WHEN choosing what to eat in Dunedin, best place to start is with the local produce.

South of the Octagon in a part of town where heritage buildings are receiving some long overdue TLC, Taste Nature organic food store in the historic Bing Harris building in High St has the perfect foody neighbour, Havoc Farm Pork.

Find a park outside and browse Taste Nature's large range of organic grains, nuts, honey, meat, eggs, bread, produce, toiletries and cleaning products.

Take your time and enjoy an organic snack or meal in their inviting eatery.

Then check out Havoc Pork next door where they sell bacon, sausages, prime cuts, pork pies and pate made from pigs raised on their Waimate farm.

Havoc Pork's farming techniques are exemplary with the pigs living free range outside, drug-free and with a diet that includes garlic and cider vinegar.

Their bacon is dry cured and the flavour says it all.

Around the corner and across Princes St, next door to the glorious restored Bank of New Zealand building, The Standard Kitchen is a welcome newcomer to Dunedin's food scene.

The first tenant in the 1875 Standard Building which is undergoing painstaking restoration, the food on offer here is cooked with the utmost attention to flavour, quality of ingredients and customers' food preferences.

They know how to delight anyone who prefers their food vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free or sugar-free, and they do it with style.

Check out these other great organic and sustainably local food choices:

Havoc Pork

135 High Street
Dunedin

Taste Nature

131 High Street
Dunedin

Standard Kitchen

201 Princes Street
Dunedin

NaturAlley

26 Moray Place
Central Dunedin

Pot Pourri Vegetarian Cafe

97 Lower Stuart Street
Central Dunedin

Good Earth Cafe

765 Cumberland St
Near campus
North Dunedin