Fresh on the shelves: Buying organic products

While buying agro-produce from local bazaars, superstores, or even farmer's markets, we want to ensure that the products are free from insecticides and other harmful chemicals. To avoid such harmful products, many of us are now opting for organic foods.

To cater to this growing demand for organic grocery, ventures like Dhaka Dough, Shashyaprabartana, and a few online entrepreneurs are offering organic food cultivated without the use of synthetic chemicals or genetically modified components.

However, such niche stores could not make much market penetration or create an impact on the mainstream consumer's buying habits. It is mostly because of the inconvenience of the availability of these organic products and their high price tags.

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"Pay better to get better," is what Muntasir Mamun, an engineer-turned social entrepreneur and co-founder of Bangladesh's first health food brand, Dhaka Dough, believes. "Yes, we have a small-scale market demand but our focus is always big. We made our presence known to local retail markets and superstores by putting up shelves to sell our products," Mamun says.

As an organic, grocery store promoting only native farmers' organic products, Dhaka Dough is committed to reviving the habit of eating unrefined, manually processed, and fibre-rich produces. They have been in operation since 2015 and have been advocating age-old, homogeneous knowledge of household farming.

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One of their most sought-after products is the peanut butter. Dhaka Dough markets its crunchy style peanut butter without adding any oil, as is done in most recipes.

Their black seed oil is also a huge market favourite. It is extracted by using the old, cold-press machine technique.

"Heat is a factor in food production. It brings down the nutrients of oil seeds during the friction while extracting. However, in cold-press, oils are obtained naturally by crushing oil seeds at room temperature — no extra heat or chemicals required," Mamum explains.  

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They also cater to gluten-intolerant people and carry millet and other grains that are unprocessed, organic and great for such people.

Kitchen Fantasy is a venture of Dhaka Dough where they make environmentally friendly kitchenware that is devoid of colour, varnish, or lacquer. They use sustainable sources of wood for such products. They profess not on beauty but on the experience of guilt-free consumption.

"Sustainability is a necessity," Mamun emphasises along with his friend and co-founder, Shamima Akhter, Director of Corporate Affairs for Unilever in Bangladesh.

For more details, visit their webpage: https://mykitchenfantasy.com