside. Both Baglioni and Montauto failed to capture Pienza and Grosseto. French ships harassed the Florentine resupply lines at Piombino. Cosimo replied to the initial setbacks by hiring Ascanio della Cornia with 6,000 infantry and 300 cavalry, and waiting for further Imperial reinforcements.

On June 11, Strozzi attempted a sally to relieve the pressure on Siena, leaving some French units in the city. He moved towards Pontedera, forcing Medeghino to raise the siege to follow him. This did not prevent Strozzi from joining with a French contingent with 3,500 infantry, 700 horse, and 4 cannons in the territory of Lucca. On June 21, Strozzi conquered Montecatini, but did not feel confident enough to join in a pitched battle against Medeghino, waiting instead for further French reinforcements which were to arrive at Viareggio. He had, in total, 9,500 infantry and perhaps 1,200 cavalry, while Medici had 2,000 Spanish, 3,000 German, and 6,000 Italian infantry, as well as 600 cavalry, not to mention further troops from Spain and Corsica which had recently landed at Bocca d'Arno. His brother, Leone Strozzi, had been killed by an arquebus ball in the course of the struggle for Grosseto.

Strozzi therefore marched back to Siena, where the supply situation had become desperate. In July, he failed to capture Piombino, in southern Tuscany, the only port from which the French supplies could reach Siena. On July 17, conscious that only a victory in a pitched battle could save the city, he tried a third sally in the Val di Chiana, in the direction of Arezzo, leaving 1,000 infantry and 200 cavalry as a garrison under Blaise de Montluc. His field army included 14,000 infantry, about 1,000 cavalry, and five guns.

His force easily overwhelmed the small Florentine garrisons on his way, although the attempt, on July 20, to conquer Arezzo failed. He managed to capture Lucignano, Marciano della Chiana, Foiano, and other centres in the following days.

After some days of inactivity, Medeghino raised the siege of Siena and moved to meet Strozzi.

Battle

After some initial skirmishes, the two large armies clashed when Strozzi, short of food, decided to retire towards Lucignano in the night of August 1. In the morning of the following day, it was clear that his manoeuver had not been successful, and he was forced to lay battle against the Florentine-Imperial troops that were stalking and harassing his moving troops.

The Sienese had: c. 1,000 French-Sienese horse on the right wing; then followed, in the centre, 3,000 Landsknechts, with 3,000 Grisons infantry behind them and another 3,000 French infantry on their left; the left wing was formed by 5,000 Italian infantry under Paolo Orsini. Strozzi's army occupied the slight slope of a hill that descended towards the Scannagallo creek. Il Medeghino deployed 1,200 light cavalry on his left wing, backed by 300 Uomini-d'Arme (heavy cavalry) under Marcantonio Colonna. The centre infantry corps was composed by 2,000 Spanish veterans and other Corsican recruits and 4,000 German Landsknechts under Niccolò Madruzzo. The right wing was formed by 4,000 Tuscan, 2,000 Spanish and 3,000 poorly trained Roman infantry, in three rows, with the few artillery pieces available behind. The reserve included 200 Spanish soldiers, veterans of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, and a company of horse arquebusiers from Naples.

The battle began with the attack of the Medeghino's cavalry wing, whose impetus easily routed its French-Sienese counterpart, which fled towards Foiano. It has been reported that the French commanders of that unit, Valleron and Fourquevaux, had been bribed by the Medeghino with 12 tin flasks filled with golden coins.

To counter this first setback, Strozzi decided to launch down from the hill with the German infantry in his center. A chaotic melee ensued but soon the momentum of the Sienese attack began to wane under the fire of the Imperial artillery which also disorganized the Swiss attempting to relieve the first line. When Il Medeghino then ordered his men to launch themselves against the enemy the German and Swiss began to panic. This turned into a rout when Colonna's heavy cavalry, who had pursued for a while the French-Sienese cavalry, attacked the Germans, fighting across the Scannagallo, from behind. The French infantry on the right wing maintained its battle order and, surrounded on every side, defended desperately until the end.

Strozzi himself was wounded three times and was carried away by his guards. His lieutenant Clemente della Cervara died shortly after the battle from wounds received.

The battle lasted for only two hours, from 11 a.m to 1 p.m. The Sienese army suffered 4,000 dead and 4,000 wounded or prisoners. Strozzi escaped capture.

Aftermath
Il Medeghino easily subdued the neighbouring castles in the days following the battle, and was subsequently able to lay a tighter siege to Siena. Cruel measures were adopted to prevent the peasants taking supplies into the city. In March 1555 he destroyed a corps of 1,300 mercenaries trying to escape to collect food.

Unable to receive substantial supplies and reinforcements from the French, the city surrendered on April 17, 1555 while the remaining Sienese forces withdrew to Montalcino.

The Republic of Siena finally disappeared in 1559 and was thenceforth incorporated into the Duchy of Florence. The Duke ordered that a large fortress be constructed as a precaution against the risk of further rebellion by the Sienese, and this has presided over the city, from its north (Florentine) side, since its completion in 1563.

Notes

References

External links
Battle website
Page about il Medeghino

1554 in Italy
Marciano 1544
Marciano 1544
Marciano 1554
Conflicts in 1554
Italian War of 1551–1559

Battle of Marciano


Pacific Comics was a comic book distributor and publisher active from the 1971 to the 1984. The company began as a San Diego, California, comic book shop owned by brothers Bill and Steve Schanes, later moving into comics distribution and then publishing.

As a publisher, starting in 1981, Pacific took early advantage of the growing direct market, attracting a number of writers and artists from DC Comics and Marvel Comics to produce creator-owned titles, which were not subject to the Comics Code, and thus were free to feature more mature content.

History

Origins
In 1971, the Schanes brothers (Steve Schanes, age 17, and Bill Schanes, age 13) co-founded Pacific Comics, which started out as a mail-order company, selling to consumers via advertisements in the Comics Buyer's Guide. This led to ads inside some Marvel comics, and ultimately to tangible retail stores. The first Pacific Comics store opened in Pacific Beach, California, in 1974, and business was soon doing so well that the brothers realized they "couldn't get merchandise" for the stores, and so set up a distribution system, which was soon supplying neighboring stores also.

The move from newsstand distribution to the direct market (non-returnable, heavily discounted, direct purchasing of comics from publishers) happened in the 1970s, in large part due to the work of Phil Seuling and his Sea Gate Distributors company (founded in 1972), as well as a number of individuals, including the Schanes brothers and Bud Plant. The direct market went hand-in-hand with the creation of specialist comics shops to cater to the collectors who could then buy back issues months after a newsstand issue had disappeared. By the late 1970s, thanks partly to the success of films such as Star Wars and Superman: The Movie, comics were selling well, and Pacific expanded its distribution system nationwide, raising $200,000 by closing its four San Diego retail locations and selling off inventory, rising rapidly to the top of the new distribution system.

In the six years between 1974 and 1980, comic or fantasy-related specialty shops rose from numbering 200–300 to around 1500, while Pacific was operating out of a  office warehouse in Kearny Mesa, with 500 wholesale accounts. According to elder brother Steve, the company "grossed just under a million dollars that year," soon doubling its floorspace.

Publishing
In 1979, Pacific dipped its feet into publishing when they released Warriors of Shadow Realm, a John Buscema portfolio of six signed, colored plates meant to accompany a Doug Moench and Buscema three-issue Weirdworld epic-fantasy tale which ran in Marvel Comics Super Special #11-13 (June-Oct. 1979).

In 1981, rival distributor Capital City launched a black-and-white title, Nexus, and distributed it through their own system. The Schanes brothers took note, and decided to follow suit, even though they were still paying off debt from a $300,000 bank loan taken out in 1979 at 25 percent interest. Steve — who, with a degree in sculpture had a background in art — handled negotiations with creators, while Bill took on the business and accounting end. The brothers turned to Jack Kirby. Steve Schanes recalled, "I figured if you want to get people's attention with a new comic book, who better to do it with than the King of Comics, Jack Kirby! We were already friends with Jack. We used to send him free copies of comics he'd drawn for other publishers because they never sent him any! So I just went ahead and called him on the phone, and he turned out to be a nice guy, completely accessible. ... We negotiated a whole detailed publishing deal between the two of us. No middlemen."

The Schaneses asked Kirby, who had effectively quit comics in 1978, for only the publishing rights, assuring him that he could keep full ownership and copyrights, and said they would even help him license characters for use overseas or in other media. Thus, Pacific claims to have become the first company to pay royalty payments to Kirby. Kirby provided Pacific with Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers, which was published bimonthly from August 1981. Though the Schaneses anticipated sales of less than 25,000, the first issue sold 110,000 copies. Kirby then let Pacific publish his Silver Star, and the brothers decided to start a line of full-color mainstream comic books.

Before long, Pacific had attracted interest from other comics professionals, including Mike Grell (who recalls that he was actually the first to sign with Pacific by a couple of weeks, but that Kirby's work was published first because he "delivered his first.") who had planned his Starslayer to appear from DC, but after it dropped from the schedule, the Schaneses approached him about publishing it.

Another invitee was then-aspiring artist Dave Stevens, who purchased comics from Pacific's shops and had met the brothers at the San Diego Comic-Con in 1981. When Starslayer #2 came up short a few pages, Stevens was approached to fill in the remaining pages, and ultimately came up with The Rocketeer.

Experimentation and expansion
In 1983 Pacific upgraded to paper with higher quality ink. Pacific's innovations in creator-owned properties and high-quality printings were soon imitated by industry leaders DC Comics and Marvel Comics.

Pacific continued to distribute and publish comics, running both operations from a San Diego warehouse to which they'd moved in July 1982. They also purchased a firehouse in Steeleville, Illinois and converted it into a distribution hub. It was also operating warehouses in L.A. and Phoenix at the time. Printing about 500,000 comic books every month, the Schanses employed around forty people at their San Diego operation alone, and were grossing over $3.5 million per annum.

The brothers hired their father, Steven E. Schanes, as financial vice president and their mother (Christine Marra) as office manager. Elder brother Paul "Pablo" worked in the financial records department, and sister Chris, an L.A.-based attorney, provided counsel on legal affairs.

Later output
Pacific's published output contained editorials by David Scroggy, who had started as a comics retailer in 1975, and risen to general manager of Pacific's four San Diego shops by the late 1970s. He helped to bring the reclusive Steve Ditko to Pacific.

Ditko's Pacific offering Missing Man was previewed in Captain Victory #6, and then featured in issues of Pacific Presents. His work was scripted by Mark Evanier. Meanwhile, Pacific published a magazine-sized black-and-white reprint of Rog 2000 stories that John Byrne had done in the '70s for Charlton Comics, as well as a number of titles under its parent company Blue Dolphin Enterprises. It also welcomed Bruce Jones to the company, and Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier's Groo the Wanderer.

3-D, Elric, and falling sales
By 1984, Steve Schanes decided to bring back 3-D to comics, a fleeting trend in the 1950s that had then been stymied by poor printing separations. Ray Zone was hired to do the production, after he had successfully converted a Kirby image for Honeycomb cereal. Steve Schanes decided the 3-D book would be Alien Worlds 3-D, featuring the first published work of Art Adams, alongside John Bolton, Bill Wray and others. Sales on the expensively-produced comic, however, were poor, and sales all round were following suit. One-shots became more common, and tolerable sales on Elric of Melniboné stumbled when First Comics acquired the rights, putting Pacific in the awkward position of continuing as distributor on a comic from a rival publisher that they had helped promote.

Competition and collapse
After organizational difficulties pushed back the release of Starslayer by several months, Mike Grell decided to take his creator-owned property to First Comics, and a domino effect began to occur as the loss of a high-profile title to a rival publisher engendered bad industry PR, leading other creators to lose faith in Pacific.

More importantly, the distribution arm of Pacific was suffering serious problems, due in part to overly-generous credit extensions to retailers, which were not paid back as quickly as expected. Thus, Steve Schanes explained:

Pacific's publication arm was also attracting competitors, and Pacific found itself distributing competitors' titles, including Kitchen Sink Press, Last Gasp (publisher), and Rip Off Press. With this in mind, other publishers—including Capital City (whose Nexus comic outsold several Pacific titles), Comico, Aardvark-Vanaheim, Educomics, Quality, Eagle, Eclipse, First, Vortex, New Media, Fantagraphics, Mirage—feared that having Pacific, a rival publisher, as their distributor could result in their being cut off from comic shops. This likely played a factor in the multiple alternate distributors who came into being to compete with Pacific, until nearly a quarter of Pacific's comic-shop accounts defected to alternate distributors in 1984, skipping out on paying Pacific for upwards of three months' worth of comic books.

At the same time, Pacific and parent company Blue Dolphin Enterprises found themselves the target of lawsuits, including some dealing with foreign rights and royalties for Pacific-published creator-owned titles. In August 1984, with the company $740,000 in debt, the Schaneses informed their staff that they would all be out of work by September. According to Steve Schanes, Pacific's publishing arm was still seeing profit at the time of the closure, but it was outweighed by the losses of the distribution arm, and he and his brother lacked the business expertise to sell off part of the business.

Liquidation
After the 1984 collapse of Pacific, many of its creator-owned publications moved to Eclipse Comics: Bruce Jones' Twisted Tales, Alien Worlds, and Somerset Holmes; Dave Stevens' Rocketeer Special and a one-shot of Mark Evanier/Sergio Aragones' Groo the Wanderer.

As Pacific went into liquidation in September 1984, Phil Seuling's distribution company Sea Gate Distributors also closed down. Pacific's distribution centers and warehouses were purchased by Bud Plant, Inc., and Capital City Distribution, who also opened an expanded facility in Seagate's old space in Sparta, alongside the comic-book printing plant.

Steve Schanes and his wife, Ann Fera, subsequently founded Blackthorne Publishing, and Bill Schanes found employment with Diamond Comic Distributors.

Legacy
Writer Jay Allen Sanford stated that Pacific "formed the template for Image Comics."

Creators associated with Pacific Comics

 Neal Adams
 Sergio Aragonés
 Steve Ditko
 Mark Evanier
 Michael T. Gilbert
 Mike Grell
 Bruce Jones
 Jack Kirby
 P. Craig Russell
 Dave Stevens

Titles

See also
 Capital City Distribution
 New Media/Irjax
 Seagate Distribution

References

Notes

Sources

Pacific Comics at the International Catalogue of Superheroes

External links
Pacific Comics: The Inside Story, by Jay Allen Sanford, in San Diego Reader

Comic book publishing companies of the United States
Comics industry
Comics retailers
Publishing companies established in 1971
Companies based in San Diego
Defunct comics and manga publishing companies
Book distributors
Privately held companies based in California
1971 establishments in California
1981 in comics

Pacific Comics


Modepalast founded in 2003, is a fashion event which takes place once a year, in April at the museumsquartier (MQ), in Vienna, Austria.
The event focuses on young fashion design, both local and international labels, and thus creates a platform for over 80 new designers to present their creations.
The program features a variety of events, shopping, fashion shows, and designers.

About
Modepalast was founded in 2003 by Cloed Baumgartner and Jasmin Ladenhaufen, who worked as the managers and the curators of the fair. Introducing to the local market the concept of a fixed fashion event, Modepalast became an important part of the Viennese fashion scene. The fair includes a variety of fashion items as well as accessories and hosts designers from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary, England, Poland and the Netherlands. They sold the company in 2012.

Program
Modepalast 2009 takes place from 23 to 26 April, at the quartier21 of the Museumsquartier (Museums quarter).
The Designers' works range from street fashion, Urban wear to high fashion as well as jewellery and accessories. The designers also present their works in different fashion shows, which take place on a runway in the center of the Museumsquartier.
This year's special focus is on young designers from neighboring countries, and from the Netherlands, which will present in

Side events
Alongside the main event in the Museumsquartier different parties and fashion events throughout Vienna will take place.

External links
 Modepalast homepage
 Side Events in Vienna
 Museums Quarter

See also
 Museumsquartier

Fashion events

Modepalast


Organic food, ecological food, or biological food are foods and drinks produced by methods complying with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming features practices that cycle resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Organizations regulating organic products may restrict the use of certain pesticides and fertilizers in the farming methods used to produce such products. Organic foods are typically not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or synthetic food additives.

In the 21st century, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and many other countries require producers to obtain special certification to market their food as organic. Although the produce of kitchen gardens may actually be organic, selling food with an organic label is regulated by governmental food safety authorities, such as the National Organic Program of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) or the European Commission (EC).

From an environmental perspective, fertilizing, overproduction, and the use of pesticides in conventional farming may negatively affect ecosystems, soil health, biodiversity, groundwater, and drinking water supplies. These environmental and health issues are intended to be minimized or avoided in organic farming.

Demand for organic foods is primarily driven by consumer concerns for personal health and the environment, such as the detrimental environmental impacts of pesticides. From the perspective of science and consumers, there is insufficient evidence in the scientific and medical literature to support claims that organic food is either substantially safer or healthier to eat than conventional food.
Organic agriculture has higher production costs and lower yields, higher labor costs, and higher consumer prices as compared to conventional farming methods.

Meaning, history and origin of the term

For the vast majority of its history, agriculture can be described as having been organic; only during the 20th century was a large supply of new products, generally deemed not organic, introduced into food production. The organic farming movement arose in the 1940s in response to the industrialization of agriculture.

In 1939, Lord Northbourne coined the term organic farming in his book Look to the Land (1940), out of his conception of "the farm as organism", to describe a holistic, ecologically balanced approach to farming—in contrast to what he called chemical farming, which relied on "imported fertility" and "cannot be self-sufficient nor an organic whole". Early soil scientists also described the differences in soil composition when animal manures were used as "organic", because they contain carbon compounds, whereas superphosphates and Haber process nitrogen do not. Their respective use affects humus content of soil. This is different from the scientific use of the term "organic" in chemistry, which refers to a class of molecules that contain carbon, especially those involved in the chemistry of life. This class of molecules includes everything likely to be considered edible, as well as most pesticides and toxins too, therefore the term "organic" and, especially, the term "inorganic" (sometimes wrongly used as a contrast by the popular press) as they apply to organic chemistry is an equivocation fallacy when applied to farming, the production of food, and to foodstuffs themselves. Properly used in this agricultural science context, "organic" refers to the methods grown and processed, not necessarily the chemical composition of the food.

Ideas that organic food could be healthier and better for the environment originated in the early days of the organic movement as a result of publications like the 1943 book The Living Soil and Farming and Gardening for Health or Disease (1945).

In the industrial era, organic gardening reached a modest level of popularity in the United States in the 1950s. In the 1960s, environmentalists and the counterculture championed organic food, but it was only in the 1970s that a national marketplace for organic foods developed.

Early consumers interested in organic food would look for non-chemically treated, non-use of unapproved pesticides, fresh or minimally processed food. They mostly had to buy directly from growers. Later, "Know your farmer, know your food" became the motto of a new initiative instituted by the USDA in September 2009. Personal definitions of what constituted "organic" were developed through firsthand experience: by talking to farmers, seeing farm conditions, and farming activities. Small farms grew vegetables (and raised livestock) using organic farming practices, with or without certification, and the individual consumer monitored. Small specialty health food stores and co-operatives were instrumental to bringing organic food to a wider audience. As demand for organic foods continued to increase, high-volume sales through mass outlets such as supermarkets rapidly replaced the direct farmer connection. Today, many large corporate farms have an organic division. However, for supermarket consumers, food production is not easily observable, and product labeling, like "certified organic", is relied upon. Government regulations and third-party inspectors are looked to for assurance.

In the 1970s, interest in organic food grew with the rise of the environmental movement and was also spurred by food-related health scares like the concerns about Alar that arose in the mid-1980s.

Legal definition

Organic food production is distinct from private gardening. In the EU, organic farming and organic food are more commonly known as ecological or biological, or in short 'eco' and 'bio'.

Currently, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan, and many other countries require producers to obtain special certification based on government-defined standards to market food as organic within their borders. In the context of these regulations, foods marketed as organic are produced in a way that complies with organic standards set by national governments and international organic industry trade organizations.

In the United States, organic production is managed in accordance with the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA) and regulations in Title 7, Part 205 of the Code of Federal Regulations to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. If livestock are involved, the livestock must be reared with regular access to pasture and without the routine use of antibiotics or growth hormones.

Processed organic food usually contains only organic ingredients. If non-organic ingredients are present, at least a certain percentage of the food's total plant and animal ingredients must be organic (95% in the United States, Canada, and Australia). Foods claiming to be organic must be free of artificial food additives, and are often processed with fewer artificial methods, materials and conditions, such as chemical ripening, food irradiation, and genetically modified ingredients. Pesticides are allowed as long as they are not synthetic. However, under US federal organic standards, if pests and weeds are not controllable through management practices, nor via organic pesticides and herbicides, "a substance included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production may be applied to prevent, suppress, or control pests, weeds, or diseases". Several groups have called for organic standards to prohibit nanotechnology on the basis of the precautionary principle in light of unknown risks of nanotechnology. The use of nanotechnology-based products in the production of organic food is prohibited in some jurisdictions (Canada, the UK, and Australia) and is unregulated in others.

To be certified organic, products must be grown and manufactured in a manner that adheres to standards set by the country they are sold in:
 Australia: NASAA Organic Standard
 Canada:
 European Union: EU-Eco-regulation
 Sweden: KRAV
 United Kingdom: DEFRA
 Poland: Association of Polish Ecology
 Norway: Debio Organic certification
 India: National Program for Organic Production (NPOP)
 Indonesia: BIOCert, run by Agricultural Ministry of Indonesia.
 Japan: JAS Standards
 Mexico: Consejo Nacional de Producción Orgánica, department of Sagarpa
 New Zealand: there are three bodies; BioGro, AsureQuality, and OFNZ
 United States: National Organic Program (NOP) Standards

In the United States, there are four different levels or categories for organic labeling:
 "100% Organic": This means that all ingredients are produced organically. It also may have the USDA seal.
 "Organic": At least 95% or more of the ingredients are organic.
 "Made With Organic Ingredients": Contains at least 70% organic ingredients.
 "Less Than 70% Organic Ingredients": Three of the organic ingredients must be listed under the ingredient section of the label.
In the U.S., the food label "natural" or "all natural" does not mean that the food was produced and processed organically. Environmental sustainability

From an environmental perspective, fertilizing, overproduction and the use of pesticides in conventional farming has caused, and is causing, enormous damage worldwide to local ecosystems, soil health, biodiversity, groundwater and drinking water supplies, and sometimes farmers' health and fertility.

Organic farming typically reduces some environmental impact relative to conventional farming, but the scale of reduction can be difficult to quantify and varies depending on farming methods. In some cases, reducing food waste and dietary changes might provide greater benefits. A 2020 study at the Technical University of Munich found that the greenhouse gas emissions of organically farmed plant-based food were lower than conventionally-farmed plant-based food. The greenhouse gas costs of organically produced meat were approximately the same as non-organically produced meat. However, the same paper noted that a shift from conventional to organic practices would likely be beneficial for long-term efficiency and ecosystem services, and probably improve soil over time.

A 2019 life-cycle assessment study found that converting the total agricultural sector (both crop and livestock production) for England and Wales to organic farming methods would result in a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions as increased overseas land use for production and import of crops would be needed to make up for lower organic yields domestically.

Health and safety

There is little scientific evidence of benefit or harm to human health from a diet high in organic food, and conducting any sort of rigorous experiment on the subject is very difficult. A 2012 meta-analysis noted that "there have been no long-term studies of health outcomes of populations consuming predominantly organic versus conventionally produced food controlling for socioeconomic factors; such studies would be expensive to conduct." A 2009 meta-analysis noted that "most of the included articles did not study direct human health outcomes. In ten of the included studies (83%), a primary outcome was the change in antioxidant activity. Antioxidant status and activity are useful biomarkers but do not directly equate to a health outcome. Of the remaining two articles, one recorded proxy-reported measures of atopic manifestations as its primary health outcome, whereas the other article examined the fatty acid composition of breast milk and implied possible health benefits for infants from the consumption of different amounts of conjugated linoleic acids from breast milk." In addition, as discussed above, difficulties in accurately and meaningfully measuring chemical differences between organic and conventional food make it difficult to extrapolate health recommendations based solely on chemical analysis.

According to a newer review, studies found adverse effects of certain pesticides on children's cognitive development at current levels of exposure. Many pesticides show neurotoxicity in laboratory animal models and some are considered to cause endocrine disruption.

As of 2012, the scientific consensus is that while "consumers may choose to buy organic fruit, vegetables and meat because they believe them to be more nutritious than other food.... the balance of current scientific evidence does not support this view." The evidence of beneficial health effects of organic food consumption is scarce, which has led researchers to call for more long-term studies. In addition, studies that suggest that organic foods may be healthier than conventional foods face significant methodological challenges, such as the correlation between organic food consumption and factors known to promote a healthy lifestyle. When the American Academy of Pediatrics reviewed the literature on organic foods in 2012, they found that "current evidence does not support any meaningful nutritional benefits or deficits from eating organic compared with conventionally grown foods, and there are no well-powered human studies that directly demonstrate health benefits or disease protection as a result of consuming an organic diet."

Prevalent use of antibiotics in livestock used in non-organic meat is a key driver of antibiotic resistance.

Consumer safety

Pesticide exposure

Claims of improved safety of organic food have largely focused on pesticide residues. These concerns are driven by the facts that "(1) acute, massive exposure to pesticides can cause significant adverse health effects;
(2) food products have occasionally been contaminated with pesticides, which can result in acute toxicity; and (3) most, if not all, commercially purchased food contains trace amounts of agricultural pesticides." However, as is frequently noted in the scientific literature: "What does not follow from this, however, is that chronic exposure to the trace amounts of pesticides found in food results in demonstrable toxicity. This possibility is practically impossible to study and quantify;" therefore firm conclusions about the relative safety of organic foods have been hampered by the difficulty in proper study design and relatively small number of studies directly comparing organic food to conventional food.

Additionally, the Carcinogenic Potency Project, which is a part of the US EPA's Distributed Structure-Searchable Toxicity (DSSTox) Database Network, has been systemically testing the carcinogenicity of chemicals, both natural and synthetic, and building a publicly available database of the results for the past ~30 years. Their work attempts to fill in the gaps in our scientific knowledge of the carcinogenicity of all chemicals, both natural and synthetic, as the scientists conducting the Project described in the journal, Science, in 1992: Toxicological examination of synthetic chemicals, without similar examination of chemicals that occur naturally, has resulted in an imbalance in both the data on and the perception of chemical carcinogens. Three points that we have discussed indicate that comparisons should be made with natural as well as synthetic chemicals.
1) The vast proportion of chemicals that humans are exposed to occur naturally. Nevertheless, the public tends to view chemicals as only synthetic and to think of synthetic chemicals as toxic despite the fact that every natural chemical is also toxic at some dose. The daily average exposure of Americans to burnt material in the diet is ~2000 mg, and exposure to natural pesticides (the chemicals that plants produce to defend themselves) is ~1500 mg. In comparison, the total daily exposure to all synthetic pesticide residues combined is ~0.09 mg. Thus, we estimate that 99.99% of the pesticides humans ingest are natural. Despite this enormously greater exposure to natural chemicals, 79% (378 out of 479) of the chemicals tested for carcinogenicity in both rats and mice are synthetic (that is, do not occur naturally).
2) It has often been wrongly assumed that humans have evolved defenses against the natural chemicals in our diet but not against the synthetic chemicals. However, defenses that animals have evolved are mostly general rather than specific for particular chemicals; moreover, defenses are generally inducible and therefore protect well from low doses of both synthetic and natural chemicals.
3) Because the toxicology of natural and synthetic chemicals is similar, one expects (and finds) a similar positivity rate for carcinogenicity among synthetic and natural chemicals. The positivity rate among chemicals tested in rats and mice is ~50%. Therefore, because humans are exposed to so many more natural than synthetic chemicals (by weight and by number), humans are exposed to an enormous background of rodent carcinogens, as defined by high-dose tests on rodents. We have shown that even though only a tiny proportion of natural pesticides in plant foods have been tested, the 29 that are rodent carcinogens among the 57 tested, occur in more than 50 common plant foods. It is probable that almost every fruit and vegetable in the supermarket contains natural pesticides that are rodent carcinogens.

While studies have shown via chemical analysis, as discussed above, that organically grown fruits and vegetables have significantly lower pesticide residue levels, the significance of this finding on actual health risk reduction is debatable as both conventional foods and organic foods generally have pesticide levels well below government established guidelines for what is considered safe. This view has been echoed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the UK Food Standards Agency.

A study published by the National Research Council in 1993 determined that for infants and children, the major source of exposure to pesticides is through diet. A study published in 2006 by Lu et al. measured the levels of organophosphorus pesticide exposure in 23 school children before and after replacing their diet with organic food. In this study, it was found that levels of organophosphorus pesticide exposure dropped from negligible levels to undetectable levels when the children switched to an organic diet, the authors presented this reduction as a significant reduction in risk. The conclusions presented in Lu et al. were criticized in the literature as a case of bad scientific communication.Alex Avery (2006) Organic Diets and Children's Health Environ Health Perspect.114(4) A210–A211.

More specifically, claims related to pesticide residue of increased risk of infertility or lower sperm counts have not been supported by the evidence in the medical literature. Likewise, the American Cancer Society (ACS) has stated their official position that "whether organic foods carry a lower risk of cancer because they are less likely to be contaminated by compounds that might cause cancer is largely unknown." Reviews have noted that the risks from microbiological sources or natural toxins are likely to be much more significant than short term or chronic risks from pesticide residues.

Microbiological contamination
Organic farming has a preference for using manure as fertilizer, compared to conventional farming in general. This practice seems to imply an increased risk of microbiological contamination, such as E. coli O157:H7, from organic food consumption, but reviews have found little evidence that the actual incidence of outbreaks can be positively linked to organic food production. The 2011 Germany E. coli O104:H4 outbreak, however, was blamed on organically farmed fenugreek sprouts.

Public perception

There is a widespread public belief that organic food is safer, more nutritious, and better tasting than conventional food, which has largely contributed to the development of an organic food culture. Consumers purchase organic foods for different reasons, including concerns about the effects of conventional farming practices on the environment, human health, and animal welfare.

While there may be some differences in the nutrient and antinutrient contents of organically and conventionally produced food, the variable nature of food production, shipping, storage, and handling makes it difficult to generalize results.Blair, Robert. (2012). Organic Production and Food Quality: A Down to Earth Analysis. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK. Pages 72, 223, 225.  Claims that "organic food tastes better" are generally not supported by tests, but consumers often perceive organic food produce like fruits and vegetables to taste better.

In general, it seems that the appeal of organic food varies with demographic group and attitudinal characteristics. USA research has found that women, young adults, liberals, and college graduates were significantly more likely to buy organic food regularly when compared to men, older age groups, people of different political affiliations, and less educated individuals. Income level and race/ethnicity did not appear to affect interest in organic foods in this same study. Furthermore, individuals who are only moderately-religious were more likely to purchase organic foods than individuals who were less religious or highly-religious. Additionally, the pursuit of organic foods was positively associated with valuing vegetarian/vegan food options, "natural" food options, and USA-made food options. Organic food may also be more appealing to people who follow other restricted diets. One study found that individuals who adhered to vegan, vegetarian, or pescetarian diet patterns incorporated substantially more organic foods in their diets when compared to omnivores.

The most important reason for purchasing organic foods seems to be beliefs about the products' health-giving properties and higher nutritional value. These beliefs are promoted by the organic food industry, and have fueled increased demand for organic food despite higher prices and difficulty in confirming these claimed benefits scientifically.Dangour AD et al. (2009) Nutritional quality of organic foods: a systematic review The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 92(1) 203–210 Organic labels also stimulate the consumer to view the product as having more positive nutritional value.

Psychological effects such as the "halo" effect are also important motivating factors in the purchase of organic food.

In China the increasing demand for organic products of all kinds, and in particular milk, baby food and infant formula, has been "spurred by a series of food scares, the worst being the death of six children who had consumed baby formula laced with melamine" in 2009 and the 2008 Chinese milk scandal, making the Chinese market for organic milk the largest in the world as of 2014. A Pew Research Center survey in 2012 indicated that 41% of Chinese consumers thought of food safety as a very big problem, up by three times from 12% in 2008.

A 2020 study on marketing processed organic foods shows that, after much growth in the fresh organic foods sector, consumers have started to buy processed organic foods, which they sometime perceive to be just as healthy or even healthier than the non-organic version – depending on the marketing message.

Taste
There is no good evidence that organic food tastes better than its non-organic counterparts. There is evidence that some organic fruit is drier than conventionally grown fruit; a slightly drier fruit may also have a more intense flavor due to the higher concentration of flavoring substances.

Some foods which are picked when unripe, such as bananas, are cooled to prevent ripening while they are shipped to market, and then are induced to ripen quickly by exposing them to propylene or ethylene, chemicals produced by plants to induce their own ripening; as flavor and texture changes during ripening, this process may affect those qualities of the treated fruit.Fresh Air, National Public Radio. 30 August 2011 Transcript: Bananas: The Uncertain Future Of A Favorite Fruit

Chemical composition

With respect to chemical differences in the composition of organically grown food compared with conventionally grown food, studies have examined differences in nutrients, antinutrients, and pesticide residues. These studies generally suffer from confounding variables, and are difficult to generalize due to differences in the tests that were done, the methods of testing, and because the vagaries of agriculture affect the chemical composition of food; these variables include variations in weather (season to season as well as place to place); crop treatments (fertilizer, pesticide, etc.); soil composition; the cultivar used, and in the case of meat and dairy products, the parallel variables in animal production. Treatment of the foodstuffs after initial gathering (whether milk is pasteurized or raw), the length of time between harvest and analysis, as well as conditions of transport and storage, also affect the chemical composition of a given item of food. Additionally, there is evidence that organic produce is drier than conventionally grown produce; a higher content in any chemical category may be explained by higher concentration rather than in absolute amounts.

Nutrients
Many people believe that organic foods have higher content of nutrients and thus are healthier than conventionally produced foods. However, scientists have not been equally convinced that this is the case as the research conducted in the field has not shown consistent results.

A 2009 systematic review found that organically produced foodstuffs are not richer in vitamins and minerals than conventionally produced foodstuffs. This systematic review found a lower nitrogen and higher phosphorus content in organic produced compared to conventionally grown foodstuffs. Content of vitamin C, calcium, potassium, total soluble solids, copper, iron, nitrates, manganese, and sodium did not differ between the two categories.

A 2012 survey of the scientific literature did not find significant differences in the vitamin content of organic and conventional plant or animal products, and found that results varied from study to study. Produce studies reported on ascorbic acid (vitamin C) (31 studies), beta-carotene (a precursor for vitamin A) (12 studies), and alpha-tocopherol (a form of vitamin E) (5 studies) content; milk studies reported on beta-carotene (4 studies) and alpha-tocopherol levels (4 studies). Few studies examined vitamin content in meats, but these found no difference in beta-carotene in beef, alpha-tocopherol in pork or beef, or vitamin A (retinol) in beef. The authors analyzed 11 other nutrients reported in studies of produce. A 2011 literature review found that organic foods had a higher micronutrient content overall than conventionally produced foods.

Similarly, organic chicken contained higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than conventional chicken. The authors found no difference in the protein or fat content of organic and conventional raw milk.

A 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis found that organic meat had comparable or slightly lower levels of saturated fat and monounsaturated fat as conventional meat, but higher levels of both overall and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Another meta-analysis published the same year found no significant differences in levels of saturated and monounsaturated fat between organic and conventional milk, but significantly higher levels of overall and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in organic milk than in conventional milk.

Anti-nutrients
The amount of nitrogen content in certain vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables and tubers, has been found to be lower when grown organically as compared to conventionally. When evaluating environmental toxins such as heavy metals, the USDA has noted that organically raised chicken may have lower arsenic levels. Early literature reviews found no significant evidence that levels of arsenic, cadmium or other heavy metals differed significantly between organic and conventional food products. However, a 2014 review found lower concentrations of cadmium, particularly in organically grown grains.

Phytochemicals
A 2014 meta-analysis of 343 studies on phytochemical composition found that organically grown crops had lower cadmium and pesticide residues, and 17% higher concentrations of polyphenols than conventionally grown crops. Concentrations of phenolic acids, flavanones, stilbenes, flavones, flavonols, and anthocyanins were elevated, with flavanones being 69% higher. Studies on phytochemical composition of organic crops have numerous deficiencies, including absence of standardized measurements and poor reporting on measures of variability, duplicate or selective reporting of data, publication bias, lack of rigor in studies comparing pesticide residue levels in organic and conventional crops, the geographical origin of samples, and inconsistency of farming and post-harvest methods.

Pesticide residues

The amount of pesticides that remain in or on food is called pesticide residue. In the United States, before a pesticide can be used on a food crop, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must determine whether that pesticide can be used without posing a risk to human health.

A 2012 meta-analysis determined that detectable pesticide residues were found in 7% of organic produce samples and 38% of conventional produce samples. This result was statistically heterogeneous, potentially because of the variable level of detection used among these studies. Only three studies reported the prevalence of contamination exceeding maximum allowed limits; all were from the European Union. A 2014 meta-analysis found that conventionally grown produce was four times more likely to have pesticide residue than organically grown crops.

The American Cancer Society has stated that no evidence exists that the small amount of pesticide residue found on conventional foods will increase the risk of cancer, although it recommends thoroughly washing fruits and vegetables. They have also stated that there is no research to show that organic food reduces cancer risk compared to foods grown with conventional farming methods.

The Environmental Protection Agency maintains strict guidelines on the regulation of pesticides by setting a tolerance on the amount of pesticide residue allowed to be in or on any particular food.
Although some residue may remain at the time of harvest, residue tend to decline as the pesticide breaks down over time. In addition, as the commodities are washed and processed prior to sale, the residues often diminish further.

Bacterial contamination
A 2012 meta-analysis determined that prevalence of E. coli contamination was not statistically significant (7% in organic produce and 6% in conventional produce). Differences in the prevalence of bacterial contamination between organic and conventional animal products were also statistically insignificant.

Organic meat production requirements

United States
Organic meat certification in the United States requires farm animals to be raised according to USDA organic regulations throughout their lives. These regulations require that livestock are fed certified organic food that contains no animal byproducts. Further, organic farm animals can receive no growth hormones or antibiotics, and they must be raised using techniques that protect native species and other natural resources. Irradiation and genetic engineering are not allowed with organic animal production. One of the major differences in organic animal husbandry protocol is the "pasture rule": minimum requirements for time on pasture do vary somewhat by species and between the certifying agencies, but the common theme is to require as much time on pasture as possible and reasonable.

Economics

Organic agriculture has higher potential costs due to lower yields and higher labor costs, leading to higher consumer prices. Demand for organic foods is primarily driven by concerns for personal health and for the environment. Global sales for organic foods climbed by more than 170 percent since 2002 reaching more than $63 billion in 2011 while certified organic farmland remained relatively small at less than 2 percent of total farmland under production, increasing in OECD and EU countries (which account for the majority of organic production) by 35 percent for the same time period. Organic products typically cost 10% to 50% more than similar conventionally produced products, to several times the price. Processed organic foods vary in price when compared to their conventional counterparts.

While organic food accounts for about 1% of total food production worldwide, the organic food sales market is growing rapidly with between 5 and 10 percent of the food market share in the United States according to the Organic Trade Association, significantly outpacing sales growth volume in dollars of conventional food products. World organic food sales jumped from US$23 billion in 2002 to $63 billion in 2011.

Asia
Production and consumption of organic products is rising rapidly in Asia, and both China and India are becoming global producers of organic crops and a number of countries, particularly China and Japan, also becoming large consumers of organic food and drink. The disparity between production and demand, is leading to a two-tier organic food industry, typified by significant and growing imports of primary organic products such as dairy and beef from Australia, Europe, New Zealand and the United States.

China
 China's organic food production was originally for exportation in the early 2000s. Due to the food safety crisis since the late 2000s, China's domestic market outweighed the exportation market. The organic food production in China involves diverse players. Besides certified organic food production mainly conducted by private organic food companies, there are also non-certified organic farming practiced by entrepreneurs and civil society organizations. These initiatives have unique marketing channels such as ecological farmers' markets and community-supported agriculture emerging in and around Chinese major cities.
 China's domestic organic market is the fourth largest in the world. The Chinese Organic Food Development Center estimated domestic sales of organic food products to be around US$500 million per annum as of 2013. This is predicted to increase by 30 percent to 50 percent in 2014. As of 2015, organic foods made up about 1% of the total Chinese food market.
 China is the world's biggest infant formula market with $12.4 billion in sales annually; of this, organic infant formula and baby food accounted for approximately 5.5 per cent of sales in 2011. Australian organic infant formula and baby food producer Bellamy's Organic have reported that their sales in this market grew 70 per cent annually over the period 2008–2013, while Organic Dairy Farmers of Australia, reported that exports of long-life organic milk to China had grown by 20 to 30 per cent per year over the same period.

Sri Lanka
In April 2021, Sri Lanka started its "100% organic farming" program, banning imports of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. In November 2021, it was announced that the country will lift its import ban, explained by both a lack of sudden changes to widely applied practices or education systems and contemporary economics and, by extension, food security, protests and high food costs. The effort for the first transition to a completely organic farming nation was further challenged by effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bhutan
In 2013 the government of Bhutan announced that the country will become the first in the world with 100% organic farming and started a program for qualification. This program is being supported by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). A 2021 news report found that "globally, only Bhutan has a complete ban on synthetic pesticides". A 2018 study found that "current organic by default farming practices in Bhutan are still underdeveloped".

Japan
 In 2010, the Japanese organic market was estimated to be around $1.3 billion.

North America

 United States
Organic food is the fastest growing sector of the American food industry.
In 2005 the organic food market was only worth about US$13 billion. By 2012 the total size of the organic food market in the United States was about $30 billion (out of the total market for organic and natural consumer products being about $81 billion)Carl Edstrom of IRI and Kathryn Peters of SPINS October 2013 Natural / Organic Consumer Segmentation, A Total Market Perspective  In 2020 the organic food market was worth over $56 billion.
 Organic food sales have grown by 17 to 20 percent a year in the early 2000s while sales of conventional food have grown only about 2 to 3 percent a year. The US organic market grew 9.5% in 2011, breaking the $30bn barrier for the first time, and continued to outpace sales of non-organic food.
 In 2003 organic products were available in nearly 20,000 natural food stores and 73% of conventional grocery stores.
 Organic products accounted for 3.7% of total food and beverage sales, and 11.4% of all fruit and vegetable sales in the year 2009.
 , many independent organic food processors in the USA had been acquired by multinational firms.
For a product to become USDA organic certified, the farmer cannot plant genetically modified seeds and livestock cannot eat genetically modified plants. Farmers must provide substantial evidence showing there was no genetic modification involved in the operation.
Canada
 Organic food sales surpassed $1 billion in 2006, accounting for 0.9% of food sales in Canada. By 2012, Canadian organic food sales reached $3 billion.
 British Columbians account for 13% of the Canadian population, but purchased 26% of the organic food sold in Canada in 2006.

Europe

Denmark
 In 2012, organic products accounted for 7.8% of the total retail consumption market in Denmark, the highest national market share in the world. Many public institutions have voluntarily committed themselves to buy some organic food and in Copenhagen 75% of all food served in public institutions is organic. A governmental action plan initiated in 2012–2014 aims at 60% organic food in all public institutions across the country before 2020.
 In 1987, the first Danish Action Plan was implemented which was meant to support and stimulate farmers to switch from conventional food production systems to organic ones . Since then Denmark has constantly worked on further developing the market by promoting organic food and keeping prices low in comparison to conventional food products by offering farmers subvention and extra support if they choose to produce organic food. Then and even today is the bench mark for organic food policy and certification of organic food in the whole world. The new European Organic food label and organic food policy was developed based on the 1987 Danish Model.
 Austria
 In 2011, 7.4% of all food products sold in Austrian supermarkets (including discount stores) were organic. In 2007, 8,000 different organic products were available.
Italy
 Since 2000, the use of some organic food is compulsory in Italian schools and hospitals. A 2002 law of the Emilia Romagna region implemented in 2005, explicitly requires that the food in nursery and primary schools (from 3 months to 10 years) must be 100% organic, and the food in meals at schools, universities and hospitals must be at least 35% organic.
 Poland
 In 2005 7 percent of Polish consumers buy food that was produced according to the EU-Eco-regulation. The value of the organic market is estimated at 50 million euros (2006).
 Romania
 70%–80% of the local organic production, amounting to 100 million euros in 2010, is exported. The organic products market grew to 50 million euros in 2010.
 Switzerland
 , 11 per cent of Swiss farms are organic. Bio Suisse, the Swiss organic producers' association, provides guidelines for organic farmers.
 Ukraine
In 2009 Ukraine was in 21st place in the world by area under cultivation of organic food. Much of its production of organic food is exported and not enough organic food is available on the national market to satisfy the rapidly increasing demand. The size of the internal market demand for organic products in Ukraine was estimated at over 5 billion euros in 2011, with rapid growth projected for this segment in the future. Multiple surveys show that the majority of the population of Ukraine is willing to pay more to buy organic food.Исследование трендов: Готовы ли украинцы покупать экологически чистые товары? // дослідницький центр компанії INRISE Development, вересень 2010 р.  On the other hand, many Ukrainians have traditionally maintained their own garden plots, and this may result in underestimation of how much organically produced food is actually consumed in Ukraine.
The Law on Organic Production was passed by Ukraine's parliament in April 2011, which in addition to traditional demands for certified organic food also banned the use of GMOs or any products containing GMOs. However, the law was not signed by the President of Ukraine and in September 2011 it was repealed by the Verkhovna Rada itself. The new Organic Production Law was adopted by Rada and signed by President Poroshenko in July 2018.
 United Kingdom
 Organic food sales increased from just over £100 million in 1993/94 to £1.21 billion in 2004 (an 11% increase on 2003). In 2010, the UK sales of organic products fell 5.9% to £1.73 billion. 86% of households buy organic products, the most popular categories being dairies (30.5% of sales) and fresh fruits and vegetables (23.2% of sales). As of 2011, 4.2% of UK farmland is organically managed.

Latin America
 Cuba
 After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, agricultural inputs that had previously been purchased from Eastern bloc countries were no longer available in Cuba, and many Cuban farms converted to organic methods out of necessity. Consequently, organic agriculture is a mainstream practice in Cuba, while it remains an alternative practice in most other countries. Although some products called organic in Cuba would not satisfy certification requirements in other countries (crops may be genetically modified, for example), Cuba exports organic citrus and citrus juices to EU markets that meet EU organic standards. Cuba's forced conversion to organic methods may position the country to be a global supplier of organic products.

See also

 Agroecology
 Genetically modified food
 List of diets
 List of organic food topics
 List of foods
 Natural food
 Organic clothing
 Permaculture
 Regenerative agriculture
 Soil Association
 Whole food
 Organic food culture
 Silent Spring'', a book about pesticides and the environment by Rachel Carson

References

Further reading

External links

 A World Map of Organic Agriculture
 UK Organic certification and standards
 India – National Program for Organic Production (NPOP)

Product certification
Diets
Environmental controversies

Organic food


A sundown town is a town that is or was purposely all-white. The term is widely used in the United States in areas from Ohio to Oregon and well into the South. The term came from signs that were allegedly posted stating that people of color had to leave the town by sundown.  The minority people could not visit after sunset or spend the night in the town (even as a paying hotel customer). Such towns are also sometimes called "sunset towns" or "gray towns".

History
Some towns placed signs at the town's boundary with statements similar to the one posted in Hawthorne, California, which read "Nigger, Don't Let The Sun Set On YOU In Hawthorne" in the 1930s.

In some cases, keeping minorities out was official town policy, through restrictive covenants written in land deeds, or by agreement between the real estate agents of the community. In others, the policy was enforced through intimidation. For example, law enforcement officers could stop all minorities found after sunset.

Though no one knows the number of sundown towns in the United States, the largest estimate was that the nation had several thousand. The highest proportion of confirmed sundown towns are in the state of Illinois. It is difficult to confirm sunset towns because the towns did not keep, or do not want to show, official documents stating their status as sundown towns. For example, One Hundred Years of Progress: The Centennial History of Anna, Illinois, although more than 400 pages long, never mentions Anna's 1909 expulsion of African Americans, the sundown signs at the northern and southern city limits in 1954, or anything else about race.

Since the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and especially since the Civil Rights Act of 1968 prohibited racial discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing, the number of sundown towns has decreased. However, as sociologist James Loewen writes in his book on the subject, it is impossible to precisely count the number of sundown towns at any given time, because most towns have not kept records of the ordinances or signs that marked the town's sundown status. His book, Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, notes that hundreds of cities across America have been sundown towns at some point in their history.

Loewen's book mentions that sundown status meant more than just African-Americans not being able to live in these towns. Essentially any African-Americans (or sometimes other groups) who came into sundown towns after sundown were subject to harassment, threats, and violent acts—up to and including lynching.

Other minorities targeted
In addition to the expulsion of African Americans from some small towns, Chinese Americans and other minorities were also driven out of some of the towns where they lived. Loewen says one example is that in 1870, Chinese made up one-third of the population of Idaho. Following a wave of violence and an 1886 anti-Chinese convention in Boise, almost none remained by 1910. The town of Gardnerville, Nevada, is said to have blown a whistle at 6 p.m. daily alerting Native Americans to leave by sundown.
In addition, Jews were excluded from living in some sundown towns, such as Darien, Connecticut.

Books that refer to Sundown towns
James Loewen's book, Sundown Towns describes sundown towns.  Several other books also show the existence of sundown towns.  Sundown towns are mentioned in Following the Color Line, by Ray Stannard Baker; Free But Not Equal, by V. Jacque Voegeli; Black Ohio and the Color Line, by David Gerber; The Negro in Indiana, by Emma Thornbrough; Mobile Americans: Residential and Social Mobility in Omaha, by Howard Chudacoff; Race and Kinship in a Midwestern Town, by James DeVries; The Sociogenesis of a Race Riot by Roberta Senechal.  Visual treatments include Robby Heason, Trouble Behind (Cicada Films, 1990), and Marco Williams, Banished (banishedthefilm.com/).

References

Further reading

Other websites
 Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture entry: Sundown Towns
 Review and feature article, Dallas Morning News
 Interview with James Loewen, U.S. News
 Article on Vidor, Texas's long time reputation as a sundown town

American civil rights

Sundown town