June 13th, 2009 Newsletter

Bardstown Road Farmers’ Market Newsletter

Sarah’s Corner

From our friend Sarah Fritschner

Many shoppers new to farmers markets anticipate great bargains and are shocked when they find the food costs as much or more than similar products at a supermarket.

This phenomenon can be explained by many factors, not the least of which is that the food is generally better quality than that you’ll find in the supermarket.

But that high-quality-is-more-expensive argument bothers a lot of people, who think that a farmers market excludes those on limited budgets. When, they ask, will high quality food grown locally be available to all?

Well, at the risk of sounding defensive of my beloved farmers markets, let me just remind everyone that fresh produce is costly everywhere, even at the supermarket. Studies show that the squash and broccoli in the produce aisle are more expensive per calorie than the Funyuns and the RC cola.

That’s because of subsidies. The government, through the farm bill, spends our money to support farmers – usually very wealthy farmers – who grow corn, soy and wheat. We spent $56.2 billion from 1995 to 2006 on corn subsidies alone, according to the Environmental Working Group, which used USDA figures and which can give you all the mind-boggling statistics you’d like at http://farm.ewg.org/farm/.

Michael Pollan reported on the work of researcher Adam Drewnowski, who took a hypothetical dollar into the supermarket to see what it would buy, and found he could get 1,200 calories of cookies or potato chips but only 250 calories of carrots. Looking for something to wash down those chips, he discovered that his dollar bought 875 calories of soda but only 170 calories of orange juice.

Farm subsidies allow corn and soy (and corn syrup and soy oil) to be extremely cheap. Which makes Funyuns and RC cola extremely affordable.

How much are fresh produce growers and organic growers subsidized?

Oops. Not so much.

So while the poor are shut out of nutritious eating, it really isn’t the fault of the farmer who is hand-planting and picking strawberries to sell for a premium at the farmers market to support his family.

So I’ll keep eating seasonally from the farmers market while I can and try to get more involved in policy issues and Farm Bill legislation when it rolls around again in 2012.

Spanish spinach and chickpeas

Make no mistake about it, the Spanish aren’t afraid to put pork into anything and many of their chickpea dishes call for ham or bacon. This one’s vegetarian, but you can add bacon if you want.

Basically, you just want to make this dish as garlicky as you can stand it. Scapes are fairly mild, so you may want to add a clove of garlic in addition to scapes.

¼ cup olive oil

5 large cloves garlic (substitute 1 or 2 bunches chopped garlic scapes)

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 pound (or more) fresh spinach, coarsely chopped

20 ounces (or so) canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Heat olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat. Mince the garlic (or garlic scapes) and add to the skillet, cooking until they are translucent and soft. Add cumin, paprika and red pepper flakes and stir. Increase heat to medium high and add spinach, a few handfuls at time, stirring as you add. It will wilt quickly and become a fraction of its former self. Add drained chickpeas, ½ cup water and ½ teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, simmer briefly and taste for seasoning, adding more if you think it needs it.  Serves 4.