I recently saw this video and recommend it to anyone interested in understanding how farmers' markets first started, what they bring to our comminities, and their benefits in returning us to the healty diets.

Excerpt from the PBS website:

If shoppers want to buy really fresh salad greens or perfectly ripe raspberries or a culinary surprise of the best sort, they'll want to find an old-fashioned market -- like a farmers' market or a vintage market house -- with a variety of vendors.


From the Lexington Market in Baltimore (which has some of the best crab cakes in the world) to the small but exotic Hilo Farmers' Market on the Big Island of Hawaii (full of fruits and vegetables that aren't always familiar), this tour of a few outstanding markets will delight and amaze. The variety of products and people keep the program as juicy and tender as an August peach in North Carolina.

Produced by Rick Sebak of WQED Pittsburgh, TO MARKET TO MARKET TO BUY A FAT PIG is the latest in a diverse set of public television specials that identify and applaud some often overlooked aspects of American culture. In 2005, Sebak celebrated burial places in A CEMETERY SPECIAL; in 2004, he pointed out wacky architecture in A PROGRAM ABOUT UNUSUAL BUILDINGS & OTHER ROADSIDE STUFF. Several of his works, including A HOT DOG PROGRAM, AN ICE CREAM SHOW and GREAT OLD AMUSEMENT PARKS, have become summertime traditions on PBS stations across the country.

"This time we wanted to talk to buyers and sellers, foodies and farmers. We wanted to check out the scrumptious eccentricities of American markets," says Sebak. "We don't include some of the major markets that are celebrated regularly on cable networks. We tried to go instead to unexpected locations and less familiar food spots, like the Western North Carolina Farmers Market on the outskirts of Asheville. And we spent a whole day amid the international abundance that makes Your Dekalb Farmers Market in Decatur, Georgia, totally unforgettable.

"Our only regret is that we have but an hour of time to squeeze in all the great places we visited," Sebak continues. "They're all different and distinctive. Sometimes I think the only factor that links these places together is the word 'market' itself."

The film features an early morning visit to the Santa Fe Farmers' Market, which sprouts up in a parking lot each week and where shoppers can find beautiful baby bok choy, lean local bison meat, homemade baked goods and raspberry-and-red-chile jam. Farmer Matt Romero laughs when he admits that the market's customers are unpredictable. "You'll see people there who really love fresh food who don't make very much money, and you'll see millionaires, shopping side by side," he says. "And there's no way to tell them apart, so we treat them all equal."

Sebak and his crew also go to Cleveland where the West Side Market has been a major landmark since 1910. Some people assume that the magnificent vaulted structure was once a train station, but it was designed and built as a market house; there are architectural details in sculpted stone that let passersby know that inside there are leafy green vegetables, live seafood and fresh meat. Customers appreciate the history that comes with the building. Lisa Cutner says, "It's sort of like home because it's been here forever. I can remember my grandfather used to bring us down here when we were little, and it pretty much looks the same."

The program also includes a stop at the Central Market in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which may be the oldest continually operating market space in America -- it has records that date to 1742. "I also loved Lancaster," says Sebak, "because that's where we met Anne Wilson, who sells nothing but celery. And people crave it because it's a local specialty. You can also get ground-on-the-premises horseradish there that's excellent too. I'd go back for more of that any day, although Central Market is open only on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays."

TO MARKET TO MARKET TO BUY A FAT PIG also includes some shopping at the Wednesday market in Santa Monica, California, which is just a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean. From 8:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., farmers from miles around come to meet their customers and sell their tastiest and timeliest fruits, vegetables and flowers. Leyla Coban, a young French woman who sells asparagus and artichokes there, says, "There's a certain energy in the farmers' market. It connects you to your roots. There's a special joie de vivre."

That "certain energy" is perhaps what makes markets such satisfying places for socializing, as well as shopping. "People talk to each other in markets," says Sebak, "and we were happy to meet and talk with so many people who helped us capture some of the joys and surprises of these places. As people continue to learn that 'fresh' and 'local' are important qualities, we hope this show might inspire a visit or two to a market in your neighborhood."

Underwriters: Public Television Viewers, PBS and Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
 
This video is available for rental through Netflix, or you can purchase it directly from the PBS on-line shopping page.

Our company, Gourmet Conspiracy, recently under went a slight change from a sole proprietor company to a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC).  This modification was to prepare us for the next phase of our development in offering additional services and our involvement with various community organizations.  The slight modification in our name merely included the letters LLC at the end.  We are still Gourmet Conspiracy, although technically we are now Gourmet Conspiracy, LLC.

With this change, I'm also thinking about changing the name of this blog from its current generic name "Mise En Place" to a more appropirate one called "The Conspiring Gourmets".  The name change of this blog site was primarily due to my search of Mise En Place on Google displaying a myriad of results.  Plus I want to have a blog site title that corresponds with the company name to make it easier for everyone to remember.

There's really no effect to our readers as we are going to continue providing more information about what's happening in the culinary industry as well as food in general.

OC Jerky is a distributor of one the most well-known and respected name in the Beef Jerky industry and that is Jerky Hut. Every product that they provide is made of the highest quality meats and guaranteed to be the freshest and most flavorful to the last bite.

Their Jerky products are not dehydrated like most Jerky product, but smoked for a full bodied taste which is DELICIOUS and NUTRITIOUS as a treat or snack. Because of this process, you can expect their Jerky to have some meat on it and be full of flavor.