Victor Ananias

Victor Ananias is raising awareness about the benefits of organic food, one part of his larger effort to encourage environmentally sound agriculture by increasing public awareness, changing consumer tastes, altering marketing and advertising strategies, improving farming practices, and reshaping community and business development in Turkey.

Recognizing that food, health, and environment are closely related, Victor is cultivating new respect for the environment and for simple, natural ways of living, eating, and farming. Drawing on his family background and from his travels, Victor establsihed Bugday, "wheat" in Turkish, the first all-organic health food store, restaurant, and environmental and cultural center of its kind in Turkey. Bugday provides information about organic food production to people ranging from village farmers to agricultural policymakers to lay people. Victor has established systems for certifying and marketing locally produced organic food and other products, and is striving to preserve traditional, environmentally low-impact methods for growing food.