This week at Smart Markets Oakton Farmers' Market

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I have enjoyed every minute I have spent with you lately, even through the slight disruptions caused by the recent activities at the church, none of which was very disruptive at all. We even saw some new shoppers last week and hope we see them again. This week I will at our Springfield market showing our newest market manager the ropes, but Sheleta will be on site to take care of you and the vendors.

We will have Whim Pops with us this week; they are continuing to rotate between our Oakton and Springfield markets until Maria gets back from her six-week job assignment in Mexico.

Olio2Go will be with us for the last time this summer; the college girls will all return to school over the next few weeks. So stock up this week, or you can order online or stop by their storefront in Merrifield. One of our most loyal longtime shoppers told me last week that the really good bottle of olive oil she bought at the market made such an amazing difference in her pesto that there is no going back now. I feel the same way and will never begrudge the extra money spent on good olive oil or vinegar. I keep several varieties around for different uses.

Stop by and sample the peanut butter–Nutella flavor at Plush Gelato this week. You won’t stop with a sample. And check with Arka about the availability of your favorite coffee while he is in India for several weeks. He will roast some varieties and leave them behind for you with one or more of our vendors.

Remember that Joe will take time at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to speak about planning your winter garden, but you can always ask him anything about gardening, and he will be happy to share his vast knowledge and personal gardening experience with you.

Chef Lauren may very well have a new burger in production—you know it’s going to be good! For your sake, I hope Doug at Angelic Beef has cuts from the same steer that provided the rib eye I had last week. It may have been the best ever, but then, I have been hooked since the first taste of Doug’s beef five years ago.

Nevin mentioned last week that he will offer a special all this month. If you buy three packages of sausage of any kind, you will get a free ham steak. You will also find three recipes for grilling ham steaks at the Heritage Farm tent. They all involve a sauce that you brush on during grilling, but each has its own personality.

The market is full of tomatoes now, including regular Beefsteak and Big Boy hybrids, plum tomatoes, and a variety of heirlooms. If you are looking to can, ask about the seconds that the farmers sort out throughout the market. If you want to make a big batch of sauce for canning or freezing, mix in some of the heirlooms and plum tomatoes; in my opinion, the best homemade tomato sauce has at least some of those rich and meaty heirlooms thrown in. And check out those prices! You would not believe what farmers at D.C. markets are charging for heirlooms. You’ve got it made.

Have fun without me—see you at the market soon!

From the Market Master

The June issue of Smithsonian magazine featured a number of good articles about food and our appreciation of it. One article in particular reviewed the recent scientific study of how cooked food has helped the human brain develop and how it can aid our good health and good sense today.

Our bodies get much more out of the calories in cooked food than in raw food. A raw-food diet, which of course is also going to be a vegan diet, will contribute to weight loss but will also contribute to the loss of essential nutrients that our body needs to remain healthy over a long life. (Raw fruit is healthy, however, because it evolved to feed animals.) There seems to be a correlation between the discovery of fire, its use to cook food, the subsequent transition to meat-eating, and the growth of the brain as humans evolved. As Adler concludes, “The great apes spent four to seven hours a day just chewing, not an activity that prioritizes the intellect.”

There was also an interesting article about how we develop likes and dislikes for foods. And there’s a discussion between Ruth Reichl and Michael Pollan. Reichl recalled her decision as the last editor of Gourmet magazine to run a story about tomato farming in Florida. It caused tremendous angst among editorial staffers but also led to changes in Florida law that had permitted virtual slavery in the tomato fields.

We need to see more of that kind of journalism, and more of Pollan and others, online and disseminated via social media. How else will our young people catch on to the “food revolution?” Jamie Oliver makes good use of technology, but we are going to need more apostles and more of them using social media. One great article will not make a ripple without more stones being thrown into the water by lots of us standing on shore.

Photo by Sarah Sertic