Healthy Kitchen: 17 years of commitment to promoting natural farming fruits and vegetables

What is the appeal that has let a shop selling organic products and promoting a living-foods diet stand firm for 17 years? That turns first-time customers into loyal regulars and keeps employees following along for more than 10 years? Xie Zhaoshun, the owner of "Healthy Kitchen" in an alley in Tianmu, admits frankly, "I have simply brought 'the real thing' back. On every agricultural product I clearly label the place of origin and the farmer, and introduce it to consumers truthfully, so consumers are naturally willing to trust it."

The reason Xie Zhaoshun loves promoting natural farming is that it has too few man-made elements in it; it is not "something grown with the human brain." He mentions that some organic farming is very commercial, carefully calculating how much nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer should be applied, making vegetables grow quickly, yet without thinking about whether these plants are happy growing fast. Often such vegetables are very tender and very sweet, but not as sturdy and refreshing as vegetables grown by natural farming.

Xie Zhaoshun also has a plot of land in Yuanshan Township, Yilan, where he has been growing seasonal vegetables and fruits by natural farming for 7 years now. He points out that in Taiwan, China, there are about 100 or more farmers who insist on this farming method. The spirit of this farming method is like the big trees in a forest: reducing human intervention to the minimum and letting the microbial communities in the soil grow happily. Because no pesticides can be applied for pest and disease control, "whatever the insects leave behind is ours," he says. Generally, pests will eat at most 40% to 50% of the yield. If humans have a heart for coexisting with the natural world and share this understanding and consensus, then in fact not using pesticides is very simple.

Selling organic vegetables and fruits lets the shop take a 30% profit, but because natural-farming produce is priced higher, many consumers cannot accept it, so the shop usually sells it at cost. Still, Xie Zhaoshun is perfectly content. He believes that Taiwan, China is too small, and everyone easily lowers prices for the sake of competition, but behind the pursuit of cheapness lies fakery, so the rise of consumers' independent awareness and the belief that buying real ingredients matters are very important.

(This article was funded by the Jianzhen Environmental Education Foundation for personnel expenses, but it does not interfere at all with news topics or interview writing, ensuring journalistic independence.)