When we lived in San Diego, we were part of a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. Each week, we would pick up a huge box of organic, locally grown fruits and vegetables. It was great and the produce was so much more delicious than buying it at the supermarket.
If you aren’t familiar with purchasing organic produce, here is a list that will give you an idea of what is most important to buy organic, and what is least important to buy organic.
12 Most Contaminated Fruits and Vegetables (always buy organic if possible)
• Apples
• Celery
• Cherries
• Grapes
• Lettuce
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Pears
• Potatoes
• Spinach
• Strawberries
• Sweet Bell Peppers
12 Least Contaminated (least important to buy organic)
• Asparagus
• Avocado
• Bananas
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Kiwi Fruit
• Mango
• Onions
• Papaya
• Pineapples
• Sweet Corn (Frozen)
• Sweet Peas (Frozen)
When we moved to Uruguay, I was very interested in learning about the availability of organic produce. After some research, I’ve discovered you can find it, but it’s not as readily available or abundant as it was in San Diego, and the selection is limited.
There are three places where I have found organic produce (and other organic items) in Montevideo, Uruguay to date.
1. The Grocery Store. We typically do some of our shopping at the Disco Natural at Punta Carretas Shopping. Overall, they have a good selection of pretty much anything you might need (including house wares and toys).
However, their selection of organic produce is very slim. They have one cart (it’s literally a wooden cart; see below) of organic produce, and you’re never quite sure what they’ll have. They typically always have onions and carrots, but other than that, it’s a coin toss as to what they’ll have in stock.
2. The Organic Feria (Feria de Productores Organicos de la Chacra a su mesa) at Parque Rodo. It’s held every Sunday from 8 am to 2 pm. They have a small selection of fruit, vegetables, cheese, marmalades and skin care products.
3. Ecotiendas. Ecotiendas by far has the best selection of organic produce and other items that I have found so far in Uruguay. They have fruits, vegetables, oils, pasta, pasta sauce, cheese, marmalades, flour, bread, skin care products, cleaning products, prepared foods and more.
They even have a restaurant upstairs. You vegetarians and vegans out there will be happy to hear that they were serving seitan (a food made from the gluten of wheat; also called wheat meat) on the lunch menu when we were there. Seitan isn’t my thing since I have a bit of a gluten intolerance, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.
We had just gone to the feria, so we didn’t need any produce when we went to Ecotiendas. However, we picked up a bag of organic granola and it is great!
Ecotiendas has a great website that lists their inventory and prices so you can get an idea of what they carry before you visit. Ecotiendas is located at Maldonado 1390, in Montevideo, Uruguay. Their phone number is (02) 900 65 60 and email address is [email protected].
