Now I know I'm almost geriatric, and some days i feel it, but today's rant is about outdoor markets and festivals.
I used to trail around these with my mum, and I absolutely loved them. You got to meet some fantastic characters, and this was their only income stream, so they worked hard at making their own 6ft table ultra special. They were ALWAYS, and I mean "ALWAYS", homemade produce, ALWAYS cheaper than the shops and more often than not better quality than you would get elsewhere.
Europeans have perfected the outdoor markets by applying the very ethos above, and obviously helped with far better weather than us brits. Dare I say, they may have higher standards than we do when it comes to good, local, handmade or farm reared produce ? I know we have excellent produce in this country !
I am a tad concerned, after visiting many an outdoor market locally, that the produce being offered is by no means Handmade by the seller, certainly not better quality and twice as expensive as a shop premises. Why are we being fooled like this I ask ? Because we don't complain enough? Because we don't know good produce from mediocre ? Because we just don't care ? Or because we have more money than sense ?
That said, there are some excellent producers at some of these markets but I just refuse to pay the price now being asked. In this social and economic crisis, something has to change for me to continue to support most of these hard working stall holders. Sadly quite a few nowadays are ruining the image of Outdoor Markets. Time for change maybe ??
