Today, we went to the local farmers’ market. It’s the smallest one I’ve ever been to with about 20 – 25 vendors total.
This farmers market was different in another way. Most of the vendors there weren’t farmers at all.
There were heaps of high end honey. Many muffins. Oodles of olives and oil. Boku bread. Stacks of spice tins.
More than half of the vendors sold items that were packaged, shrunk wrapped, bottled or jarred elsewhere. There were only a couple vendors that were selling real produce grown locally, which is the whole point of farmers’ markets (or it used to be).
In a larger market, it makes sense for some non-produce vendors to round out the selection, but when accounts for 80% of the market and you can’t find a potato anywhere, is it still a farmers’ market?
