Hi Bart,
Saturday, May 13, 2000, 12:44:35 PM, you wrote:
BA> Listening to the Cleveland-KC game today, I heard the following
BA> spot advertisement for a local (in Cleveland) chain of food
BA> stores (quoted as closely as I remember)...
On Radio.
BA> "Looking for fresh produce, but tired of running around? Come to
BA> the Farmers' Market at [name of chain]. We've got the fresh
BA> produce you want, right here. Who cares if it comes from the
BA> other side of the state, or the other side of the world? Top
BA> quality. Reasonable prices. None of the hassle. The Farmers'
BA> Market at [name of chain]."
I'm from Cleveland, and still have a lot of family there. I've been
there twice since moving to Mexico, in 1974 and 1998. It sounds like
a down home, confident (if somewhat ignorant) midwest approach.
BA> ...the average consumer has become so strapped for time and so
BA> stressed out that going to the farmers' market is no longer a
BA> potentially pleasant experience for them.
During the week I was in Cleveland during October of of '98, I
neither bought nor ate food articles from grocery stores.
BA> Note, too, the blatant dismissal of locally grown, and the clear
BA> implication that locally grown = poor quality, expensive, and a
BA> hassle.
They just wanted to sell what they had.
I did go a farmers market while I was in Cleveland and was glad I
did. (So was my sister, who bought quite a bit for herself). I would
have gone sooner except a cousin brought me fresh picked food from
out where she lives, my niece had grapes and tomatoes in her
backyard and I'd brought some seedling avocados with me on the
flight from Texas (Texas is not much of an avocado producer, but
they were Texan), as well as some ungassed Mexican plantains.
But if I'd wanted pineapple, the closest source is right where I'm
writing this from. My main gripe there is the way they're handled,
more than the distance. And live local food puts me more in tune
with the local milieu & weather.
I think a lot of non-local (produce warehouse) food is being sold in
farmers markets. This is now even true with INDIAN markets in
Orizaba, Veracruz. Most of those selling are resellers that have no
real idea of the source or treatment of the product, and many buyers
(including other resellers) could care less.
Let me tell you that it's taken some work for me to be able to get
straight answers but the people I deal with have learned that I
won't take a vague answer, and know what I want by now; so I've been
able to locate direct sources to natural (i.e. wild) things.
(I've only been here in Veracruz since October, and I'm still
underweight - mainly from overwork, but also due to insufficient
verification mechanisms of the food that's out there. I only eat
what I eat).
Douglas
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