�You just can't get stuff this fresh � it was picked this morning�, so says Siobhan, a salt of the earth middle aged shopper at Clonmel's farmers' market. A massive self-serve bag of salad leaves, complete with nasturtium's for colour and spice, for 3 euros. This leafy vibrant bag is a million miles from the supermarket option: jaded bags puffed out with inert gas and binned 45% of the time, according to research.
She picks up a bottle of Happy Heart Organic Rapeseed Oil, the only other product on sale at the stall. This oil, winner in the sustainability category at the recent Bord Bia national organic awards, comes from Drumeen farm in Kilkenny.
Drumeen is one of Ireland's pioneering organic farms run by the Colchester family. It dates back to the mid 1970s, and the second generation is now branching out into what is an incredible tasting oil. Kitty Colchester's boyfriend Joe Moore runs the stall. �Its grown, pressed and bottled on the farm� he tells me proudly.
In fact, this oil is pressed every week, making it just about the freshest of all oils available in Ireland. And a snip at E6 for a half litre, such is its quality.
The market is busy from the get go, with a constant trail of people arriving, the occasional one by bike. Despite the intermittent rain, people stay to shop. When the rain eases off, they start to sit at the tables and chairs, taking in the atmosphere.
Jurgen the gourmet coffee man seems to have a permanent buzz around him. His Fair Trade americano is E1.70, which is a great price for what is a very well made gourmet coffee.
Joe Condon's organic Galloway steakburgers burgers have sold out since noon.
�I haven't seen a drop off in sales at all with the recession� he tells me; �my customers are buying more burgers than they used to, and less steak, but I sell out every week. I get a lot of people who used to go to restaurants to eat out once or twice a week. Now, they're eating organic meat at home�.
Condon's 4 pack of organic burgers retail at E6.50, which Conor Pope gave the top grade to in his pricewatch column. Its easy to see why: Condon has samples the day I visit, and the burgers seem to get bigger rather than smaller when cooked on the BBQ. �The meats' hung for 3 weeks, so it looses weight but develops flavour that way. You won't see a puddle of water run off when you cook them. People appreciate that�.
Because of this, it is difficult to even compare like with like, when comparing what you get at a farmers' market to a supermarket: �A big processor just wouldn't bother to go to the trouble I go to: it wouldn't be economical for them. It is for me because I direct sell�according to Condon.
Like everything else in Ireland, farmers' markets are feeling a pinch. Some smaller, peripheral markets have closed or struggle on. However, the bigger ones, such as Dun Laoire or Mahon Point, are doing exceptionally well. There are also incredible waiting lists for stalls, as newly unemployed people look for alternative ways to make money.
I asked a few of the shoppers why they went to the trouble of the farmers' market: was it, for example, health or the environment?
�I don't see a separation really� was the overwhelming response. For most shoppers I spoke to that day, these issues were one and the same; healthy soil, healthy planet, healthy body.
Others also pointed to the fact that actually meeting the person who produced the food was vital � �I can trust what I'm putting in my body if I can look in the eye the person who grew it� as one woman said to me.
Others again pointed to the conviviality of the place; �shopping as it should be�, as one twenty something on a bike joked, playing on the popular Supervalu supermarket slogan.
Bernie Lennon, local Green Party councilor, was instrumental in setting up this market. �We were worried that, like so many towns, Clonmel would turn into a donut�. I pressed him on this Homer Simpsonesque image: �empty in the middle, with a ring of development around it�.
But now, thanks in part to the Saturday farmers' market, the donutification of Clonmel is being challenged: in fact, the donuts at the two bakery stalls are playing their own small part in revitalisating the town centre, the producers and the consumers in this part of Ireland.
No comments:
Post a Comment