The romance of going to market
“I love the romance of going to a growers market when tomatoes might be in season and there might be some beautiful chicken or some fish or some beans and that kind of curates what you cook for during the week. I love that about a market – you’re not going somewhere where there’s every single fruit and veg because that’s not reality, you shouldn’t be able to get pineapples in the middle of winter – that’s not right,” says acclaimed international chef and now curator of the recently launched Maitland Growers Market, Joel Humphries.
“There’s so many farms on the doorstep of Maitland and the greater area, yet 90 per cent of the shopping gets done at supermarkets. What I really want to do is enhance the community’s ability to purchase quality produce that’s local as well as encourage and educate people about the seasons and what good food at the peak of the season tastes like and why you should be shopping with seasons as opposed to shopping with recipes,” he adds.
“It’s about local growers and real food and the reality of growing – they might not be there every week but when it’s good they’ll be there.”
Joel Humphries, Maitland Growers Market
So far – farmers, growers and producers have come on board selling everything from organic produce to artisan breads, boutique wines, meat, eggs, freshly cut flowers and of course single origin coffee. What’s also important to Joel is that it’s a day out for the whole family – so in addition to the existing playground there will also be a bouncy castle as well as horse and chariot rides.
Here’s just some of the folks you can buy from:
The Bikesmith Coffee Caravan (Maitland)
The Good Growers (Lorn)
Shane’s Seafood (Lake Macquarie)
Stella Maris Oyster Co. (Lemon Tree Passage)
Tea Gardens Kombucha (Tea Gardens)
Dust Bakery (NSW)
Transient Plants (Newcastle)
Amateur Beekeeping Association (Hunter Valley)
Femme Petale (Seaham)
The Maitland Growers Market will be held every Sunday at The Regal Inn, Tenambit from 8am – midday from 1 November, 2020.
