A Different Farmers Market - Part Two

Three weeks ago I started a post series about the local farmers market that is held every month in my city. Here's the first part of the series if you've missed it -> A Different Farmers Market And New Initiatives.

I'm a huge fan of km 0 products, I've stated it several times and am always trying to buy from locals instead of spending my money on imported products. It's great to see this initiative supported as it means a lot for those struggling to sell their products. Today I'm going to show you what you can buy at these markets.

Cheese

The highlight of the market for me was this cheese manufacturer with all these lovely products. I've seen different types cheese all over Europe, in the Netherlands, in Vienna for example and know what it means to have a great variety to choose from, some interesting, some strange and others you haven't even heard of. This cheese maker really knows what he's doing as he had like 20 - 30 types of cheese, all interesting and tempting.

Blue cheese, matured cheese with herbs (basil, dill, pennyroyal, hot pepper), matured cheese with sage, caraway seeds, maturated cheese with ramsons, matured cheese with hot pepper, matured cheese with caraway seeds.

Those cheese rolls are smoked cheese, smoked with beech wood. Next in brown paper is butter. Next is cottage cheese and maturated cheese with different herbs.

Yogurt, cream cheese with different flavor, spicy goat cheese etc.

This was the other cheese vendor at the market with a lot of good products. Oregano, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, paprika, just to name a few. These were slightly cheaper but not as old as the others. That's where the difference between prices is.

Then And Now

To understand the situation better, I need to go back in time and tell you what's happened in my country over the part 30 years. Romania has been dominated by communism for a long time, which meant no private property, no nothing. Everything was state property and no private initiative was allowed private property was very limited, you were allowed to have one house or apartment and some land, a very small one. There were no entrepreneurs, crafters, nothing.

After the communism collapse (December 1989) everything has changed but not in a normal way. Many people have started the legal process to get back their expropriated land. Some have succeeded, others haven't. The legal road is bumpy and not having all the documents to justify ownership makes it even more bumpier.

However, some have managed to get back their ancestor's property (land, factory) and has been able to start their own business, continue what their ancestors were doing. For many it's been a struggle, a struggle to survive as the market has been and is flooded with cheap, imported products. Quality obviously has been sacrificed in order to get a profit and those offering quality products at a higher price have been struggling to survive.

This cheese vendor had a great variety of high quality products at a high price I might say. 1kg of maturated cheese costed double of what you can find at the supermarket. I understand why the price is so high but when your budget is limited or you've already on debts, you can't look for this kind of quality.

I came home with this piece of cheese, which is smoked, maturated cheese with chanterelle. It's delicious and you can call it a délicatesse as chanterelle is an excellent and expensive mushroom. I still hope they can survive and thrive as well.

I asked the first vendor how long is the cheese maturated and he said 18 months/ I know quite a lot about cheese and 18 month is not that long but I guess they can't afford to luck it down for more time, besides, the longer it is maturated, the higher the price and selling at this price is already a challenge.

Lactose-Free, Gluten-Free, Vegan

This was the other surprise I didn't expect to see at the market.

Lactose-free, gluten-free, vegan sweets. These products can't be found on every corner and if you're lactose or gluten intolerant, you have a hard time buying healthy products for yourself. My niece has to follow a gluten-free diet because of her thyroid problems. At home she's fine as we can get whatever we need but in other, smaller cities it's a struggle. Sweets however is a different matter as there aren't so many. I've learned to create sweets for her because I know she can't have many.

One slice of cake costs double as a normal slice of cake, but at least he's offering an alternative to those in need. I don't know how much this guy can sell, but I truly hope he can make ends meet.

Organic Biscuits

These biscuits were again interesting to say the least. I love biscuits with different flavor but what I saw here made me smile. Some were regular flavor but some unexpected. Rosemary, celery, linseed, basil, cumin, coriander, chia, black cumin, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, made with whole wheat flour. Don't ask me about the price as it was pretty high but I guess that's the price you have to pay if you want craft products. I haven't bought anything from them but I'm planning to next time. I need to taste some, I just need to decide on the flavor.

Conscious Shopping

Beside the wonderful products I got to see here, I noticed something new that should be normal but it is not yet. I saw a young woman bringing her own stainless steel box from home and filling it with different type of cheese. I wasn't prepared to buy cheese, so had no box with me but next time I'm going to go prepared.

On the other hand I'm seeing more and more people bringing their canvas shopping bags from home and refusing plastic bags still offered by vendors. In time this should become the new normal.

This is my contribution to #marketfriday hosted by @dswigle.