Winston at Melick’s Town Farm – don’t worry, no one is going to take you “to market”
“to market, to market to buy a fat pig
home again home again jigety-jig”
Nursery Rhyme Circa 1598
Well, what a poignant memory, memorializing in rhyme all the way back in 1598, the chore or joy, depending on your perspective, we indulge in, day-in and day-out – that omnipresent trip to procure our groceries, to feed ourselves, our family and friends – a task which we undertake all the years of our adult lives. And, if you are anyone like me, you dwell upon this seemingly menial activity with all sorts of nostalgia, creative energy, even occasional delight – and today, well, a bit of indignance actually crept in………
Do you know the moment in “Moonstruck” when Cher’s character, Loretta Castorini yells out, “Wait a minute, Wait a minute” when she’s faced with the reality of exactly what’s happening in her life and between she and Ronny? She’s struck by reality in a clear-eyed moment…….. Well, I had a “Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” moment earlier this morning.
This auditory memory oddly coalesced with a Nursery Rhyme for me, after having been reading a couple of books and storing other memories over the past few months.
I wrote several paragraphs of this post this morning before the memory of the Nursery Rhyme, “To Market” popped into my head. Doing a little research, I was astonished to find that the origin of this rhyme goes all the way back to 1598 (do kids even have Nursery Rhymes read to them any longer or does someone just hand them an iPad?) I also found that there is a PBS show of this name – one that I have never seen, nor had heard of until today! While this linear extolling of events is probably of no interest at all to anyone but me, this little personal interlude actually served to defend my point, to myself- “the market” controls what we eat, and what we see – and if we don’t realize this, we mindlessly go along without any acknowledgement or consideration of what’s really going on around us. What exactly is “the market” then, I began to wonder? All sorts of challenging and conflicting thoughts flooded in at once – about the ultimate efficiency of the market, etc….- my Econ profs would get a giggle all these years later………
I have been reading Farmer’s Market Cookbooks over the last few days. (Surprise!) As we are just beginning to trend into the growing season here in that area of the east coast that doesn’t properly fit into either the New England or Mid-Atlantic picture, I have spent most of the weekend thinking about Farmer’s Markets and Farm Stands. And, in this particular case, not just my gushing love of them – I’ve been thinking about their value. For those of us who think of a Farmer’s Market visit as just a pleasant past-time, read on. For, if you are anything like me, you have missed the substantive underpinnings of a movement of much more than a casual Saturday morning stroll.
Yes, I know all about Michael Pollan, Alice Waters and all of the food gurus who are passionate, if not radical about the food supply and its ancillary issues. But, do we really understand how outside forces control what we eat? And, do we care, and enough?
Actually, I have been thinking about Farmer’s Markets ever since I was in Montecito and Rancho Santa Fe in March. You may think this an odd pre-occupation, I find it like a whole other world – and as I’ve thought about it, a most wonderful alternate-market-type, defying the odds of the uber-sophisticated online society in which we now live, well, doing our marketing – unless of course you shop Fresh-Direct. People like me, and multitudes of others, go out of their way, often way out of their way, contra-efficiency, to traipse along, in and around a gaggle of vendors who proudly and humbly offer, sans a middleman and and high level corporate assistance, to bring you, and me, the fruits of their labor – and a much better quality and array of offerings at that. How fascinating…….. (Another illustration of how, as we trend ahead into our ultra-modern times, we cling and continue to be drawn to the most basic and “old-fashioned” of ways of doing things.)
What is their story? How wonderful is this counter-intuitive, counter-modern-culture phenomenon? Do we recognize this as an enduring model of ancient origins? Or, in America, where we “evolved” all the way to a supermarket/big box/warehouse model, assisted and formed by Corporate “enlightenment” and Government “intelligence”, it is rather, in fact the continuation of the most basic of models utilized over time – farmer grows food, picks food, peddles food to others. Wow, now there is a clean and fundamentally unencumbered (efficient) model – but don’t be mislead. In America, this model has re-emerged and grown, challenging powerful market forces and at the same time responding to needs and help in self-sustainment of people, their livelihoods, ways of life and, a diversity of genetic offerings.
Yesterday, I read the new Greenmarket Cookbook from the organization which runs the Union Square Farmer’s Market. This morning I have been reading The Bay Area Homegrown Cookbook. While reading along, it dawned on me, for the first time, how fully corporations control what we eat. What do I mean by this? You might think this is a crazy statement, considering all the choices one has when they stroll up and down the aisles of your local supermarket. The very term, “supermarket” implies that you have a million or so choices there. But, what does it really imply and do to the choices you have? Hmmm…
So, what about all of this? Once again, I use California as a prime example. When I was at the Santa Barbara Farmer’s Market in March, I was warmly offered a choice of three Strawberry varieties by one of the vendors there. He politely informed me of the differences between them and encouraged me to sample. Unfortunately, I don’t remember their names(the strawberries or the vendor) – I should have taken notes. But ,as I sit here now, working on making my point here, I realize the importance of that very moment.
When we go to the grocery store there are many, many items for which we are offered one, and only one variety – one Strawberry, one Raspberry, one green bean, one radish, one grape and, on and on. Someone has already made the decision which one for us – a Big Brother moment -delivering to us whatever is expedient, whatever is best marketable in this genré, usually farmed by a big corporate farm (and often with assistance from the Federal Government) – one that has access to big trucking companies, marketing networks and which can take best advantage of the economies of scale. Am I ok with this? This is where the rub comes in – where customer demand meets corporate choice, the “position” of the USDA, and delivery. To say I have become fixated on this subject is an understatement.
Yesterday I was reading about Dan Gibson, former corporate exec turned farmer at Grazin Angus Acres in Columbia County, NY. I was immediately drawn to his story about how he read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and how this changed his life. It’s not just because he is one of many who grew up in the classic corporate world where Harvard B school case studies filter down through the desk sets of McKinsey and Co. and into boardrooms everywhere, using their metrics and models and data analytics to drive where “we” go in life. It’s because, over the past few months and years I have begun to see where analytics can and do lead us to the wrong, or at least a sub-par answer, one which actually exposes us, in this case, to a highly limited array of foodstuffs in our culture – and much the opposite of what we believe to be seen at the “supermarket”.
Of course, the downsides of factory farming are well known and documented. We know of carbon footprints, food supply dilemmas, the ups and downs of pesticide use, and soil depletion. These could be and are the subjects of much dissertation.
The Strawberry offerings at Santa Barbara must have stayed in my mind because this morning and yesterday this idea began to plant itself (pun intended) in my brain. My point is – there are so many wonderful varieties of produce available from farmers which never make it to “market”, and in turn, we may never even know they exist, and they may one day, or may have already become extinct.
Reading the Greenmarket book yesterday, I, for the first time got a better understanding of a couple of things – first, how the Farmer’s Market movement has saved so many farms here. Second, how the movement has brought to us so many more varieties of foods that we would otherwise not see. For, when the factors driving economies of scale are at work in the overall marketplace, we become victims of what I call, “The Funnel Effect” – the widdling down of the offerings to what someone else has decided that we should see in the market. What? Just think, how often do you see yellow raspberries or fraises des bois in your grocery store? Major suppliers, such as Driscoll’s, for example, flood the market with hybrid underripe, tasteless, fragrance-less Strawberries, that they’ve “perfected” under their definition of “perfecting” (aka long shelf life, ship well), for 12 months of the year. That they barely resemble the taste and texture of a freshly-picked ripe strawberry, like the ones I had in March in Oxnard, CA is obviously of no interest to them. In fact, you have to go out of your way to find much else, should you choose to. I’m not trying to single out Driscoll’s. They are one of hundreds or thousands of companies that do business in the very same way.
I confess I have not really considered this before. Granted, I know that on the West Coast, they have a huge variety of food offerings available that may never get to us “over here”, and yes, I “stew” about this all of the time. But, it wasn’t until this morning when I picked up yet another book, did I have the “ding-ding-ding” thing go on – that I realized by reading about several different bean varieties that I have never heard of, that I realized exactly how narrow the supply of produce is to we who shop at the grocery store daily.
Why am I getting all worked up about this? How many different green beans do we have offered to us at the grocery store? In fact, the fact that we know beans as “Green” beans says it all – we have been conditioned to knowing beans as green beans and the other colors and varieties have been eliminated from our selection. Now, I have been around growers since I was a small child. My Dad had a nice, albeit modest vegetable garden year after year. And, at the very same time, I have been conditioned for a very long time – to accept what’s in the grocery store as all that’s available. When you peruse the vegetable plants offerings at your local Nursery, you are often offered several varieties of tomatoes, some different beans, some different lettuces, and on and on. But, step into the store and you will find hard, underripe tomatoes, even in some restaurants, even at the height of their season.
All of a sudden, I feel really sorry for Farmers – not the big ones who take massive farm subsidies, ruin the soil and feed us junk food. I feel sorry for small farmers – because of how they have been undervalued and marginalized – up until recently when they have been re-invigorated – those people who have farming as their way of life, and for their livelihood and who actually are in love with all the varieties of lettuces, peas, beans, and on and on that there are. How is it that, for generations we allowed “the market” aka large corporations and, according to the Greenmarket book, the USDA, to drive what became “generally” available to us for the last 50 or so years – basically our whole lifetime. I’m feeling more than a little bit indignant about this right now.
Anyone who may doubt the premise of my argument or lacks this sense of indignance should just pick up a copy of Chez Panisse Vegetables – a beautiful book by Alice Waters. Think you are well versed in the world of vegetables? First vegetable featured is Amaranth. Think you know your stuff? This is a great book to read and cook from.
I suppose I am highly jaded by growing up on the east coast – in the northern part, where growing seasons, while highly celebrated by all of the tomato and corn aficionados who rave about the Jersey tomato and corn, are relatively short. But, if you take the time to read the Greenmarket book, you will begin to understand what is really going on behind the scenes of mainstream commerce.
Maybe, just maybe all those lucky people in California feel entirely differently about the produce they have offered to them. Maybe I am just beginning to understand the real difference in living in a different region of the country than they do. Maybe I am just realizing how important the Farmer’s Market movement is and has become to anyone who wants to learn about food and be a little bit outside the box.
Just again today I was humbled about how much I don’t know about the world of food – not food in other parts of the world, but food right here under my little nose, in my own country, in my own State. I’d just better get busy and study a lot more. To say that I am grateful to all of those people who are now dedicating their lives to seed banks and ensuring the existence of heirloom varieties of produce and livestock, is an understatement.
So, the next time you step foot in your grocery store, take a moment to wonder, “I wonder what varieties of foodstuffs I am missing out on here?” GMOs are just one issue in the world of food supply. Having some Big Brother decide how limited your food offerings and varieties are is another.
Please visit me on my new Facebook Page, The Lettuce Chronicles, where I will seek to highlight issues and information related to the topics of a sustainable food supply, the wonderful world of small family farming and Farmer’s Markets.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day!
courtesy John Stango Philadelphia artist