Biche (Fasting and Filling)

Say hello to Daegu's newest organic restaurant, Biche!  Biche is brought to you by the same people who run the Biche Organic Market, the Daegu Eco-feminist league, and the Body and Culture center, and is conveniently located in the same building.

Biche's spacious, bright interior.

With a slight touch of the eclectic

Everything Bichae serves is organic and local, good for us and for the world around us.  I went with the Bibimbap:

 

Fresh vegetables, whole-grain brown rice, glass noodles with burdock root, and salad with Chinese quince dressing. Everything was calm, clean, and, of course, quite tasty.

Biche's promises, to ensure health for you, for the producers, for the land, and for the animals:

 - We source all produce from local farms that have been using exclusively organic cultivation techniques for at least 10 years.
 - All eggs, chicken, pork, and beef come from animals raised organically.  No GMO feed, no antibiotics, no growth hormones.
 - We cook with five-grain rice syrup and various methods of fermentation.  No MSG - only healthy raw foods and foods cooked at low temperatures.

Other menu items include a seasonal set meal, rice steamed in lotus leaves, a raw vegan platter, cream spaghetti made with soy milk and noodles from domestic grains, tofu and acorn jelly, seasonal vegetable pancakes, steamed pork, steamed beef ribs, and chicken soup. They also serve group meals at prices ranging between twenty and seventy thousand won, as well as a selection of fruit juices and alcoholic beverages. For a look at the whole menu, click on the above photo and explore the album.  The prices may come as a bit of a shock, but try to keep in mind that they reflect the true cost of eating local, seasonal, and healthy food while paying farmers fair prices for their work.



Biche has also kindly offered to host and cater Daegu Green Living's next Eco-Film (yet to be chosen, but anyway...), to be held on the evening of Sunday, February 26th. Add it to your calendar! 


Biche is located behind the Hwangeum-dong Taewan Honors Apartments about 1.5km south of the Suseong-gu Office subway station and 2km southwest of Mancheon subway station.  The closest bus stop is Dongdo Middle School (동도중학교), which is served by the 349, 414, 427, 449, 순환3, and 수성1 buses. Check out the Green Guide map for more details.

Chorok Maeul, Siji

If this blog were your only source of eco-friendly shoppig information, you might get the impression that your organic options in Daegu were limited to the miniscule sections at the big shops (whose names I'd rather not mention) and a couple of specialty stores in Chilgok. In truth, though, this blog bias is just a result of me not having the time or gumption to venture too far out of my comfort zone, which is more or less bounded by Chilgok, Duryu, the Airport, and Downtown.

Thankfully, though, vacation has come, full of bright days and empty hours and chances to explore. Nothing makes one feel more accomplished than hopping on the bicycle, stuffing onself senseless at a buffet, zipping out to the end of the subway line, and doing a bit of sleuthing. Which is exactly what I - actually, we, since I had an accomplice this time - did on Tuesday. This post, and the following two, contain the fruits of our labor.

Welcome to Chorok Maeul (초록마을, Green Village), Siji Branch!

Chorok Maeul, founded in 1999, is dedicated to "facilitating the distribution of domestic, environmentally friendly, organic foods and providing consumers with healthy foodstuffs bearing the sweat and devotion of the farmland." Korean production of organic food has increased tenfold over the last ten years, and the number of Chorok Maeul outlets has risen from one to over two hundred. This success may be due, at least in part, to their three pledges:

"To the customer: We promise to provide only products which have been certified as both safe and eco-friendly."

"To the producer: We will not forget your honesty, nor the precious sweat of your brow."

"To the environment: We will take the lead in watching and protecting the environment, which itself gives us life."


Dwarfed by the nearby Sinmae market and rendered inconspicous by the noise of the nearby phone shops and ultra-popular dumpling steamery, Chorok Maeul is actually much bigger than it looks from the outside. In addition the the standard Korean organic offerings of

organic beans, whole- and mixed-grain rices, jams (including organic German peanut butter!)

noodles, snacks, flour, and pancake mix made from domestic grains,

loads of fresh, organic, domestic, seasonal produce, antibiotic-free eggs, soy sauce, red pepper paste, and other Korean goodies,

Chorok Maeul also stocks a good variety of breafast mix powders, cosmetics, honeys, teas, and, most importantly, boozes.

(Close up:)

Not pictured, but also worth mentioning, is the selection of breads - whole grain, five grain, and more - made from organic Korean flour.

Unlike Hansallim and ICoop, Chorok Maeul doesn't require customers to purchase a membership. Regular customers can enroll in a program to earn reward points, which can be spent just like cash on any product in the store. If you'd rather just do your shopping and get on with it, that's fine too.

You can pay Chorok Maeul a visit any day of the week; they're open from 10AM-9PM Monday through Saturday, and 10AM to 6PM on Sundays. The Siji branch of Chorok Maeul is located at in Sinmae-dong, Suseong-gu 578-8, a few minutes' walk away from Sinmae station. Come out of exit five and walk straight until the next big intersection. Turn right onto Sinmae-ro, walk south about a block and a half, and it'll be on your left; if you get to Sinmae Elementary School, you've gone too far. Alternately, you can head west from exit two of Sawol station, walk across the river, turn left at Sinmae-ro, and then follow the remaining directions above. Here's a map.



For those of you who live somewhere other than Siji - i.e., just about everybody - cheer up! In addition to a number of other organic shops that Daegu Green Living has yet to document, there are two more Chorok Maeul outlets: one in Chilgok and one in Songhyeon.

Visit the Siji Branch website here (sorry, no English) to see products, prices,
and news, or to shop online. For more about the company itself, visit http://www.choroki.com/.

Eco-film Night #7: The Garden

Earth Day is coming up and Daegu Green Living has been thinking of a few ways to celebrate, inform, and empower. Thus,

Daegu Green Living Presents / 녹색살이대구 보여드립니다

Eco-Film Night / 친환경 영화 상영: The Garden



Unfortunately, it looks like the official website is under attack at the moment. You may have to content yourself with the following trailer and description:

"The fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing ...their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community.

But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis.

The Garden follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil of this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall. Mostly immigrants from Latin America, from countries where they feared for their lives if they were to speak out, we watch them organize, fight back, and demand answers:

Why was the land sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than fair-market value? Why was the transaction done in a closed-door session of the LA City Council? Why has it never been made public?

And the powers-that-be have the same response: “The garden is wonderful, but there is nothing more we can do.”

If everyone told you nothing more could be done, would you give up?

* * *

The Garden has the pulse of verité with the narrative pull of fiction, telling the story of the country’s largest urban farm, backroom deals, land developers, green politics, money, poverty, power, and racial discord. The film explores and exposes the fault lines in American society and raises crucial and challenging questions about liberty, equality, and justice for the poorest and most vulnerable among us."

Where: Buy the Book Cafe, Rodeo Street, Downtown Daegu
When: Saturday, April 23rd, 7:30PM-9:00PM

As always, entrance is FREE and all are welcome. Have dinner with friends and then stop by, or enjoy something off Buy the Book's new expanded menu. Hope to see you there!

**In addition, please look for further posts about Daegu Car-Free Day, which will begin at midnight on the evening of the film, and the monthly Daegu Bike Festival, which will start at 11:00AM from Jungang-no on Sunday.**