In 2006, we opened the South Village and SoHo Real Food Markets in New York City for farmers, artisans, and purveyors of regional and traditional foods. What is Real Food?  At a properly-run farmers' market, all vendors are producers. A Real Food Market is more like markets in Europe. There are farmers and bakers, but also food artisans and purveyors, or merchants. Second, the Real Food Region is larger than at a traditional farmers' market. We forage in the Northeast: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Oh, and you might find other goodies you don't see at a true farmers' market, such as a cup of hot coffee (locally roasted) or hot chocolate with local milk. The experiment was a success and we'd like to do it again, but in the summer of 2007 we have too many other things to do. Stay tuned. 

21 September 2007

Dear Friends of Real Food,

We were out of town all summer with pretty good choices for local food. We were delighted, when we got home, to take our first visit to a small Greenmarket, on 6th Avenue between Bleecker and Houston, right where we held a trial Real Food Market last year. (The map is still here, on the site, for your convenience, but Greenmarket is in charge.)

Open on Sundays, it is now our local market, and we're lucky to have it. We still have to go here and there for meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy, but it's great to have local fruit and vegetables on our doorstep. We wish Greenmarket every success.

Meanwhile, people in Washington, DC, can visit my Local Food Market in Mount Pleasant. It's a traditional farmers' market, now in its 5th season.

Julian is 10 months old and eats all kinds of things: raw milk and raw milk cheeses, salami, beef, creme fraiche, nuts, fruit and vegetables, of course - and even tuna sashimi, just last night, after a meatball appetizer. We're having fun learning what he likes. If you'd like news and information about local and traditional foods, sign up for my newsletter at www.NinaPlanck.com.

Best wishes, Nina

8 February 2007

We'll Miss You!

Dear Friends of Real Food,

On a sunny and brisk winter day, I'm writing with news for the summer: we will not be reopening the South Village Real Food Market this year. I have much to be grateful for.

• The farmers and purveyors brought great foods. New ones write us often.
  
• You were charming, curious, and loyal customers.
• Your comments and suggestions were always helpful.

I also enjoyed testing a new model for outdoor, seasonal food markets - one that accommodates farmers and vendors in a new way, to complement traditional farmers' markets.  I was delighted with the new concept and would like to do it again. Meanwhile, our Local Food Market enters its 5th season in Washington, DC. The farmers at our 15 London Farmers' Markets had a record year.

I also appreciate the hundreds of emails in which you've asked us to come back, thanked us for the newsletter, said you liked the recipes, and offered to sign the petition. Many of you wrote to work or volunteer.

With customers like you, a market for local and traditional foods would thrive on 6th Avenue. We won't reopen simply because this summer I don't have the time it deserves. I'll be on the Real Food paperback book tour, and my editor expects me to deliver a new book, called Baby Food, soon.

My main activity, of course, is looking after my little family. Many of you were kind to send your best wishes when Julian was born. He is our all-day, all-night sweetheart and waves a little dimpled hand hello.

This is the last Real Food Market newsletter unless and until we open another market. If you'd like to hear occasional news about food, farming, health, and related topics, sign up for my newsletter at www.NinaPlanck.com. (Look in the upper right-hand corner. Check out the blog if you'd like to get a hint of what it's like.)

Today I grated yellow (not orange) carrots and sauteed them with sesame oil and local garlic. The garlic was bitter. That's February for you. I broke my own rule, which is not to eat garlic between Christmas and Easter. Happily we're nearing the end of root vegetables; soon we'll have outdoor lettuce and good garlic again. Meanwhile the apples from storage are so-so, and I'm living on citrus from organic farms in Texas and California - and dark chocolate, of course.

Thank you for your encouragement and support for Real Food. I'll see you at Greenmarkets and roadside stands this summer! Meanwhile, visit our Local Food Market in Mount Pleasant, a lovely neighborhood in Washington, DC.

Best wishes - Nina

Meet the REAL FOOD Vendors

Thanks to Katchkie Farm, Flying Pigs Farms, Siggi's Skyr, Wheelhouse Pickles, Cayuga Fields, Angie's Exotic Baked Goods, Stone Ridge Orchard, Murray's Gone Local, Taylor's Fruit Stand, Grandaisy Bakery, Balthazar, Murray's Gone Local, Jac & Jeff's Fruit & Dairy Stand, CocoaVino Chocolates, Winecellar Sorbets, Thanksgiving Farm, and all the vendors who sold at Real Food Markets in our first year.

SCORPACCIATA (noun, Italian)
eating copious amounts of a certain food in peak local season
This time of year, I'm eating escarole salads, roasting root vegetables, and drinking freshly pressed grapefruit, mineoloa, and blood orange juice. I get the citrus from organic orchards in Texas and California. I put a Meyer lemon in the roast chicken the other day, and I'm using dried rosemary and butter under the skin. The rosemary comes from a Greenmarket wreath. When it dries out, I break it up and run through the cuisinart to make it less like pine needles. That's winter!
Read recent Scorpacciata

Party Food
We're having a party for Valentine's Day and keeping it simple. Heart-shaped wreaths of local cayenne peppers from Greenmarket; cheese and salami from Murray's; plenty of wine; chocolates from Vere. Never too sweet, Vere chocolates are for grown-ups who like dark chocolate, but they even won over my 7 and 8 year-old niece and cousin. The coconut flake and chocolate clusters are as elegant and simple as a dessert can be; the coconut 'brownies' are little logs of dense chocolate; they do cool things with pink peppercorns and pepitas; the truffles are wonderful. Happy Valentine's Day.

How We Chose the Real Food Vendors

Vendors may be farmers, farm co-ops, artisans, purveyors, or any combination. We invite purveyors to sell Regional foods when those foods would not otherwise reach the market easily without a dedicated purveyor. Some farmers are also purveyors; along with their own products, they bring food from other local farms. Artisans make foods from regional ingredients. Exotic ingredients, such as lemon juice chocolate, may come from outside the Region. If produce (e.g. apples) can be grown in the Region, it must be. We also allow certain items which aren't permitted at a proper farmers' market. For example, you might find our baker selling you a cup of hot coffee (locally roasted) or hot chocolate (both with local milk).

Is Real Food Organic?

You certainly won't find industrial foods at a Real Food Market.  We favor foods produced with organic, biodynamic, and other ecological methods, but the food may not be certified organic. But we have some firm rules. For example, our beef is grass-fed and pork, poultry, and eggs are pastured. We ban hormones, antibiotics, corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and artificial flavors and colors. Most farmers' markets don't have such standards.

Who is Nina Planck?

The South Village Real Food Market is new. Stay tuned with us as we learn what people say. Meanwhile, this is what they say about Nina Planck, farmers' daughter, founder of Real Food, and author of Real Food: What to Eat & Why.

'The First Lady of Farmers' Markets' 'Planck looks as looks as healthy and wholesome as ripe strawberries. She is young, light, has energy fizzing from every pore, and has achieved more in her 30 years than most women do in a lifetime.'
- The Financial Times (2001)

'A vocal and frequent defender of the family farm'
- The New York Times, 2006

'Green Queen' 'Discovering her adopted city was not familiar with what is a mainstream institution in the US, the 29-year-old decided to set one up for herself. The smash success of the [London] markets provides the best answer to her initial detractors.'
- Time Out London (2000)

'Planck's expertise... has become so admired that the Prince of Wales sought her guidance [on] rural areas. Britain's Agriculture Minister presided at opening ceremonies for two of her markets. Planck's name has become virtually synonymous with the movement. Why? Because in a very American way, one that combines Washington political savvy with the idealism of the late '60s, Planck gets it done.'
- The Washington Post (June 2000)

'Planck is a riveting voice for consumers who want fresh food grown in their own region.'
- The Cleveland Plain Dealer (2003)

'The patron saint of farmers' markets.'
- The Guardian (2002)