Farmers Markets have to be one of the best retro ideas I can think of.
Because I am California centric (Californiaophile?), I tend to think of Farmers Markets as being particularly California. Of course they aren't and, I suspect, some of the best Farmer's Markets are in places like the Mississippi Delta. But here, at least, they came out of the whole healthy food revolution movement that started in Berkeley. In many ways, the Berkeley free-speech, hippie, 60's revolution has evolved or devolved (depending on your point of view) into much better food. Watching Mario Savio and other participants in the Free Speech Movement at Cal in the fall of 1964; nobody would have predicted that it would, through a long and circuitous path, lead to heritage tomatoes.
Or, during the early 60's while watching supermarkets drive the corner grocery out of business, nobody thought the corner grocery would come back; let alone, that the farmers would come back into town with their trucks of produce (in the olden days, they were called Truck Farmers). And most surprising of all, that this return to old values would be driven by liberals.
And, in some strange way, the Farmers Market in Menlo Park – where the farmers are expanding their repertoire – is starting to morph into the City Market in Yangshuo, China.
But still a far cry from a Farmers Market in India
In Vietnam, almost every street has its own farmer’s market, every day. We are amazed at the freshness and quality of produce here. You have to go in the morning–by afternoon many of the vendors have already gone and the fruit and vegetables that are left are pretty picked over. There are many kinds of banana (native to S.E. Asia, some varieties still have seeds, bred out of western types) and all manner of other tropical fruits. All kinds of greens and lettuces, utterly fresh. Chickens plucked before your eyes, pig snouts and other porky goodness, live fish, crabs, eels, and snails, whole roasted ducks and dogs, and much, much more. We have our favorite vendors we go to who know what we want and how much of it. It’s a very different shopping experience.