5 Reasons to shop at your local Farmers Market by Liesel Fuchs

Exploding cabbages and finding the sweetest apples around. Luxembourg foodie, Lisa Fuchs talks about the joys of the farmers market.
We are so lucky to have a great farmers market not just once, but twice, weekly right in the center of Luxembourg town. Have you been there? Not only can you find excellent quality food but also, the atmosphere is fantastic. Choose the genuine farmer stalls first to get the most out of it. Here are my top five reasons to go.

Freshness

The seasonal produce you buy comes straight from the farm onto your plate. You can only beat this if you grow your own food in the back garden. Being so fresh, the vegetables taste better and last longer. Food in the supermarket is often already old by the time it gets there. Tip – bring your own bags and boxes and re-fill to have a totally garbage-free shopping experience.

Local versus transported

No long transports through Europe or even worse – across half the globe. Can you imagine how much air pollution we save by buying food that has been locally produced? Think of all the trucks driving up and down Europe’s highways. It would be great if we could reduce the amount of heavy traffic.

Support

Farmers normally aren’t rich people compared to stock brokers or Luxembourg secondary school teachers. But they are some of the most important people we have. They make food! And from my experience they do this to very high standards here in the Grand Duchy. Every time you buy from a local farmer you support the future of this planet.

Knowledge

The people who actually grow your food tend to know a whole lot about it. Not only will they be able to tell you what this weird looking root is called, and how to prepare it, they also have all the blow-me-away fun-facts about the food.

Did you know that cabbage sometimes explodes? The growing pressure from within is so big that they regularly explode while being piled up waiting to be bought at the market. Also – You don’t have to guess which apples are sweet and which are crisp, you can just ask.

And you can ask the person who grew your food, how it was grown and if any pesticides were used and what the chicken, that laid those eggs, has been fed.

Socializing

One of my favorite things about going to the farmers market is chatting to the people. I tend to buy from the same stalls more or less and after two years I have gotten to know the people quite well.

They ask about my kids, we chat about the weather, joke about whatever current event is going on, and there is a light and friendly atmosphere. Quite often I also strike up conversation with other visitors to the market to discuss recipes or just get the inside information that those plums are totally amazing.

So you see, there are plenty of reasons to head down to the market next week, and every week after that. Don’t let the weather scare you either. Often the nicest visits are when the rain is pouring down. Geared up in rain clothes we all have a laugh about it. After all – our farmers need rain too!

In season right now are pumpkins, plenty of root vegetables, those healthy leafy greens that we should eat daily and also the very versatile broccoli.

Being one of the healthiest vegetables we have, broccoli should be on your menu regularly. For those days when time is precious, you can simply halve them, boil them for 3-4 minutes and then bake them in the oven for another 25 minutes (set a timer and use that time for something else!). Serve with butter and salt. Fast food at it’s best!

If you have a bit more time on your hands, give this delicious broccoli cream soup a go:

 

 

Boil 2 large broccoli heads in Veggie Broth until soft. Drain most of broth (keep for next soup!). Mix broccoli with part of broth in a blender – adding 1 chopped clove garlic, a good piece fresh ginger (also chopped) and 300 ml (just over a cup) coconut milk. Add salt, pepper and chili powder for taste.

Lisa Fuchs is the author of “Delicious grain free baking”. She also writes about healthy and creative baking, under the name Liesel on her blog:lieselathome.com

You will never find sugar or gluten in any of her recipes and most of them are also lactose free.

 

Credits:

Article and Food photography by Liesel Fuchs:  lieselathome.com  & @liesel_at_home

This post first appeared in the Luxembourg Wort English – luxtimes.lu