Spade & Spoon: Localizing the Way Westerners Eat
Young Moguls Make the Sale at Farmers’ Market
By Kisha Lewellyn Schlegel, 7-10-07
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This week at the Missoula Farmer’s market, I walked up to the smallest booth where cucumbers were four for a dollar. The hand written sign exclaimed that cucumbers were “usually three for a dollar!”
“I’ll take eight,” I told the three young girls behind the table. And then, as if we were at a farmers’ market drive-thru, one of the girls said, “Want sorrel with that?”
Her sense of commerce and the “upsell,” seemed fairly well developed for a ten year old. But I declined, mostly because I had never heard of sorrel.
“Give her a taste,” nudged the other girl. “It’s so good.”
“We have a recipe for sorrel soup too. It’s very good and easy,” she nodded.
She tore a small piece off the green leaves that looked a bit like thin, floppy spinach. “It’s good,” she repeated.
They watched as I took one bite and smiled politely when, quite suddenly, the clear taste actually hit my tongue. I stopped smiling in complete amazement of the zesty leaf that tasted like lemon spinach.
Stunned, I asked the girls, “Do you grow these vegetables?”
“Our grandma grows them,” one said, “but we go over to her house every Friday and help her. Then we come here on Saturday and sell it.”
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I too had a grandparent who planted enough tomatoes, peppers and lettuce for me to sell around the neighborhood. As I pushed the wheelbarrow around our Tucker, Georgia, suburb I would ask buyers, “Want a pepper with that?” I mimicked the fast food drive-thru where they always asked, “Want fries with that?” The tactic usually worked. Most people bought an extra pepper if asked.
Then I would count my earned pennies like a banker counts millions. I eventually bought a Hello Kitty change purse with my money to hold my money. I made signs. I made sales. For a while, I planned a business career punctuated by food sales and subsidized by the store I started at school, selling woven bracelets under-the-desk when the teacher stepped out of the room.
Of course, instead of a rich entrepreneur I grew up to become someone rather obsessed with the way we eat. Such experiences were certainly an influence. Those early days of food sales gave me a sense of commerce and even parity.
But, perhaps more importantly, growing and gathering food with my granddad afforded the time for me to hear his stories, not only about farming but also about his life. Those stories, embedded in my bones, are the stories that truly gave me a deeper understanding of this shared history of farming and reliance on the land. While the fast food drive-thru told me how to sell, sell, sell, I gleaned a tangible connection with the elder who taught me to grow all that food.
So while legislators continue to fight over Farm Bill subsidies this week, and Monsanto partners with Agriculture Future of America, Japan contends with bribery scandals, and the U.S. government hones rhetoric about mad cow disease these farmers’ market girls hone some mogul magic that is part grandma and part fast food industry. They have learned how to pick the best cucumbers. They know what sorrel is and how to use it. They know how to get you to buy more than you came for, and be glad that you did.
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I finished chewing on my sorrel and said, “You know what, I’ll take some sorrel.”
“Really?” one of the girls said.
“And I’ll take your parsley, cilantro and dill,” I continued, buying almost everything on the table. They gasped in unison and quickly, carefully bagged the food.
As the eldest handed me the bag, she smiled sheepishly and shrugged, “I threw in an extra cucumber.”
They were the sweetest I’ve had in years.
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Comments
Sorrel Soup in spring. There's just nothing quite like it. Add a little parsely, butter, carmelized onions or garlic, and chicken stock.
French Sorrel Soup often adds heavy cream, but you can also use a potato soup base (a good use for leftover mashed spuds) also use the nutritious cooking water, and take another tip from my Norwegian mom (and the French) - deglaze your saute pans - & use that precious broth along with any leftover meat & drippings you may have in the fridge or freezer.
To bcome a stock-pot cook, just get in the habit of rinsing your _active_ pots & pans, conserving the broth to start the next yummy soup or sauce. You can use this soup or broth in baking too, or as the water for making rice or pasta. I like to start a base rice before the hot water has even cooled. Add a bay leaf to the cooking water of pasta or rice for even better flavor. YUM! Always soak & cook dry beans first in clear clean water however, and add broth, veggies & your flavorings after neans have softened - or it can take hours to cook. IGNORE any bean recipe that says to add all ingredients and cook an hour or more. Only cook dry beans in clean UNSALTED pans & water.
People who are looking for a source of lemon grass or cilantro might like to experiment with Sorrel. Come get seed & plants from me for free if you are in Portland.
GREAT idea for a Sorrel-Pesto Soup Base...I want to try it.
I've found that one can also make a nice peppery and very useful Pesto from MANY common garden greens, including some that are considered weeds by most folks. Adding Chickweed, Amaranth or other weed-pesto to organic tomatoes removes the acidic affect, and really contributes to a rich pasta sauce. I love it.
One can also add home-made green-pestos when roasting veggies, and to pizza, and baked goods like savory breads. Well-chosen weeds, garlic and olive oil are all you really need to make a quick Green-Pesto (or Soup) for a tasty lunch.