dandily.net

As you people out there reading may have picked up on, I have a little bit of an addiction to farmers markets.

It all started when I switched to a vegetarian diet.  When the focus of a meal changes from meat over to the other stuff, namely vegetables, all of a sudden you notice how crummy the quality is of the supermarket variety.  Add that to the fact that part of the switch was an effort to reduce my impact on the environment, getting the freshest, most local produce I could made a bunch of sense.

At my first foray into the land of local produce, I ventured out to the markets held at Collingwood Childrens Farm in Melbourne (Australia).  Apart from being in a gorgeous country setting - I'm talking chickens, ducks, cows, goats and even a pig or three all ridiculously fat and happy looking - in the middle of a bustling city, there was an amazing range of food stuffs available above an beyond the seasonal fruit and veggies I had expected.

I came home will bags full of falafel's (sold in kilo bags and a perfect afternoon snack), a range of bakery stalls specialising in everything from sourdough to sweets, turkish breads and wraps, a lady that made dips (and inspired me to give my own hummus a go) chocolatiers, cordials, jams and a guy that sold chilli in every way imaginable, spices, dried fruit and nuts, even tempeh! Soon enough the only thing I was buying from the supermarket was toilet paper (okay, and maybe some other stuff, but 90% of food was taken care of).

The point of all this rambling is that, even though I haven't found Vancouver's farmers markets to be quite as extensive - though I am having fun trying out different varieties of veggies they have here - I have found vegan cinnamon rolls, and have decided that, if forced, I could probably eat them in place of anything that might be missing. :)

Note: The lovely Christine from Blackberry Hill Gourmet Goodies is the maker of said cinnamon rolls, unfortunately she doesn't have a website I can send you to, and I have no photo's as they get inhaled as soon as I get my hands on them, so if you are in Vancouver you will just have to turn up and check them out for yourself!