Farmers market
If you have a local farmers market, do go and give it your support.
Ours, which is held twice a month in the summer months, is small but extremely good. Or at least, it is for meat-eaters. The point of a farmers market is to represent local farmers and producers - and so, if the farming in the area is mostly animal husbandry (there isn’t much you can grow on Welsh hills apart from sheep and cattle), then that’s what you’re going to get. And cheese. But we do have a truly wonderful bread and pastries stall.
It’s not just about buying delicious food at surprisingly good prices (let’s put it this way: of course you can buy cheaper food in supermarkets, but if you go into a supermarket and look for the same quality that you get at a farmers market stall it’ll be in the “premium” ranges - if it has such a thing at all - and it’ll cost you a lot more). It’s also about getting to know the people, and being able to have confidence in where your food came from and how it was produced (especially with meat).
In any case, I prefer buying my food in small shops where I can get to know the people - where it’s as much about social interaction as consumption - and I’m lucky enough to live in a small town where that’s possible, and without requiring a stratospheric salary. (As my income has risen, it should be said, the frequency of trips to the supermarket has gone down. It does have a few particular things that I like and can’t get elsewhere. But even when I was a student I shopped there as little as possible. Especially for fruit and veg. I just hate that homogenous-glossy-overpackaged effect.)
I have bought, amongst other things today, a venison steak. This doesn’t really require a “recipe” (er, “put in pan or under grill and cook until done to your taste”), unless I decide to make Sophie Grigson’s delicious venison curry. Mmm. Will think about that.
