Disaster-versaries | August 17, 2020

Fresh & Local:

Disaster-versaries

When we anticipated 2020 - Crescent City Farmers Market’s 25th anniversary - being special, we never imagined what was in store for us and our community. But this is not our first rodeo - back in 2005, as we geared up for a celebratory 10th anniversary, Hurricane Katrina turned our world upside. And then there was the BP Oil Spill in 2010.

As proud as we are of our decades in public markets, the hundreds of food businesses and thousands of eaters our markets have connected, and the families our food access programs have supported, we are equally proud of Market Umbrella’s track record for nimbly responding to disasters. Thanks to our dedicated and engaged staff, board, volunteers, funders, vendors and shoppers, after disasters Market Umbrella has been able to limit disruption to market operations, maximize opportunities to connect vendors and shoppers, and maintain critical food access programs serving community members broadly.

Back in March, Market Umbrella made the difficult decision to close our walk up markets for safety reasons due to COVID-19. However, within six days we had partnered with Top Box Foods and began delivering boxes of fresh produce and food to the doors of up to 600 customers every week. Within three weeks, we had partnered with Parkway Bakery and Tavern to open our first no contact Drive Thru market on Sundays. We opened a second Drive Thru at Bucktown Harbor in early June. Most recently, on July 7, we reopened our flagship Uptown Tuesday Market, modified for COVID-19. And, we are working on another market opening in the fall (stay tuned for details!)

Real talk: this is hard! Our vendors--the amazing farms, fisheries and food businesses whom you count on to be at the market--are struggling. These are small businesses, many of which are family owned and operated, have limited financial savings to help them through long term business disruption, and which face a great deal of uncertainty right now. To boot, many are not eligible for federal and state financial assistance programs. For some, CCFM is their only opportunity for marketing and sales of their offerings.

Please continue to shop at the Crescent City Farmers Market and support our amazing vendors by putting fresh, local food on your plates! Let your neighbors, coworkers, and family know that we are open. Will we be planning our 50th Anniversary 25 years from now? Well, we may not want to tempt fate. But we will be here!

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.

Pivot

This week’s Good Food Word is Pivot – The official word of 2020. Officially, it means the central point, pin, or shaft on which a mechanism turns or oscillates. For Crescent City Farmers Market and thousands of small businesses, farmers, food producers, and other farmers markets, it means a total overhaul of “normal” processes. When we tried the drive thru market for the first time back in April, itself a radical departure from our normal operations, each vendor accepted orders and payment forms as they liked. With the long wait times customers experienced, and the incredible amount of time vendors had to spend receiving orders and processing payment, we knew there had to be a better way - so we introduced WhatsGood, an online farmers market platform to take orders and process payments. That first day the online order window opened, our vendors could see the orders coming in, and called us to ask us if there was something they should be doing, commenting that they had gotten days of their life back! We’re taking this opportunity to discover new and better ways to do things. To hear more about Market Umbrella’s COVID innovations, listen here for Poppy Tooker’s feature story on Louisiana Eats.

Picks of the Week:

Market Umbrella Search for New Executive Director

Market Umbrella is working with local growth consulting firm trepwise to conduct a search for a new Executive Director who will spearhead strategic priorities that incorporate programmatic and partnership-based ideas and innovations. These strategic priorities will be grounded in and responsive to the evolving needs of the Market Umbrella community, particularly regarding racial equity and the impacts of the pandemic. To read the complete job description and to apply, click here.

Soft Shell Shrimp

Keep your eyes peeled for fresh soft shell shrimp at the market! Soft shell shrimp are a delicacy here in New Orleans and are rather hard to come across. Our very own fisherwoman, Kay of Four Winds Seafood, has been spotted with these beauties at the Market. The soft shell crustaceans are harvested at the peak of their molting phase - just like soft shell blue crabs - while they are nice and soft. Fry them up, and just like you might guess, you can eat the whole thing - even the head! Grab them when you see them, they will be gone soon!

Vendor of the Week:

Honest Foods Company

Let’s “bee” honest, smaller batches mean better bread baked with quality ingredients (and lots of love). Irinia K., founder of Honest Foods Company, believes bread is the soul of every meal and it shows in her breads and scones. This masterful baker uses only unbleached, unbromated flour to create the foundation for her doughs and finds the rest of the ingredients she “kneads” sourcing from CCFM vendors. She only uses her hubby’s honey to sweeten her crusty creations and offers both vegan and plant-based options. Find Irina and Vlad, the avid apiculturists, at both our drive thrus and her loaves make a regular appearance in our home delivery box.

Recipe of the Week:

Red Beans and Rice

Eating red beans and rice on Monday is a well known Louisiana Creole tradition. It is a meal that we hold close to our hearts and a process that you cannot (or should not) speed up. These days, friend of the market Timothy Pakron AKA Mississippi Vegan reminds us to slow down and experience the food we cook and eat. Seeds take time to sprout, but the juice is worth the squeeze. These beans might be vegan, but they are surely cajun approved. Enjoy!

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!