Going Organic with Francis Ford Coppola in Belize

10 years ago, very few people in Philadelphia talked about “organic” anything, let alone referring to foods.  Unless of course, you’re talking about the cheese steak, in which case we’d tell you that they were organic to Philly.  Whole Foods had just started in the area when i moved to Belize, and i remember the first Trader Joe’s opened around that time too.

I hadnt given this much thought, though, until i read the Bon Appetit article about going organic with Franicis Ford Coppola in Belize at his two resorts here.    But then again, he’s a California guy…the west coast was always way ahead of the east coast on this stuff.  The article is a very interesting read, but here are my favorite highlights

Francis Ford Coppola on Belikin Beer:

What’s your favorite drink when you’re in Belize?
FFC: I must say Belikin beer is a wonderful beer. Unfortunately it’s a monopoly. You don’t see any Mexican beer in Belize, you probably know. That’s a flaw, in my opinion
Francis Ford Coppola on Cheese:

How so?
FFC: In their desire to protect these very small fledgling industries, some farmer is making mozzarella–or what he calls mozzarella. And then they’ll ban any other real mozzarella. I brought the chef from Turtle Inn to Italy, and he learned how to make fresh mozzarella. If you’re going to give people a meal, you can’t be told to use Belizean spaghetti. Or Belizean this or that. It represents a tiny industry. Belize has wonderful pork. They of course have wonderful sea products. You certainly have to support those industries, but there are certain things you can’t get.

Francis Ford Coppola on Being Hip

Farm-to-table is so hip now. You were ahead of the curve.
FFC: We were doing it–but out of the desire to have wonderful fresh produce!

Those three questions, all in a row, basically sum it all up 🙂