When traveling, some people visit museums and restaurants; I seek out farmers’ markets. Seattle’s markets are part of my daily life, and I’ve been involved in starting one in our neighborhood. When I travel, I want to see not only what local foods are available to people in the areas we’re visiting, but how well the local farmers’ markets seem to be doing.
When I left Houston 12 years ago, there was no farmers’ market in the city. Now there are several, but I’d never been to one. This morning, before Paul and I caught our flight back to Seattle, we went with my mother to the Bayou City Farmers’ Market. I’d been warned that Houston’s markets are small compared to Seattle’s, so I didn’t know quite what to expect. (After all, our year-round markets shrink considerably in size and variety during the winter months.) I was pleasantly surprised today to see a well-attended market with a nice selection of products: Greens, root vegetables, cauliflower and cabbage. Tomatoes! Eggs, cheese, beef and shrimp. Oranges, satsumas, Meyer lemons, kumquats, ujikitsus, grapefruit. Bread and pastries. Prepared Indian food and sushi. Orchids and citrus trees.
One of the questions I ask myself when wandering through a farmers’ market for the first time is: Could I do most of my grocery shopping here? At the Bayou City market today, my answer to that question was a definite yes.
Do you have a farmers’ market in your city/town/neighborhood? If so, do you shop there?
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When I lived in Houston in the seventies and early eighties there was a farmers market on the north side. I believe it was on Airline Drive just south of 610. I’m surprised it is not still there.
I haven’t found a farmer’s market here in the winter, but they abound in the summer. Thank you for the wonderful colors today… it has been gray and raining all day long here, but the rain is greatly appreciated.
Yes, the farmers market on Airline is still there, but it caters to those who buy in large quantities, such as restaurants and resellers. The other problem with that market is that their produce is largely shipped in from who knows where. We prefer the small markets, such as the one that Kimberly visited. We’re lucky to have several on different days of the week.