Carrot?
I used to really hate going to the market. All those people. And the smelly fishmonger. And the yelling. I mean, really, how can anyone stand all of that? Occasionally I would go to a market in another town (and then end up hating it, or just being overwhelmed) because somehow it’s “different” if you are in Seattle, or Camden, or Münster but in actuality, it’s all the same. Vegetables, fruits, cheese, meats, fish, herbs, etc.
In the past year or so I’ve come to embrace the market a bit more. I don’t go every weekend, because, that would be nuts of course, but I try to go more often because the selection of fruit and veg is amazing and it’s much cheaper in most cases. Since I started juicing more, I want more bang for my eurobuck and buying fruit and veg at the supermarket just won’t do.
Normally I go to the same stand every time – this is one of the confusing things about the market. How are you supposed to know who has the best broccoli or carrots, for example? You can walk all over and shop around but ain’t nobody got time for that! So I now pretty much go to the same stand and load up. I must come home with 10KG of stuff in my (bike) bag. At least it feels like that when the bag is still on my shoulder!
At the market is also nuts and cheese – I don’t eat much cheese these days, but yesterday I bought some freshly roasted pecans and almonds (and then, oops, ate about half the pecans on my way home! Delish!) because I wanted to put nuts in my pulp bread this time around. Nuts are expensive here! So honestly it doesn’t matter if you buy them at the market or not. (Side note: I also went to the dairy farm and bought farm eggs, honey, mustard, apples and low-fat cheese, all from the region).
My staples these days are:
courgettes
carrots
beets
avocados
mango
pears
If something else takes my fancy I’ll pick that up as well. For example yesterday I picked up some alfalfa, 2 lemons and 2 limes in addition to my regular load.
I never thought I would enjoy the market as much as I do now. I still think the fishmonger stinks and there are far too many people, but hey, you can’t have everything, right?
Do you have a market where you live? Do you shop there for regular groceries? Or are you an avoid-at-all costs type?
We have a few near me and I love going! Unfortunately, they don’t last long here due to weather. But, it’s such a huge difference in quality of the veggies compared to the grocery store, that I look forward to going. That asparagus looks fab – I’ve been addicted to that lately!