Comments on: What Killed The Anacostia Farmers Market?

By: Nato

Nato — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:04:01 +0000

Another viewpoint about what killed the Anacostia Farmers’ Market. Stumbled across, for the first time, “Flavor” magazine. In the Dec./Jan 2010 issue, there’s an article entitled “Making It Happen” by Zora Margolis. The article is about Tanikka Cunningham who believes everyone in her neighborhood should have access to fresh food.

A quote from the article follows.

Cunningham explains why the Anacostia farmers market closed after a year. Most of the market ‘s produce came from the same gleaning program that supplies D.C. area food banks and programs that feed the homeless. “If you usually give this to the food banks basically for free, because it is second quality, why ask people to pay for it?” asks Cunningham. “Our thought is that the best food should be available and affordable to the people in this community.”

By: Ed Bruske

Ed Bruske — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:46:33 +0000

Chris & Sylvie, my wife is convinced that the only way forward is to integrate gardening and cooking into school curricula, beginning at the earliest ages. They are requiring cooking instruction at the high school level in England now. I know from teaching my own food appreciation classes that kids are eager to learn about food and will embrace foods that they might otherwise reject if exposed in a group setting with hands-on learning opportunities. People have simply become estranged from where their food comes from and how it is prepared. Why this should be especially so among the poor–who stand to benefit most by growing and cooking their own–is a real cunundrum.

By: Sylvie

Sylvie — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:08:45 +0000

as you know Ed I teach people to cook from from what’s available locally at the moment, i.e. in season. It’s been interesting to see what people do not know. There is indeed a big gap in knowledge, and some of them from women old enough to be my mother. And I deal with a relatively affluent clientèle who has the disposable income to pay for cooking lessons. The stuff I hear from volunteer at the food bank (if it does come from a can people truly do not know what to do with it) is beyond sad.

There is a lot of work to relearn of this, and not to give-in to the industrial cheap food that makes you sick in the long run.

By: mcmusser

mcmusser — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:45:15 +0000

You can bring people all the organic, local food that farms can grow, but if they don’t know how to cook it, it’s just compost. I hear about this all the time, and not from people without resources, but from those who can afford a weekly CSA box. What we need, as much as farmers who can grow good food and markets where people can buy it, is education about how to deal with real food. While cooking classes for kids is great, their parents need help as much or more.