Guest Blog: Thinking Outside the Megamart

Denise is Korean. She always jokes that she was "adopted by two fantastic white people who sent her to school to become a Spanish teacher". She has also taught an Italian class. She is borderline obsessive about American craft beer, cooking, sports, and has a bit of NY-NJ Metro Area Superiority Syndrome. She likes her cats better than most people because they don't say stupid things or wear pink hats to Yankees games. 

Taking the Monotony out of Food Shopping 

It is so easy to hit up the nearby Megamart for groceries.  The shelves are always well-organized, the waxy fruit shines under the fluorescent lights, and if you have a Shoppers’ Card, you can definitely save some money on those boxes of pasta and pre-bagged lettuce mixes. But there is more to life than those commercialized shiny aisles and freezer cases. 

I live in Jersey City, which is just a stone’s throw from (what I believe is) the Greatest City in the World: New York. As a result, I am surrounded by family-run ethnic markets, artisanal butchers, CSAs, and even street vendors who hawk produce instead of hot dogs. It is a fantastic thing that I try not to take for granted. But of all these, I admit, I love the farmers’ market the most. 

Many of you who live in smaller towns and suburbs probably do not have access to as much as I do. But that certainly doesn’t mean you’re restricted to wilting pre-packaged herbs and beef that may or may not be tainted with the ubiquitous “pink slime.”

The farmers’ markets may not always be heavily advertised, but chances are, they are there. Even in the most seemingly middle-of-nowhere towns here in Jersey have them. And don’t forget one important tip: just because it’s called a “farmers’ market” doesn’t mean it’s going to be all produce. Our vendors sell handmade cheeses, fresh meat (slime-free!), eggs, fresh pastas, and more. One vendor at my favorite market, the Union Square Greenmarket, drives from Sussex County to sell ostrich meat and eggs. Another sells not just lamb meat, but also yarn. 

Perhaps one of the greatest parts about the market is its ever-changing seasonal offerings. At the Megamart, you pretty much know what you’re going to get, and where you can find it. At the market, though, the selection will differ according to season. Right now in New York, it’s all about ramps, nettles, and asparagus; within weeks, the ramps will be gone, but we’ll be able to get all the fiddlehead ferns we want.  If you’re OCD and overly organized like me, it will throw off your usual grocery list-writing ways. But it will also challenge your creativity in the kitchen, which is always fun and never a bad thing.

The two gripes people usually have about the farmers’ market is that they may not find everything they need, and that what they do find can be much more costly than the same product at the Megamart. I’d be lying to you if I said I only bought from the markets; I like my Whole Foods granola and Canada Dry seltzer just as much the next person. And my salary doesn’t always let me buy the $25/lb sirloin. But know that when you do pay the extra bucks for these things, your money is going to the farmer, the butcher, the fishmonger, and the cheesemaker. It isn’t supporting any huge commercial chain. It is going to the guy who makes sure your product is at its freshest, its finest, and hasn’t been sitting on a shelf loaded with preservatives for the last two weeks. Many vendors, at least the ones in my area, also take EBT and food stamps, which makes great-quality food accessible to everyone. 

So take the monotony out of your grocery shopping. If you are passionate about good food and its source, do your research and find your nearest market.  You will be glad you did.