Farmers’ Markets, Our One-Minute Cooking Tip, An Interview About Farmers' Markets, Shanghai Leek Sauce, Xian Bing & More!
We love farmers' markets. They may not be quite as hip as they once were, but they're still a great place to shop, meet people, and try new foods.
Join us, veteran cookbook authors Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. We've published over three dozen cookbooks and been contributing editors to COOKING LIGHT and EATING WELL. If you'd like to check out some of our books, click on THE KITCHEN SHORTCUT BIBLE, THE LOOK & COOK AIR FRYER BIBLE, or THE INSTANT POT BIBLE.
In this episode, we're talking about why you should still seek out your local farmers' market. We've got a one-minute cooking tip about better vinaigrettes. Bruce interviews Leslie Wilcott-Henrie, the president of the Lexington, Massachusetts, farmers' market. And we tell you what's making us happy in food this week.
Thanks for spending time with us. Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:
[01:20] Let's talk about farmers' markets. Why should you still seek them out? What should you be looking for? How do you find the bargains?
[13:47] Our one-minute cooking tip: Don't wash jars of preserves but make a vinaigrette with the leftovers.
[15:03] Bruce interviews Leslie Wilcott-Henrie, head of the Lexington, Massachusetts, Farmers' Market
[32:02] What’s making us happy in food this week? Shanghai leek sauce and Sichuan xing bing!
Transcript
Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein and this is the Podcast Cooking with Bruce and Mark.
Speaker:And I'm Mark Scarbrough.
Speaker:And Bruce and I are the authors of 36 and counting cookbooks, including the latest out this fall, fall
Speaker:If you listen to this podcast, you already know about it.
Speaker:It is a.
Speaker:125 recipe cookbook with 704 photographs.
Speaker:Unbelievable.
Speaker:Every single step of every recipe photographed, so you can't make a mistake.
Speaker:It is already available for pre-order on every site you can imagine.
Speaker:Barnes and Noble, Amazon, your local books, sellers, independent sellers.
Speaker:All those places you can pre-order it and just to be in completely self-indulgent, to let you know pre-orders are
Speaker:So if you're interested in the book, we would love.
Speaker:Pre-order, but we're not gonna talk about that in this podcast.
Speaker:We're gonna talk about farmer's markets, a lot about farmer's markets.
Speaker:Got an interview with the manager of Farmer's Market.
Speaker:We are gonna give you our thoughts on farmer's markets.
Speaker:We've got a one minute cooking tip and we're gonna tell you what's making us happy in food this week.
Speaker:So let's get started.
Speaker:Mark and I moved to the country 17 years ago from the middle of Manhattan, and when we lived in Manhattan,
Speaker:And when we moved to the country,
Speaker:it and, wait, can I just interrupt?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And say, if you don't know this story, we moved, as Bruce says, from the middle of Manhattan.
Speaker:Well, 24th and nine.
Speaker:Chelsea.
Speaker:Middle of Manhattan.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Kind of lower down than down the middle of
Speaker:the world.
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:I think that there are many people who disagree with that, but okay.
Speaker:We moved from that middle of Chelsea in Manhattan to, and I mean rural, rural, rural New England,
Speaker:the middle of nowhere.
Speaker:There was a local farmer's market in the next town over, and so different than anything we'd experienced in Union Square.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:You know, union Square, you go get the nice eggs, you know, they're $25 a day.
Speaker:Dozen and you get, you know, the,
Speaker:you're speaking of the Union Square Farmers Market in New York City.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:For people who don't know New York City.
Speaker:Okay, yes.
Speaker:You're such a New Yorker.
Speaker:You just are such a New Yorker.
Speaker:You come up here and the eggs are $4 a dozen, so it was much nicer.
Speaker:But we had this brilliant idea that we were gonna rent a table for the first two years.
Speaker:We were here at the farmer's market and we were gonna sell our cookbooks and make cookies.
Speaker:And if you bought a.
Speaker:Cookbook, you got a cookie?
Speaker:And why'd we do this, mark?
Speaker:We did it to meet people.
Speaker:That's, it's really crazy.
Speaker:We did this not because we wanted to sell our cookbooks because technically just so we hope our publishers aren't listening.
Speaker:Uh, authors are actually contractually prohibited from making a profit on their own cookbooks, personally.
Speaker:So you can't sell your own cookbooks, but we did anyway, so let's just hope no publisher is listening to this podcast.
Speaker:But anyway, we did it to meet people because we live so remotely and so rurally.
Speaker:We wanted a place where people gathered together.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And so we started, uh, selling cookbooks there.
Speaker:To me, evil, it's the same reason kind of, except I love doing, it's the same reason I started
Speaker:And I have to say, oh my gosh, what?
Speaker:Half our friends come from those various places.
Speaker:We made some really wonderful friends with those.
Speaker:And I wanted to tell a story about that farmer's market, first of all, half the time we were there, it rained.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So it was like we had this.
Speaker:Thing about books and water.
Speaker:They're really not a good combination.
Speaker:Terrible, terrible combination.
Speaker:But there was a woman at the next table from us the first year who made jewelry, and she was an old German woman and very old.
Speaker:She was like in her nineties, and she came over to us and she said, oh, you new in town and you lived down the road from me.
Speaker:So you will come for tea and then I will come for you for tea and we'll see who makes the better tea.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:You.
Speaker:It was really frightening.
Speaker:You should know that Bruce, as a good New York Jew is always freaked out by a German accent, so,
Speaker:well, I assumed she was a Nazi, and so we said, so what happens to the loser of the tea contest?
Speaker:And so we referred to her as the Nazi down the road for years until we found out.
Speaker:Actually, actually that she was in the resistance.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And she was half Jewish.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And it was, so here I am.
Speaker:And she was practically deported.
Speaker:She was only saved from deportation by the end of the war.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, she was set for deportation on a train and she was saved at the end of the war, but
Speaker:And there was even a documentary about her.
Speaker:So the Nazi down the road turned out to be a Jewish resistance fighter.
Speaker:Good for her.
Speaker:So yes.
Speaker:Anyway, you meet the greatest people of farmers markets.
Speaker:They tell you,
Speaker:and let me say that years ago, and this is when eating well, was still being published, Bruce and I wrote an article
Speaker:It was really fun article to write, really fun article to research and go and see and do and the crap back in the days when you had
Speaker:And we wrote about the Madison Farmer's Market, the very.
Speaker:Terminal, but Madison, Wisconsin Farmer's Market, the ferry terminal market in San
Speaker:We had all kinds of farmers' markets.
Speaker:Said that, we listed them.
Speaker:I think we gave Madison, Wisconsin our number one rating for the whole country.
Speaker:It was good number one rated.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So anyway, we did this and you know, farmers' markets were very hot and farmers' markets have become very, Not hot.
Speaker:They have kind of passed out of hot dumb and become something that's almost routine or people take for granted, which is
Speaker:AI is coming.
Speaker:It's coming faster than any of us can ever imagine, and AI is eventually, you know this, going to take over your supermarket and
Speaker:Have to check out your own stuff.
Speaker:As it is, the AI is coming everywhere, and if you, as I are concerned about the AI takeover of workplace jobs, a farmer's
Speaker:Local from somebody who is selling.
Speaker:It is a great place to exercise your capitalistic muscle and buy whatever it is you can from the person selling it.
Speaker:What I love about farmer's markets is also that you can find new stuff and we know.
Speaker:Mark and I know a lot about food and we know a lot about interesting greens and cheeses and all
Speaker:In fact, the farm, the local farmer's market where we had a table one year, this Vietnamese family came in and we're selling.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:South.
Speaker:Asian green, Southeast, you grew the green good.
Speaker:And some of these greens were red, were yellow.
Speaker:They weren't as greens, but they were, they were leafy vegetables.
Speaker:And we discovered some things that even we didn't know about.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And it's just so wonderful to be able to find new things.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:And it's a really nice thing.
Speaker:And let me also say that the little farmer's market, I mean the.
Speaker:Farmer's market that we go to.
Speaker:It's actually not in our town in New England.
Speaker:As Bruce said, it's one town over from us and um, it's really small.
Speaker:I mean, really you can loop it in five minutes and be done with it, but of course we never do.
Speaker:We take our dogs and we loop it several times because part of also going to a farmer's market, especially if you live.
Speaker:In rural locations is meeting people.
Speaker:It, it is.
Speaker:And seeing people that you know, but even, let's say the Dallas Farmer's Market, which is a fantastic place.
Speaker:Maybe not to meet your neighbors, but to meet people who grow food around Dallas, Texas.
Speaker:It's a really nice place to establish relationships.
Speaker:I think if farmer's market's also a really nice place to pick people up.
Speaker:I think you could have, it could really be a nice dating place rather than going to a bar.
Speaker:Go to the, there's gonna be a lot of single people at that farmer's market and you know, they'll have something in common with you.
Speaker:Cause they like farmer's markets.
Speaker:Oh my god.
Speaker:Years ago, Bruce and I were hired by the potato board, believe it or not, there is the United States Potato Board different
Speaker:So the US Potato Board hired us because they had this whole theory that they were gonna sell potatoes.
Speaker:By making singles mixers on weekend nights in the produce section.
Speaker:And we were, I'm not making this up, and we were supposed to, cuz their new campaign was marketing,
Speaker:Potatoes for two.
Speaker:How cute.
Speaker:And they were gonna have, Singles, socials in pickups, hookup places in supermarket, produce sections.
Speaker:This is long before tinder or grinder or bumble, or
Speaker:you had to meet people through the US Potato Board.
Speaker:It's the most absurd campaign I'd ever heard of any.
Speaker:Ended up, the campaign collapsed just to finish his Oh, Kel Sapr.
Speaker:Yeah, it Kel Sapr.
Speaker:And we were supposed to be there doing potato events, right.
Speaker:And cooking potatoes for single, I mean, honestly, who was gonna show up to the produce
Speaker:But, okay, so we're supposed to be doing it,
Speaker:looking for love in all the wrong places.
Speaker:Wrong places.
Speaker:And, uh, anyway, it, it collapsed and we ended up doing two events at.
Speaker:Albertson's in Phoenix,
Speaker:desperately trying to give away potato peelers with the name of the book on them.
Speaker:That was literally what happened to the entire advertising campaign.
Speaker:It collapsed to two Albertson's in Phoenix.
Speaker:It was really embarrassing.
Speaker:Anyway, let's go back to farmer's markets.
Speaker:Shopping at farmer's markets.
Speaker:Uh, there is a way to get.
Speaker:Deals.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:At farmer's markets.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And we wanna encourage you to shop at farmer's markets because you can find new things, you can comparison shop, you can meet
Speaker:We had a wonderful time at the Asheville, North Carolina Farmer's Market when we were there last year, or on vacation in Asheville.
Speaker:Um, but there are a couple ways to get deals
Speaker:go when the weather's bad, that's the first one.
Speaker:Fewer people will be there because people don't want to go out in the rain.
Speaker:And farmers are more likely to wanna say, you know what?
Speaker:I'm gonna give you an extra pound of tomatoes even though you just bought three.
Speaker:Here's an extra pound.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Because they don't wanna let them back home.
Speaker:It's not even necessarily rain, it's just inclement weather.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:If it's foggy or if it's drizzly, or if it's really badly overcast or it's a chilly day.
Speaker:I know it's hard to believe, but yes, in New England we actually get chili days in the summer.
Speaker:If it's chilly, the, you'll find that suddenly the deals are plenty.
Speaker:And the other way is to get a deal is to.
Speaker:Go to your local farmer's market at the end of the day.
Speaker:Oh cuz no vendor there wants to bring four extra crates of strawberries home with them.
Speaker:Correct.
Speaker:So they will sell them to you at a deep discount.
Speaker:Now you might not always get what you want if you go at the end of the day.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Cuz they might be out of the strawberries.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But you might get something you didn't even know you wanted and you'll get it at a good price.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What we learn here in rural New England is what is highly priced beyond almost anything is rasp our raspberries.
Speaker:And sour cherries.
Speaker:Yes they are.
Speaker:And if you don't go really early in the morning, you are gonna get no sour cherries.
Speaker:But you're not gonna
Speaker:get a deal on them.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:They're at a premium.
Speaker:No, those are at a premium.
Speaker:But it is true that people wanna get rid of the leafy greens at the end of the day
Speaker:because they don't last and they've been out of water or out of refrigeration all day.
Speaker:So they're really need to be taken care of right away.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So you can get a ton of lettuce and herbs and all that at the end of the day for really good.
Speaker:And Mark said when you get there, make a couple of laps of the farmer's market.
Speaker:Part of that is you wanna see what everybody has.
Speaker:If you buy strawberries from the first person, you might find better strawberries down the aisle.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Or cheaper ones, or more expensive ones.
Speaker:Well, and you know, Bruces has relatives who live on Capitol Hill in Washington DC and we visit them quite often, and they're about.
Speaker:Three blocks away from Eastern Market, which isn't really a true farmer's market, but it's a nice place to go.
Speaker:And we always make a pilgrimage to Eastern Market and we always lap it once look.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:See's there to look at everything inside the building and who's got what cheese and who's got what this, and who's got what that,
Speaker:And then we go back and buy.
Speaker:So we always make one loop just to kinda get a lay of the land to know what there is.
Speaker:Otherwise I'm buying everything in sight.
Speaker:And it's just ridiculous.
Speaker:We, we kinda did that in Asheville.
Speaker:Remember?
Speaker:We, we thank goodness we drove to Asheville from New England because when we went to the Asheville
Speaker:Like five quart jars of ridiculous
Speaker:and all those quarts of sorghum syrup, which I use as a sweetener in my granola.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Oh yeah, we that.
Speaker:I could just see this on a plane with all that stuff.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Okay, so that's our bit about farmers' markets.
Speaker:We got more about farmers' markets coming up.
Speaker:Before we get to the next segment of this podcast, let me say that we have a newsletter.
Speaker:Uh, it is, comes out twice, three times a month, maybe, probably let's say twice a month, just so I don't stress myself out.
Speaker:You can sign up for that newsletter on our website, Bruce and mark.com, or cooking with Bruce and mark.com.
Speaker:It goes to the same place.
Speaker:There is a signup form there.
Speaker:I have locked myself out of seeing your email.
Speaker:I see, you know, three people subscribe today, but that's all I see is a number.
Speaker:I can't see your name.
Speaker:I can't record it.
Speaker:I can't sell it, nor can this.
Speaker:Service, record it or sell it.
Speaker:So I've locked all those security protocols in place and you can always unsubscribe at any time.
Speaker:And let me just say that the content of that newsletter is not related to this podcast.
Speaker:I think the latest newsletter was about gardening.
Speaker:It was about what gardening does for me as the writer in our team.
Speaker:So you could sign up there, that would be great.
Speaker:Otherwise, we're moving on to the next segment of our podcast, our one minute cooking tip.
Speaker:When you finish a jar of jam, you know you've scraped out the last bit you can with the knife.
Speaker:Don't wash the jar or put it in the dishwasher instead, leave it with that bit of jam inside on the inside of the glass.
Speaker:Add some vinegar, some spices, some olive oil.
Speaker:Whatever vinegarette you like, make it in that jar, shake it up, and all of a sudden you will have strawberry
Speaker:So use that last.
Speaker:It's kinda amazing.
Speaker:Last little bits and the same.
Speaker:How come I never thought this is your tip and I've never thought of this.
Speaker:So if I.
Speaker:I love orange marmalade.
Speaker:So if I finish achar of orange marade mm-hmm.
Speaker:You're saying I should make a vinegarette, A basic vinegarette in there.
Speaker:Put olive oil and some white wine vinegar and some salt and pepper, even a little Dijon.
Speaker:Pick an herb, shake it up.
Speaker:The oil and vinegar will wash the residue of the orange marmalade into itself, and you'll have a sour, bitter orange vinegarette.
Speaker:Well, alright then.
Speaker:I learned something new on our podcast today.
Speaker:So there you have it.
Speaker:Up next, Bruce's interview with Leslie Wilcott, Henry of the Lexington, Massachusetts Farmer's markets.
Speaker:So much more about farmer's markets.
Speaker:Just ahead
Speaker:today, we're gonna have an inside look at what it takes to run one of the.
Speaker:Best farmer's markets in New England.
Speaker:We're talking with Leslie Wilcott Henry.
Speaker:She's the president of the board of the Lexington, Massachusetts Farmer's Market.
Speaker:Hi Leslie.
Speaker:Hi Bruce.
Speaker:Good to see you.
Speaker:It's good to see you.
Speaker:Hey, most people know they can go to a farmer's market and pick up some local eggs, meat or berries, but.
Speaker:They don't have any idea what it took to get all those farmers there every week.
Speaker:So what's involved in running a weekly's farmer's market like you have in Lexington?
Speaker:That's such a great question, Bruce, because every farmer's market is different and, um, approaches it sort of in a different way.
Speaker:The way that Lexington and the founders 19 years ago approached it is they really wanted to focus on what's called producer only.
Speaker:So our market brings in farmers and vendors who grow, create, or produce the product that they're selling.
Speaker:So when you come to Lexington Farmer's Market, you know that you're talking to the people who really understand.
Speaker:What you're gonna bring home from their, from their tent.
Speaker:We pride ourselves on being what I like to think of as breakfast to dessert.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So we look to have a, a really full amount of options for people to buy at the market so they really can
Speaker:To get and really focus on buying healthy local food from the small food producers and farms.
Speaker:And, and what that basically means is really getting to know the farmers and vendors that come to our market, making
Speaker:And also, Seeing where the holes are, seeing sort of, you know, we've like a lot of people who are looking
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um, can we find people who might have those, um, kombucha drinks that people are really into having now on a hot summer day?
Speaker:So, so it's, I, I think of it as a puzzle or a mosaic and you're always kind of filling in the spots and you're always trying to,
Speaker:Do these puzzle pieces ever come to you, or mostly you are going out and looking for them?
Speaker:Um, it's kind of both people.
Speaker:I, I'm, I'm proud to say that people hear about our reputation as a well run, welcoming market community, and so people do come to us.
Speaker:They're, I think, when we're looking for.
Speaker:For things like cheese, cheese can be hard to find.
Speaker:A lot of people are always looking for cheese vendors, cheese producers at their farmer's markets.
Speaker:So we can be looking for those, um, those people at the same time that other markets are as well.
Speaker:So there can be a bit of a, I don't wanna say a competitive thing to find people, but you know, we are, we're all known to look at
Speaker:It's, mm-hmm.
Speaker:It feels.
Speaker:Like, you're not poaching.
Speaker:It feels like you're just, you're learning from the best.
Speaker:Um, so it can, it, it goes both ways.
Speaker:We get a lot of people who might wanna come to the market, but also have a product that we are already have, or
Speaker:You don't wanna have too much of one thing.
Speaker:You want everybody to be successful at the market, both the mm-hmm.
Speaker:Shoppers who are looking for a broad array of products.
Speaker:And the, the people who sell there, you want them to be successful.
Speaker:So we're careful about that.
Speaker:Looking for these vendors and checking out what you think people are gonna want.
Speaker:Is this a year-round job, or are you just mostly done in the summer?
Speaker:The Lexington farmer's market is a year-round job because we have our summer market, which
Speaker:We have a one day.
Speaker:Thanksgiving market two days before Thanksgiving.
Speaker:And then we have a winter market that is biweekly January to April.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Um, Massachusetts has over 200 farmer's markets in the summer season.
Speaker:In the winter there are 50 and most of them tend to be larger markets.
Speaker:We started our winter market because we had not only shoppers saying we'd love to be able to still get access
Speaker:Provides a bridge for them to maintain relationships with these customers that they build over the summer season.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:It's a source of income and what might be kind of a slower time of year for them.
Speaker:And it also gives access to healthy local food to our customers.
Speaker:In a season where people aren't really aware that they can still visit a farmer's market, particularly
Speaker:That you can only use at farmer's markets for them to be able to come to a winter market, makes a, makes a big difference to them.
Speaker:So, so our market, we basically have markets about 32 weeks outta the year.
Speaker:But really when you're starting to plan your summer market, you're starting that in February.
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:You're sending out your applications, you're starting to vet people, you're looking for where the holes are.
Speaker:Um, you're working with your town officials or whomever is this, wherever the space is that you're located.
Speaker:So we have a, a.
Speaker:Paid, um, part-time year-round market manager who runs the market and that, that we wish it could be a full-time job.
Speaker:We wish we could, uh, you know, afford to pay that.
Speaker:But it makes a huge difference to have that consistency and we love having a winner market.
Speaker:You said a little earlier that vendors want to come to a well-run market.
Speaker:What makes a well-run market?
Speaker:That's a, that's a really great question because I think it's the, it's the secret sauce everyone's looking for.
Speaker:I think the leadership is a really important part of a well-run market.
Speaker:You have to have somebody who really understands and is committed to the concept of.
Speaker:Of healthy local food.
Speaker:That's the market manager who is the onsite person every week.
Speaker:And also in our case, working closely with our board on all the all the rules and regulations.
Speaker:You wanna be really clear about how you treat everybody at the market, that everybody has a consistent set
Speaker:Um, that.
Speaker:People feel welcome.
Speaker:Not just the customers, but the farmers and vendors all feel welcome with whatever product they're bringing.
Speaker:And I think what we really.
Speaker:Hold dear is the idea that we're working very hard for our farmers and vendors to be successful by
Speaker:And so we do call ourselves a family, and that means that you're a little bit careful about who you bring in to your
Speaker:Obviously, everyone's trying to sell their product.
Speaker:They're trying to, this is a business, um, that they're trying to run.
Speaker:But you want people to take care of each other as well.
Speaker:So at the end of the market day, when you see people helping each other pack up, when somebody's already got their truck packed,
Speaker:The list of vendors at the Lexington Farmer's Market is a mouthwatering experience.
Speaker:You can find Asian greens, dry aged beef.
Speaker:You can find just about everything, but you have not.
Speaker:Only food items.
Speaker:You've got a knife sharpener who's there?
Speaker:Biweekly.
Speaker:So what's your take on farm markets that sell non-food related items like jewelry, pottery, and other crafts?
Speaker:That is something, um, that we were very careful about and it took about, we do actually have artisans at our farmer's market.
Speaker:It took about five years.
Speaker:For the, um, the founders of the market to feel like that was an appropriate addition when they really wanted
Speaker:So what um, we do with our artisans, and this is the same for our entertainers and community groups
Speaker:So we have two artisans who come to our market per week.
Speaker:They are.
Speaker:To use an overused word curated.
Speaker:Um, there are the, the people who organize our artisans 10, really look at the product that they wanna sell, make sure that
Speaker:What we find.
Speaker:And I think about this, one of our, our farmers years ago said, who's very experienced with farmer's markets,
Speaker:And so we don't want the focus to be turned away from healthy local food and farms.
Speaker:So we, that's why we limit it to two.
Speaker:That's why we make sure that they're a certain caliber.
Speaker:And quality that they represent the artisan community as well.
Speaker:Um, and so we, we, it's been helpful to have that local producer standard as we bring in artisans,
Speaker:Even with our, we have community groups that come to the market every week and we, the rule is that it needs to
Speaker:And surrounding communities as well.
Speaker:There's a million wonderful organizations out there that would love to come to our market, but
Speaker:How do you tie local people to local issues?
Speaker:Your market accepts payment from food assistance programs like snap, but you also offer H I P Healthy Incentive Program.
Speaker:Tell me what that is and why it's so important.
Speaker:So the Healthy Incentives Program is a, is a Massachusetts, um, food assistance benefit that they
Speaker:And it is a direct, uh, benefit for those who are, who receive supplemental Nutrition assistance program or Snap, e b t, it.
Speaker:Can only be used at farmer's markets or farm stands.
Speaker:So it is a direct benefit to purchase vegetables and fruits from producers and growers.
Speaker:And so what that means is somebody comes to our market, um, they can get, they use their SNAP benefits at the market.
Speaker:Our market, along with many other markets, has a SNAP match program.
Speaker:The Lexington Farmer's Market was the first one in Massachusetts in Metro West, I should say
Speaker:So somebody comes to us to get, uh, coupons for their SNAP benefits, and we match up to $15 per week.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So for $15 of their SNAP benefits, they get $30 to spend at the market for healthy local food.
Speaker:In addition, we have four farms that are certified to accept the healthy incentives program.
Speaker:So we work really hard and our market manager does a great job at this, at helping educate people how to
Speaker:Fish or poultry or beef.
Speaker:We find that, um, the snap dollars are spent at the protein rich farmers, so they're bringing
Speaker:They might be compiling their benefits for a couple of weeks and bringing that home and then stocking up at the end of the season.
Speaker:So they have, they have those foods in their freezer and it's also part of a, an education program that we really wanna try to.
Speaker:Incorporate into who we are as a market is to let people understand that people who are food insecure are
Speaker:And so to make the community of people who are using food assistance welcome at our market is a really important hallmark
Speaker:Well, let's talk about that community, because I think most people who don't go to a farmer's market don't
Speaker:Go.
Speaker:Can you talk more about that aspect of the Lexington Farmer's Market?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:I, I think the most important thing when people come to a farmer's market is that they're making an active choice to be part of
Speaker:It, it's an education process.
Speaker:I, I used to run an event in the early years of the market that's called What's For Dinner, and it was teaching people how
Speaker:Why don't you have bananas?
Speaker:Why don't you have avocados?
Speaker:And so when somebody is coming to the market, they're making that act of choice to.
Speaker:To learn from the farmers and vendors to learn how to eat seasonally, to learn recipes.
Speaker:I mean, I, I love it when I'm standing in line and I'm hearing somebody say, well, I'm not familiar with that cut of meat.
Speaker:How do I use it?
Speaker:And then, you know, our farmer Charlie, who raised that cow, gives, gives all kinds of tips.
Speaker:And so everybody is learning together.
Speaker:It's also.
Speaker:A community of people who want to, um, bring their kids and educate their kids about how it's important to eat healthy and local.
Speaker:One of the facts that I love is that children are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables if they've met the person who grows them.
Speaker:So when you bring your kid to a farmer's market, you're also getting them to really think, oh my
Speaker:And our farmers love to build those connections.
Speaker:There's also another.
Speaker:Statistic.
Speaker:I think that says a lot that when you come to a farmer's market, you might have anywhere between 15
Speaker:When you go to a grocery store, you'll, you might have two to four.
Speaker:So in that, that idea of OAL being fractured and separate and isolated and not coming together as a community in
Speaker:The greater community as well.
Speaker:So it's, it's a, it's an incredibly uplifting experience.
Speaker:I sound, you know, like I'm filled with strawberries and sunshine here, but, but it's a very, it's a, it's a wonderful place to be.
Speaker:Our, our market is Tuesday afternoons and it's the best place to be in a Tuesday afternoon because my husband always jokes.
Speaker:I say I'm gonna be home by a certain point, and I don't get home until after the market closes.
Speaker:Because I see friends, I see old colleagues, I see families my children went to school with.
Speaker:It's a wonderful place to be on any market.
Speaker:Afternoon.
Speaker:It sounds like you have built an amazing community at the Lexington, Massachusetts Farmer's Market, Leslie Wilcott Henry,
Speaker:Thank you so much, Bruce.
Speaker:I look forward to seeing you and Mark there sometime.
Speaker:Take care.
Speaker:Okay, so how did you meet this person?
Speaker:The manager of the Lexington Mass Farmer's Market?
Speaker:Leslie took the knitting workshop that I taught in need, Massachusetts a few weeks ago, and when we were going around
Speaker:I said, we were thinking about doing an episode on farmer's markets.
Speaker:You'd be a perfect guest.
Speaker:And she was.
Speaker:Well, that is so interesting, and you are doing another knitting class.
Speaker:Just to be a shameless plug here, right.
Speaker:I am doing another knitting class on August 5th.
Speaker:It's a Saturday if you live in Massachusetts around Boston, and you want to come to my knitting
Speaker:We are working on woven stitches and.
Speaker:Speed knitting.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I'll teach you to knit faster.
Speaker:You, you may not know this, but Bruce has published two knitting books on his own outside of what we do, and
Speaker:Unravel Reed too.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:Bruce is an inveterate knitter.
Speaker:I mean, seriously, I don't wear a sweater that Bruce hasn't.
Speaker:Knitted.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Before we get to what's making us happy in food this week, let me just say that it would be
Speaker:If you could rate it, that would be great.
Speaker:Thank you for the ratings, and thank you for the comments about the podcast.
Speaker:We just saw a comic kind this week.
Speaker:Thank you for the very nice five star rating, but it said that this person missed.
Speaker:Our cooking segments in which we actually cooked food.
Speaker:I know we changed the format of the podcast and we stopped actually making dishes and became
Speaker:Maybe we can think about that and thank you for telling us that.
Speaker:You can also find us on our website, Bruce.
Speaker:And mark.com and write us there, especially if you have any questions about recipes in our books.
Speaker:Find us there.
Speaker:Our last episode, as is traditional, what's making us happy in food.
Speaker:This week
Speaker:Shanghainese leek sauce.
Speaker:It's a, oh my gosh, dark green jarred sauce that I order a lot of my Chinese groceries from this website called PO Sharp Store.
Speaker:It's actually the online subsidiary of Common Groceries in there.
Speaker:I think they're outside of Quincy, Massachusetts.
Speaker:There's somewhere near Boston.
Speaker:They have.
Speaker:Everything you could possibly imagine there.
Speaker:And I have had this jar of green leak sauce in my cart forever.
Speaker:I was shopping at our local Asian market in Great Barrington, and oh my goodness, they had the same jar on the shelf.
Speaker:So I bought, bought it.
Speaker:And what and what did.
Speaker:That man in the Asian MARKET IN GREAT BARRINGTON SAY?.
Speaker:So I'm checking
Speaker:out and he goes, oh, you're making dumplings Shanghai dumplings.
Speaker:Okay, so what's making you happy, mark?
Speaker:Well, WHAT'S MAKING me happy.
Speaker:Not Shanghai dumplings, but Bruce made champing this weekend.
Speaker:The Chuan meat patties, which aren't exactly Shanghai dumplings, but they are these, uh, flour dough, meat patties that you make.
Speaker:He makes the bread dough from scratch.
Speaker:Little pies, meat pies.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, like hand pies.
Speaker:They're round.
Speaker:He.
Speaker:Fills them, mix the dough by hand.
Speaker:Fills them with a ground beef and spiced mixture.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Onions and spices.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:And then you pan fry them until they're crisp.
Speaker:And we had people over on Saturday night and we ate a metric ton of these.
Speaker:Shun being dumplings, and we were putting chili crisp and this leak sauce on top of each of the dumplings.
Speaker:Such a good combination.
Speaker:It was so delicious.
Speaker:They were so hot and spicy, and the leak sauce smelled very pungent on its own.
Speaker:But when you It was thick.
Speaker:It's thick.
Speaker:It's, it's not like leek oil.
Speaker:No, no.
Speaker:It's almost like a.
Speaker:Thinned out pesto.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It doesn't hold its shape, but imagine if you thinned pesto out.
Speaker:So it was a little runny.
Speaker:It's like a thick liquid, but it's green and green.
Speaker:And when, when I opened the door before these people arrive for dinner, I, I was like, oh, oh my God.
Speaker:Gross.
Speaker:Like this smells horrible.
Speaker:But then we started putting it on the jian bing the Sichuan dumplings, meat patties.
Speaker:They're not dumplings, meat patties, the Chuan meat patties.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:The, it was just with the chili crisp.
Speaker:It was just somewhere over the top.
Speaker:It was unbelievably delicious.
Speaker:I actually make these meat pies and it's on our TikTok channel cookie with Bruce and Mark.
Speaker:So check us out and you can see me doing them.
Speaker:Just to say, if you're interested, we have you YouTube channel called Cookie with Bruce and Mark.
Speaker:We have a TikTok channel named Cookie with Bruce and Mark.
Speaker:We kind of.
Speaker:Kept our brand the same everywhere.
Speaker:But you can also find both of us separately on social media.
Speaker:On Facebook, there's a cooking with Bruce and Mark group on Facebook.
Speaker:You can find us individually and connected with there or on Instagram.
Speaker:Sorry, I'm kind of off Twitter for reasons that we're not going to get into on air.
Speaker:So you can find us there and of course under our TikTok channel, we'd love to see you there.
Speaker:That's our podcast for this week.
Speaker:Thanks for joining us.
Speaker:Thanks for being on this journey with us.
Speaker:We know there are a lot of food podcasts out there, and it is fantastic that you have chosen to be with us
Speaker:and we hope you will subscribe.
Speaker:So you'll continue to be with us here at Cooking with Bruce and Mark
