Local and organic munchies at CEU’s doorstep

After the summer, CEU and OSA students and staff are offered the unique opportunity to order fresh local and organic food via a food ordering scheme in cooperation with the local food cooperative Szatyor Egyesület. To learn more about what the service entails, where the food comes from and how one can order we spoke with Logan Strenchock, Environmental and Sustainability Officer at CEU.

Where does the idea for the CEU delivery food system come from and why did you think that CEU would be a suitable place for such an endeavor?

I have been working with the Szatyor people for quite some time and I really believe in what they do. I think it is a great symbol of people in Budapest taking the initiative to make their own community better and I have been around CEU long enough to know that people are interested in local food issues and all the things connected with them. I also know that it would be really helpful for the whole Szatyor system to publicize what they do to a group of concerned people in Budapest. I thought that everyone within the system could benefit from being introduced to each other and all it took from our end was linking the Szatyor people with the CEU and then setting up a mechanism for having their things brought here. That is sort of where the idea came from.

Could you shortly summarize how the ordering process works?

If you want to get involved as a student or CEU community member, you should go to www.szatyorbolt.hu and register. The website is in English. Then you can begin to order food from the website. If you go on the website, after you register and log in, you see the list of local vegetables, dairy, meat products, soaps, and wine. There is a little bit of everything on the website and you can order and create your online basket like you would on Amazon or any other ordering site, e.g. you check one kilo of carrots, three kilo of tomato, one bottle of wine, one hand soap and check that you want the item, then it goes into your basket and you check out with your basket. You confirm your order and go through a few steps: here is your order, do you confirm, just go “yes, yes”. An important point is that if you want it to come to CEU, you should check the box that says: “I want my delivery to go to CEU”. It is one of the final windows on the online site and you should take note that right now we are delivering to CEU on Tuesdays but to have something delivered on Tuesday you must place an order the week before, from Tuesday to Thursday at 10pm. The Szatyor people then have then to pass on your orders as part of the collected group order to the growers who prepare the thing on the weekend until next Monday and ship them to Szatyor on Tuesday morning. It is as simple as that. Then all of you have to do is pick up your order between 4:30 and 5:30pm on Tuesday in the delivery space. Currently orders are being delivered to the Nador 15 Lobby but starting next week be moving to the delivery entrance in the Monument Building (next to the Laptop area)

Is there a minimum order you have to place?

You could order one egg or you could order ten kilo of tomatoes. They have the option to order a small szatyor and a big szatyor which is basically a small prepared order and a big prepared order and it is either 3000 HUF or 5000 HUF. When you order the bags, which is what “szatyor” literally means, you get at least a 10-15 per cent discount on produce and I think by ordering the bag you get a good distribution of the best seasonal products that they have and it encourages you to be creative in the kitchen and it is a bit surprising. It could be a good thing for you to do each week. Certainly, cook with your friends which I think I would encourage everybody to do that.

Could you also tell us what Szatyor Egyesület (Szatyor) is?

It is hard to describe Szatyor as one single thing because it is not a community-supported agriculture; it is not a food box program. I think it is best described as a conscious food consumption network or a local food cooperative. Basically it is a network of volunteers and a few full-time workers who created a network of local food producers, some organic, some not organic, all of who they really know personally. They created a medium for showcasing their produce and making it available to people living in the city through an online ordering site. People living in Budapest participate in this system by placing an order each week which is then passed on by the Szatyor volunteers and workers to the producers who put all these orders together and twice a week send them into the city to be handled and packed in separate individual orders by the Szatyor volunteers. The last part in the system is either having it picked up by people when they come to the place or delivering it by car or bike in the city.

That’s the food ordering thing; it is not the only thing that Szatyor does. Let’s say its most important role is being advocates for the idea of conscious living in Budapest. Really not a day goes by in this space that there is not some sort of event or talk or movie which was created to bring people together, to get them talking about, certainly first and foremost about food issues, but more often than not community and environmental issues. They have unique, innovative workshops all the time to get people thinking more about self-sufficiency, buying smarter, coming together to face concerns in their community. This space is really multifunctional and one of their major goals is to be a part of their community which is very open to anyone around it. They realized their role where the food ordering is one thing, being an active member of their community is another thing and being a center of conscious and sustainable living in Budapest and passing on knowledge to other groups in Hungary, trying to do similar things, is also a really important aspect because they are not just close-minded and they don’t just care making their system big enough to feed everyone in Hungary. It’s not what they want to do. They want to pass on knowledge which can help other people doing similar things wherever they are because they had a lot of things to overcome in their five years as a group.

The way the system would work now at CEU is that people order and then the order comes to CEU, so you don’t actually have to go to Szatyor and participate in the community. Do you have an idea how you can strengthen the incentive to go there?

That is one of the things that challenge me a bit because I think the biggest benefits to the whole system in general are when people very actively participate in the system and participation means more than picking up the food and paying for it. I do understand that many people within our university community are incredibly pressed with time and they are often likely to pick up groceries quickly on the way home from school or from teaching a class. I think the first step in making more active consumption choices is buying things through the system which I think we have decided to set-up a delivery point here at CEU, knowing that it would be most convenient to our community members. They should certainly learn more about what makes the system function and the other ways that they can get involved with the Szaytor group and all the people connected with it. I hope that if they initially start out just being interested in the food, I hope it leads them to other Szatyor events, other opportunities to volunteer on the farms, other opportunities to voice their support for smarter, more conscious food systems and I think that process could be slow but it will lead more people there. While I know people are already ordering through the system and buying the food, it is up to me and the rest of the volunteers to let them know that they could go beyond this and that at least one time they should go to the place and meet the Szatyor people and talk to them, find out about the next event and then kind of decide for themselves how they could participate more in the future. If in the least effective way it stops people from going to the Tesco or 24Shop to buy their stuff for dinner, I think it has positive results.

Could interested CEU students/staff also go the farms where the food comes from?

Yes, that is something that we want to make happen as soon as possible, especially this time of year because it is the peak harvest time in Hungary. I think it is a really great opportunity for people to really follow the food to where it comes out of the ground and we certainly hope throughout October and maybe even ‘til November, weather permitting, to set up visit and volunteer opportunities. I think that the work part of any farm visit is important because farm tourism is great but if you just go out, walk around and take some pictures, you are just taking time away from someone who is really busy. If you go there all ready to work for a few hours and maybe earn a lunch or something out if it I think it is a more fulfilling experience.

Why does it make sense for a CEU community member to order through the system?

 You have the unique opportunity to have local and organic food brought to you. The thing that most people that come to Budapest who are concerned about the quality of their food and where it comes from might say: “Where do I go to buy these things? It is too hard because I don’t speak Hungarian and I cannot go to the market on the weekend”. Which I think is false because it is very easy to find local food here in the city no matter where you live; there are great markets throughout the week and especially on the weekends. I understand that it is a big commitment for everybody to go to somewhere else in the city to buy their food. I would say to have the chance to have these great products brought to your university where you are probably going to or work at each day is just a really convenient thing. You have the chance to participate in something that has a lot of benefit for you and other people in a way that is convenient. It is a win-win situation.

Does it make sense for a CEU community member to order through the system from a budget point of view?

I personally think that Szatyor products are incredibly economically priced. I think their food is great value. Their prices are certainly representative of a price that is fair for everyone in the food consumption system. It is a fair price for the producer; it is a fair price for the people ordering the food as well. It is probably not always cheaper than what you would find at the supermarket but it is certainly comparable. If you are going to compare tomato to tomato or potato to potato, it would not be a fair comparison. While the Szatyor products might cost more HUF per kilo, it is something completely different in quality and what the food actually means. For what you are getting, the benefit to you and to other people, the prices are very much worth it, sometimes even cheaper. I think a lot of the stuff you buy in normal super markets, you have no idea what percentage of it are fake ingredients that cost next to nothing and only benefit the processors of the food and not any growers because they fill a lot of food with fake stuff that doesn’t cost anything. All the stuff you buy at Szatyor avoids all of these fake ingredients that a just tricking people.

How many CEU people are currently involved in the distribution and are you still looking for people?

The Campus Sustainability Advisory Committee (CSAC) has been very helpful in serving as volunteers for the pickup days, members of the campus services offices, which is where I sit, have been very helpful as well. We will always be looking for people to serve as volunteers on pickup days but it is important to learn what you have to do so that it is easiest for the Szatyor people and easiest for you and the other people picking up the orders. Right now we deliver on Tuesdays and the pickups happen from 4 to 5.30 pm and certainly we are looking for more volunteers for the system. If anyone would want to sign up as a volunteer, he should send an email to me at sustainability@ceu.hu. There are, with the CSAC and my other colleagues and a few others who have signed up as volunteers, about 15 people who form the volunteer base right now.

For more information or questions, contact Logan Strenchock directly at sustainability@ceu.hu. If you are interested in getting to know more about Szatyorbolt come to the CEU’s 1st Annual Sustainability Festival on Thursday, 19^th September 2013 at Nador Utca 15. You can place your order in English at www.szatyorbolt.hu. 

Julia Michalsky, MA Comparative History, Germany