REAL ECO BAGS ARRIVE IN NEW YORK

Image left is one of the Whole Foods locations in New York, at which shoppers lined up to buy an environmentally destructive bag which was booed in the UK earlier this year. The designer then did what so many do when they get bad press, they go elsewhere and hope no one will know. It seems New Yorkers are not too keen on being swindled, a trawl on websites this morning turned up some rather anti-Anya comments, and NYers are not known for their shyness.

To add to it all, the cat was out of the bag when thousands noticed a real environmentalist, Cindy Mackintosh, one of the authors of Hemp for Victory, walking around with her hemp bag. It says boldly on the side: "REAL ECO BAGS ARE MADE FROM HEMP". She is like the queen with the real tiara at a ball next to a woman wearing a plastic one, and Anya is the woman in the plastic tiara. In addition, Cindy is from the area, and used to run the Rhinoceros restaurant in New York. Her husband, Londoner Nick Mackintosh, is also a contributor to Hemp for Victory. The bag she took with her is the very one featured in The Ecologist (p. 86 July/August issue) and also on this site previously. The Hemp Shop in the UK stocks it, but negotiations are in place for more stockists worldwide. Including one in the Big Apple.

Speaking of New York and all things hemp, it would be amiss not to mention Denis Cicero and his restaurant, Galaxy Global Eatery, located at 15th an Irving (212 777 3631). Last time Cindy was in the city he gave her an autographed copy of his book, The Galaxy Global Eatery Hemp Cookbook. The two restaurateurs will have a lot to talk about this year, and this time is it Cindy who is giving Denis a book. But the bag she will keep to herself. Even he will have to wait till more of them come off the line.