Farmers Markets are Essential | July 20, 2020

Fresh & Local:

Farmers Markets are Essential

Mark your calendars - National Farmers Market Week is August 2-8!

In the face of challenges never before experienced, the local and national farmers market community has modeled remarkable resilience and innovation in a rapidly changing world. Farmers markets, like the Crescent City Farmers Market, as essential purveyors of fresh and local produce and value added products, have nimbly adapted to local and federal regulations and safety guidelines to protect vendors, customers and staff. These actions have ensured that safe access to fresh food can be maintained, which is critical to good health and wellbeing.

Essential - When grocery stores ran out of fresh produce, bread and meat, your local farmers markets continued to bring them to the table.

Safe - Shopping out of doors is the best place you can be right now! Fresh air, sunlight and plenty of social distance keep our entire market community safe. Drive Thru markets offer an additional level of protection.

Market Umbrella and the Crescent City Farmers Market are pleased to celebrate National Farmers Market Week alongside our peer farmers markets around the country. Whether or not you are in New Orleans this week, please celebrate by visiting or purchasing from vendors at your local farmers market. Here is where you can find information on this year’s National Farmers Market Week virtual celebrations and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for additional updates.

Good Food Word of the Week:

In addition to running farmers markets, a critical component of Market Umbrella’s work is to enhance food and nutrition access and awareness in our community. The Good Food Word of the Week seeks to shed some light on this part of our work and also to demystify the jargon.

WIC

This week’s Good Food Word is WIC – which stands for Women, Infants and Children, is a special supplemental nutrition program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service that serves pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and children up to the age of five by providing vouchers to purchase healthy foods, nutrition education, and healthcare referrals. Over 100,000 women and children benefit from the WIC program in Louisiana where vouchers can be used to purchase groceries in a grocery store. Market Umbrella has collaborated with Louisiana’s Department of Child and Family Services to link WIC with farmers markets statewide. Now families can use incentives, like the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program voucher, not only to stretch their food dollars, but also to access fresh food and produce at the Crescent City Farmers Market and other markets around the state. Another innovation is the Market Mommas Club where eligible mothers and mothers-to-be can receive up to $80 in market tokens for up to six months. Enroll here.

Picks of the Week:

Modified Walk Up Market

With new precautions like mandatory masking, limited crowd size, and plenty of room for social distancing, our Modified Walk Up Market at Uptown offers one of the safest ways to make your groceries. Running weekly from 8am to noon, you’ll find fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, seafood, bread and baked goods, preserves, local honey and more. You can always check vendor lineups for upcoming markets here. Some, but not all vendors accept contactless payment options, such as Venmo or Paypal or use our online ordering platform WhatsGood where customers can order and pay in advance. For now, please leave pets at home, limit your group size and plan to shop briskly. If you do not see your favorite vendor, ask a Market Umbrella staff member when they might return. Please consider that there are many reasons, ranging from seasonality of produce to COVID-related logistical and family challenges, why vendors are not at each market. Thanks for your patience and flexibility as we work to offer sustainable new additions to the CCFM lineup!

More Ways to Shop with CCFM

Just a reminder that the Modified Tuesday Market is in addition to these other options:

Home Delivery - Order and pay online and Top Box will bring it to your door. Starting this week and through the summer, we’ll be offering one $30 box.

Drive Thru Markets - Pre-order, prepay and come pick up without leaving your car. Sundays at Parkway and Wednesdays at the Bucktown Harbor.

Soft Shell Crab

Soft shell crab season is an undeniably special time of year. Though delicious frozen, there is nothing like the taste of them when they’re fresh. These crabs are harvested when they’ve molted their hard outer shell, and have about a 3 hour window to be caught before their shell hardens again. They’re so plump and tender that you can eat them whole - shell and all - best cooked fried or sautéed in butter. Check out the recipe below for more ideas on how to eat ‘em!

Vendor of the Week:

Des Allemands Outlaw Katfish

Catfish and gator lovers rejoice! Your favorite outlaw, Mrs. Jeannie is now at the Modified Tuesday Uptown market! If you’re angling for crab meat, Des Allemands wild caught catfish, or alligator meat they’ve got your hook-up. You don’t have to troll these waters to reel in these delights of the deep, just toss your “clams” in Mrs. Jeannie’s net payment system and get dividends!

Recipe of the Week:

Soft-Shelled Crabs Meuniére

If you’ve never had a soft shell crab before, you might be surprised to find that you can eat the whole thing— shell and all. One bite and you’ll find that the meat is tender, juicy, and delightfully crab-y. Though eating them deep-fried in a sandwich is arguably the most classic method, there are other great ways to prepare them. This recipe calls for lightly dredging the crabs, sautéing them, and making a quick sauce out of the pan drippings. Simple and delicious!

What’s your favorite dish to make after visiting the Crescent City Farmers Market? Share your recipes with us on Instagram or Facebook or even Twitter and it might be featured in our weekly newsletter!