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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] PBS Special Visits Marketplaces Across America
  • Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:13:25 -0600


- Tasty New PBS Special Visits Marketplaces Across America -
http://www.pbs.org/previews/tomarket-tomarket/

If shoppers want to buy really fresh salad greens or perfectly ripe
raspberries or a culinary surprise of the best sort, they'll want to find
an old-fashioned market -- like a farmers' market or a vintage market house
-- with a variety of vendors.

If viewers want to watch a crunchy, sweet and delicious celebration of such
places across the United States, they will want to see TO MARKET TO MARKET
TO BUY A FAT PIG, premiering Wednesday, August 1, 2007, 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET
on PBS.

>From the Lexington Market in Baltimore (which has some of the best crab
cakes in the world) to the small but exotic Hilo Farmers' Market on the Big
Island of Hawaii (full of fruits and vegetables that aren't always
familiar), this tour of a few outstanding markets will delight and amaze.
The variety of products and people keep the program as juicy and tender as
an August peach in North Carolina.

.....

"This time we wanted to talk to buyers and sellers, foodies and farmers. We
wanted to check out the scrumptious eccentricities of American markets,"
says Sebak. "We don't include some of the major markets that are celebrated
regularly on cable networks. We tried to go instead to unexpected locations
and less familiar food spots, like the Western North Carolina Farmers
Market on the outskirts of Asheville. And we spent a whole day amid the
international abundance that makes Your Dekalb Farmers Market in Decatur,
Georgia, totally unforgettable.

"Our only regret is that we have but an hour of time to squeeze in all the
great places we visited," Sebak continues. "They're all different and
distinctive. Sometimes I think the only factor that links these places
together is the word 'market' itself."

The film features an early morning visit to the Santa Fe Farmers' Market,
which sprouts up in a parking lot each week and where shoppers can find
beautiful baby bok choy, lean local bison meat, homemade baked goods and
raspberry-and-red-chile jam. Farmer Matt Romero laughs when he admits that
the market's customers are unpredictable. "You'll see people there who
really love fresh food who don't make very much money, and you'll see
millionaires, shopping side by side," he says. "And there's no way to tell
them apart, so we treat them all equal."

Sebak and his crew also go to Cleveland where the West Side Market has been
a major landmark since 1910. Some people assume that the magnificent
vaulted structure was once a train station, but it was designed and built
as a market house; there are architectural details in sculpted stone that
let passersby know that inside there are leafy green vegetables, live
seafood and fresh meat. Customers appreciate the history that comes with
the building. Lisa Cutner says, "It's sort of like home because it's been
here forever. I can remember my grandfather used to bring us down here when
we were little, and it pretty much looks the same."

The program also includes a stop at the Central Market in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, which may be the oldest continually operating market space in
America -- it has records that date to 1742. "I also loved Lancaster," says
Sebak, "because that's where we met Anne Wilson, who sells nothing but
celery. And people crave it because it's a local specialty. You can also
get ground-on-the-premises horseradish there that's excellent too. I'd go
back for more of that any day, although Central Market is open only on
Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays."

TO MARKET TO MARKET TO BUY A FAT PIG also includes some shopping at the
Wednesday market in Santa Monica, California, which is just a few blocks
from the Pacific Ocean. From 8:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., farmers from miles
around come to meet their customers and sell their tastiest and timeliest
fruits, vegetables and flowers. Leyla Coban, a young French woman who sells
asparagus and artichokes there, says, "There's a certain energy in the
farmers' market. It connects you to your roots. There's a special joie de
vivre."

That "certain energy" is perhaps what makes markets such satisfying places
for socializing, as well as shopping. "People talk to each other in
markets," says Sebak, "and we were happy to meet and talk with so many
people who helped us capture some of the joys and surprises of these
places. As people continue to learn that 'fresh' and 'local' are important
qualities, we hope this show might inspire a visit or two to a market in
your neighborhood."

Underwriters: Public Television Viewers, PBS and Corporation for Public
Broadcasting.






  • [Livingontheland] PBS Special Visits Marketplaces Across America, TradingPostPaul, 07/31/2007

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