So I'll go all white on the Farmers Market thing if it means the damn food taste like food.
I remember when strawberries were only available in June; ditto Vidalia onions, I always looked forward to late May and the month of June for Vidalia onions to get to the produce section of my local grocery stores, and I was very sad when they disappeared by the end of July...because that was their season.
To this day, I think of strawberry shortcake when it's my birthday, because being a late June baby, strawberries were in season at that time, and my mother very often made old-fashioned, real shortcake strawberry shortcake for my birthday.
And the strawberries always were strongly strawberry-flavored.
But now they force-grow things for year-round consumption, so you get apples that taste like cardboard available in April, and strawberries that are tasteless mush available in January. And don't get me started on those pink rocks they claim are tomatoes!
(Actually, I'll by tomatoes on the vine that are not ripe, and let them ripen at home, they taste pretty good any time of the year that way)...
So yeah, if you want decent strawberries any months except May and June, you have to go with those that are grown by smaller farmers, even if they're grown hydroponically or in greenhouses when there's 2 feet of snow outside, ditto tomatoes...as long as it's not done by humongous factory farms where they're more interested in creating a product that is shippable rather than food that is edible.
And I don't know about Farmers Markets being a "white people thing", here in Connecticut there's a farmers cooperative (I think they may get some sort of funding from the state) that sets up at various areas around New Haven, specifically in poor neighborhoods that are mostly black and latino. One of the things that makes the markets unique is that the state allows the vendors to accept foodstamps.
And I remember seeing some show on cable about farmers markets in California, and it showed that a majority of those going are latino and asian.
On the farmers market thing, I will agree that in a way it is a white people thing to a certain extent. In our town we had this big pushed from city officials to have a farmers market (which technically we already had one) - they spent all kinds of money last year to make this new farmers market when to me there wasn't anything wrong with the one they had.
So on some level I can sort of agree with the idea the website puts forth, but on another it's kind of different because this was government officials (which yes are white) spending money for no real reason. There was not enough people at the old farmers market to really make sense to spend the money to do this new one. There might have been 5 or 6 people at the old farmers market on a good day. Why would you send thousands of dollars to make a new one that isn't really any bigger, yea it's a little more fancy but it's still an outdoor fruit stand in coparison to what most people thing of when the visualize a farmers market.
Why would you send thousands of dollars to make a new one that isn't really any bigger, yea it's a little more fancy but it's still an outdoor fruit stand in coparison to what most people thing of when the visualize a farmers market.
I didn't go to any farmers markets last year cuz since I now live in Farmville, I really don't have to go out of my way to get fresh produce.
But I *did* find a website for Connecticut farmers markets last summer when I was actually looking for butchers (I don't know about your area, but up here it's almost impossible to find a real butcher/meat market any more)...
And that's where I found out about the New Haven markets, which I'd heard something about in prior years, but not a lot of info...
And it's not just fruits and veggies being sold at the markets, there are bakers, and yes, fresh meat that's been raised on local organic farms. Plus honey from local beekeepers, locally made jams and jellies, fresh and dried herbs and spices, etc. That's why they get some funding from state and local government, and why the vendors are allowed to accept food stamps, they wanted to NOT be something perceived as being for well-to-do white yuppies, but also something that various ethnic groups would utilize.
I remember when strawberries were only available in June; ditto Vidalia onions, I always looked forward to late May and the month of June for Vidalia onions to get to the produce section of my local grocery stores, and I was very sad when they disappeared by the end of July...because that was their season.
To this day, I think of strawberry shortcake when it's my birthday, because being a late June baby, strawberries were in season at that time, and my mother very often made old-fashioned, real shortcake strawberry shortcake for my birthday.
And the strawberries always were strongly strawberry-flavored.
But now they force-grow things for year-round consumption, so you get apples that taste like cardboard available in April, and strawberries that are tasteless mush available in January. And don't get me started on those pink rocks they claim are tomatoes!
(Actually, I'll by tomatoes on the vine that are not ripe, and let them ripen at home, they taste pretty good any time of the year that way)...
So yeah, if you want decent strawberries any months except May and June, you have to go with those that are grown by smaller farmers, even if they're grown hydroponically or in greenhouses when there's 2 feet of snow outside, ditto tomatoes...as long as it's not done by humongous factory farms where they're more interested in creating a product that is shippable rather than food that is edible.
And I don't know about Farmers Markets being a "white people thing", here in Connecticut there's a farmers cooperative (I think they may get some sort of funding from the state) that sets up at various areas around New Haven, specifically in poor neighborhoods that are mostly black and latino. One of the things that makes the markets unique is that the state allows the vendors to accept foodstamps.
And I remember seeing some show on cable about farmers markets in California, and it showed that a majority of those going are latino and asian.
Reply
So on some level I can sort of agree with the idea the website puts forth, but on another it's kind of different because this was government officials (which yes are white) spending money for no real reason. There was not enough people at the old farmers market to really make sense to spend the money to do this new one. There might have been 5 or 6 people at the old farmers market on a good day. Why would you send thousands of dollars to make a new one that isn't really any bigger, yea it's a little more fancy but it's still an outdoor fruit stand in coparison to what most people thing of when the visualize a farmers market.
Reply
I didn't go to any farmers markets last year cuz since I now live in Farmville, I really don't have to go out of my way to get fresh produce.
But I *did* find a website for Connecticut farmers markets last summer when I was actually looking for butchers (I don't know about your area, but up here it's almost impossible to find a real butcher/meat market any more)...
And that's where I found out about the New Haven markets, which I'd heard something about in prior years, but not a lot of info...
And it's not just fruits and veggies being sold at the markets, there are bakers, and yes, fresh meat that's been raised on local organic farms. Plus honey from local beekeepers, locally made jams and jellies, fresh and dried herbs and spices, etc. That's why they get some funding from state and local government, and why the vendors are allowed to accept food stamps, they wanted to NOT be something perceived as being for well-to-do white yuppies, but also something that various ethnic groups would utilize.
Reply
Leave a comment