If you are what you eat, does that mean you also eat according to who you are? My neighborless upbringing in the town of Worthington makes many think that I’m a country girl. Yes, I may have lived a childhood deprived of sugared cereals and white bread, but the sad state of my houseplants will tell you that I’m no farmer. And though I did spend my teenage years partying around bonfires, my subsequent move to San Francisco made me think that maybe I was destined for the cab-hailing, restaurant-hopping city life after all.
Sure, I can cook eggs in a paper bag over a fire, but, in my recent move back to Northampton, I find myself seeking out its similarities to the city. Living in an equivalent of a “high-rise” apartment as close to “downtown” as possible and forever cursing the high prices of the un-hailable, uncommon taxi, I’ve come to accept that I’ll always be looking for the country in the city and the city in the country. So what is an urban-bumpkin to do when it comes time to make dinner for her West Coast city-raised girlfriend? Dig up veggies from the garden? What garden?
Urbanly car-less, we reluctantly leave our air-conditioned apartment to walk the 50 steps to the Northampton Tuesday Farmers’ Market in the plaza behind Thornes Marketplace one hot afternoon. Luckily for this country/city half-breed, the Tuesday Market lets me get fresh food from my own back yard without having a back yard at all. Luckily for my girlfriend, my limited cooking skills won’t be a hindrance to the creation of a healthy, delicious meal after shopping there.
Having sprouted up in my absence in the fall of 2008, the Tuesday Farmers’ Market (open May through October, 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.) is clearly thriving, with live music, a pen of feedable baby goats and Northampton townies and non-townies alike lined up under tents with fresh flowers, produce, bread and cheese. With a reusable cloth bag in hand, we leisurely stroll in the sun, stocking up on broccoli from Enterprise Farm in Whately, sugar snap peas, carrots and bok choy from Northampton’s Town Farm, rosemary and olive oil bread from El Jardin Bakery in South Deerfield, herb goat cheese from Ashfield’s Sangha Farm and a bunch of sweet William from Old Friends Farm in Amherst.
Having complemented this expedition with a quick trip to neighboring Cornucopia for whole-wheat pasta and parmesan cheese, we’re ready for a foolproof dinner at home. Snacking on Town Farm’s raw peas with an audible sweet snap, we arrange our dinner table with a few candles and a vaseful of Old Friends Farm’s flowers. For an appetizer, we slather crusty slices of rosemary olive oil bread in Sangha’s rich goat cheese. A little olive oil and garlic are all it takes to sautee the rest of our farmers’ market veggies for a few minutes before tossing them with pasta, butter and cheese and chowing down on a tasty, healthy meal for two for under 30 bucks, with plenty of veggies left for tomorrow’s salad.
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The Tuesday Market proves that organic food and farmers’ markets are no longer exclusive to the earthy-crunchy hippie, the veggie-savvy culinary artist or the organically-dieting wealthy. Expand your Tuesday Market menu with Bug Hill Farm’s black currant cordial made in Ashfield, which, when diluted four-to-one with club soda or white wine, makes a tasty thirst quencher. Pair it with their certified natural strawberries and raspberries (maybe drizzled in chocolate?) and you’ve got dessert.
Appeal to the veggie-phobic with humanely-slaughtered lamb raised on pasture and hay without antibiotics or hormones from Chesterfield’s Crabapple Farm. Don’t have time to cook? Bistro Le Gras sells prepared foods made from farmers’ market ingredients. Just passing through? Pick up Town Farm’s shaved-ice to-go flavored with homemade syrups such as currant, strawberry or maple syrup from Worthington’s Justamere Tree Farm. Or start your own backyard or windowsill garden with creative potted herbs like chocolate mint or essential heirloom tomatoes from Enterprise Farm.
Variety isn’t the only thing that makes Tuesday’s Market widely inclusive. Thanks to a grant from the Wholesome Wave Foundation, food stamps through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) can be redeemed for double their value. That, market staffer Lyla Denburg explains, works in favor of sustainability against a food system that doesn’t support people of low income, first by providing everyone with organic food options that are nutritious and filling with no cooking required, and then by making it possible to affordably start one’s own garden. Also accepted are coupons from the Federal Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and senior citizen discounts.
Becoming connected with the food you eat, grown by people you meet in places you’ve probably been, has never been easier. Not only can you find out more about Tuesday Market on its website (www.northamptontuesdaymarket.com), but you can also find it on Facebook. And you can sign up for the mailing list, which brings short-and-wittily-sweet newsletters from market manager Ben James straight to your inbox with information on the market’s ever-changing array of goods, entertainment and events.
Though not a vendor at Northampton’s Tuesday Market, Kitchen Garden Farm of Sunderland keeps farmers’ markets even fresher with a blog containing recipes designed with the current season’s produce in mind. Examples: fusilli with creamy zucchini and basil sauce; Vietnamese fresh spring rolls (kitchengardenfarm.com). And of course, if you’re also an urban-bumpkin, you can always combine your Tuesday Farmers’ Market experience with a night on the town at Chez Albert and Tabella in Amherst or Northampton’s Paul and Elizabeth’s, Circa, Bistro Le Gras, Green Street Cafe or Eclipse, restaurants that have all been known to stock up at the stands. In case you need one more reason to shop at Northampton’s Tuesday Farmers’ Market, just remember, you are what you eat. And I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a little fresh.
