Grocery stores kind of freak me out sometimes. Questions about how old food is, whether there are harmful ingredients in it, where it came from and whose hands it has passed through pop into my head as I walk down the grocery aisles. I have been buying my own groceries for seven months now, and I’m still trying to figure out my own routine. As I think about where I should shop for myself at university, I reflect on something that has shaped my relationship with food – farmers’ markets.
Back home, my parents emphasized the importance of healthy and local food by buying a lot of our food when possible from St. Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto. I started going to the market with my mom on Saturday mornings (when the farmers’ market would be open beside the main market) and I knew immediately that this place was special. Now, before I say anything about the actual food at the market, I wanted to mention that going to the market is not like a normal grocery shopping experience. There is a different kind of energy among the shoppers. People go to the market for the experience. It can be considered a little outing with your friends or family because of how much there is to do and see. Furthermore, the vendors selling their food items are there every Saturday and therefore getting to know them is not that difficult. My mom knows a lot of the vendors by name and they all know her too. I think that provides a sense of calm for people who shop at markets. There isn’t a huge chain of people or organizations that your food item goes through – it’s just a simple transaction between you and the person who picked, harvested or made your food. I don’t think that a lot of people can say that they know and trust the people or organizations they buy their food from. At the market, this is the norm. The food itself is local, fresh, quite inexpensive and comes from small businesses. When there is a simple transaction between vendor and buyer, prices don’t need to be high. Furthermore, by buying at markets, you are supporting small businesses and farms in your area. Another benefit of shopping local is that you know where your food comes from, unlike at grocery stores. The importance of shopping locally is not a new idea, but it has never been as important as it is now in the pandemic.
Near Waterloo, we have St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market which I visited this past summer. Not only is it five times bigger than St. Lawrence Market, but it’s also a 10-minute drive away from Laurier. If you’re like me and don’t have a car, it can be a struggle finding a way to get there by public transportation, especially in the pandemic. However, if you do have a car, I would highly recommend that you go check it out. It’s smaller in the winter because there isn’t that much local produce but the summer brings rows and rows of vendors to the parking lot.
My experience with farmers’ markets has made me reflect on what kind of food I want to buy and where I want to buy it from. I want to implement more local shopping into my routine because even though I have to travel a little farther for it, I think it’s still worth it. Take a second to think about the food that you are putting into your body – because where it comes from is more important than you know.