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FARMING

Organic food sector stagnates amid tough economy

Germany's organic food market, far and away Europe's largest, was stagnant in 2009 after years of stellar growth but still outperformed the wider food market, a trade organisation said Wednesday.

Organic food sector stagnates amid tough economy
Photo: DPA

Estimated turnover in the sector amounted to around €5.85 billion ($8.52 billion), roughly the same or even slightly less than last year, the federation for organic foodstuffs (BOELW) said in a press release.

“The reason is that discount supermarkets are cutting their prices and reducing their range of products,” said Hans-Christoph Behr from the agricultural information company (AMI).

Nevertheless, as a comparison, the total food market shrank by 2.4 percent as Germany, Europe’s largest economy, suffered its worst recession since World War II.

According to 2008 BOELW figures, the market for organic foods in Germany was comfortably the largest in Europe, worth more than twice its closest rival Britain.

The sector enjoyed a prolific decade from 2000, as interest in environmental issues and healthier eating boomed, with double-digit growth in every year apart from 2003, where turnover grew by three percent.

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FOOD AND DRINK

Danish chef wants to launch gourmet dining to stratosphere

Danish chef Rasmus Munk wants to take high-end cuisine to the edge of space, with plans to serve up a stratospheric dining experience in 2025, his restaurant said Thursday.

Danish chef wants to launch gourmet dining to stratosphere

“The expedition will take place aboard Space Perspective Spaceship Neptune, the world’s first carbon-neutral spaceship,” Alchemist, the Copenhagen restaurant that has earned Munk two Michelin stars, said in a statement.

“They will dine as they watch the sunrise over the Earth’s curvature” at an altitude of 100,000 feet (30,000 metres) above sea level, it said.

For $495,000 per ticket, six tourists will embark on a six-hour journey in a pressurised space capsule that will rise into the stratosphere in a hydrogen-filled “SpaceBalloon”.

The 32-year-old chef and self-confessed space enthusiast will be joining the trip.

READ ALSO: World-famous Copenhagen restaurant to close after 2024

Munk promises “dishes inspired by the role of space exploration during the last 60 years of human history, and the impact it has had on our society — both scientifically and philosophically”.

His menu will be restricted only by his inability to cook food over an open flame.

Many of the ingredients will be prepared on the ship from which the capsule is launched, according to Alchemist, which is ranked fifth among the world’s restaurants in 2023 according to the World’s Best 50 Restaurants guide.

In recent decades, Denmark has emerged as a gastronomical powerhouse on terra firma, with the Copenhagen restaurants Noma and Geranium both having held the title of the world’s best restaurant.

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