I'm trying to catch up on some reading this weekend, and thought I'd share a bit, from Michael Pollan's article, "The Food Movement, Rising," in the New York Review of Books:
I can confirm what Pollan says above. Going to the farmers market is a social experience. I can't remember the last time I had a real conversation at the grocery store (I often get through talking to no one but the cashier!), but at the farmers market, I am engaged from the moment I hop off my bike -- "beautiful day," "so-and-so has wheat berries today," "the figs have come in" and so on. I see neighbors and friends, along with fellow activists and foodies. We swap tips and recipes while nibbling samples of local cheese. It is a wonderfully immersive experience.
If you want to find a farmers market in your area, check out Local Harvest -- and have fun! The markets are positively bursting at this time of year!
[F]ood can serve as “an edible dynamic”—a means to a political end that is only nominally about food itself.Have you been? Here at Chez 10K, our kitchen, more and more, revolves around the markets here in Chattanooga. There are a number of them, but our regular haunts are the Wednesday Main Street Market and the Sunday Chattanooga Market. Both are within comfortable biking distance, so going to the market is, in many ways, a very deliberate act for me.
One can get a taste of this social space simply by hanging around a farmers’ market, an activity that a great many people enjoy today regardless of whether they’re in the market for a bunch of carrots or a head of lettuce. Farmers’ markets are thriving, more than five thousand strong, and there is a lot more going on in them than the exchange of money for food. Someone is collecting signatures on a petition. Someone else is playing music. Children are everywhere, sampling fresh produce, talking to farmers. Friends and acquaintances stop to chat. One sociologist calculated that people have ten times as many conversations at the farmers’ market than they do in the supermarket. Socially as well as sensually, the farmers’ market offers a remarkably rich and appealing environment. Someone buying food here may be acting not just as a consumer but also as a neighbor, a citizen, a parent, a cook. In many cities and towns, farmers’ markets have taken on (and not for the first time) the function of a lively new public square.
I can confirm what Pollan says above. Going to the farmers market is a social experience. I can't remember the last time I had a real conversation at the grocery store (I often get through talking to no one but the cashier!), but at the farmers market, I am engaged from the moment I hop off my bike -- "beautiful day," "so-and-so has wheat berries today," "the figs have come in" and so on. I see neighbors and friends, along with fellow activists and foodies. We swap tips and recipes while nibbling samples of local cheese. It is a wonderfully immersive experience.
If you want to find a farmers market in your area, check out Local Harvest -- and have fun! The markets are positively bursting at this time of year!
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