Romanesco Cauliflower and a Trip to the Farmer's Market

My mom and I were lucky enough/willing to pay for a very cool event at the Mill City Farmer's Market on Saturday that included a tour of the market followed by lunch at Spoon River where Brenda Langton (founder of the market) is the executive chef.  It was a seasonably cool, yet very sunny fall day and happened to be the last of the Farmer's Market for this season.  The weather felt right, cloggers were clogging away in the middle of the market, and farmers were offering their best produce of the season in attempts to sell enough until next season.  As I sipped my Guatemalan iced coffee (an interesting choice for a cool day, as a random lady pointed out to me) I listened to the Director of the Farmer's Market, Marjorie Hegstrom explain the history/message behind the market.  If you haven't visited this particular market, you really have to when it reopens in May.

Beautiful purple kale

Located on the river between the Mill City Museum and the Guthrie theater, is the five year old Mill City Farmer's Market.  It is the perfect place for the market because it mirrors the trading model of producer straight to consumer that started in that very location when Minneapolis began.  The market was started for the people of Minneapolis to be able to purchase a wide variety of products that are grown locally and on sustainable and often organic farms.  I was so inspired after our tour about the different ideas and concepts the market aims toward and I have since become eager to learn more about this movement.  I learned the term "locavore" to describe someone who eats and purchases their products locally.  A couple of really cool things I learned about the market:

• To be a vendor, farmers have to fill out an application where they explain their farming practices and philosophies.
• To be considered sustainable and organic, which a majority of the vendors do, a third party has to approve their application as well to ensure they follow through with these practices.
• All the vendors of the market are from Minnesota or Wisconsin with three exceptions; and these exceptions stay true to the market's model of having the actual makers of the product at the market selling their product.  These exceptions include:



Four different types of garlic

• A family from Italy who makes olive oil on their land in Sicily
• A fisherman who sells the salmon he catches from Alaska
• A Guatemalan family who sells coffee throughout the season at the market and returns to Guatemala in the winter to harvest more (delicious coffee by the way)
• Every Saturday the market offers demonstrations done by professional chefs that use products sold at the market in order to educate people about the vegetables they are purchasing.  This is so people are not so intimidated by products at the market. You get to taste the food they make and then take home the recipes.
• One of the beautiful things about the Farmer's Market is that you can buy a wide variety of produce that you cannot by in a grocery store.  One vendor offered four different kinds of garlic and could explain the purposes of each and another vendor was selling Romanesco cauliflower alongside regular cauliflower.

This is where the excitement really kicks in.  My mom and I opted for the Romanesco cauliflower, over the beloved regular cauliflower because of the recommendation of the farmer. If you have never seen or heard of this, you are in the same boat I was.

Turns out, it is absolutely delicious.  I made it the next day during the Packer game.  I cut it into smaller florets, just as I would cauliflower and then browned it in olive oil with some sliced garlic we also purchased at the market.  Then I added a splash of lemon juice and some water and covered it, allowing it to steam for about 10 minutes.  The result was a very flavorful, tender cauliflower-like dish.  If you can get your hands on it, I highly recommend it.

It was an educational day to say the least.  I left feeling inspired about the "locavore" movement and want to do what I cant to learn more as well as educate others about the importance of eating locally and sustainably.  It is a movement that can improve the economy, health and environment within different communities.  And with farmer's markets such as our very own Mill City, it isn't very difficult.

I'm sure I will be writing more about local food, but for more information you can look here: How to be a Locavore.

I'd also like to give credit to World Savvy for putting on the event.  The tour and lunch was put on by them in efforts to raise awareness about global food problems.  The day offered an interesting juxtaposition between eating locally while thinking globally and I encourage anyone and everyone to look into their organization because they are doing a lot of great work toward what they call "global competency."



P.S. Spoon River has gone from my "To Do" list to my "Where to Eat" list!