food life story

Finished listening to that interview I had started a few days ago, where MA discusses more about adult cooking life, with continued references to childhood and mother’s cooking choices. A topic that I’ve shied away from a bit is how economic ‘class’ impacts one’s FLS. A southerner by birth, MA recalls going to a farmers market in a small town outside of the city where she lived. At that time (1960’s) in that area, many people thought it was better, more civilized, to shop in a grocery store and had the opinion that choosing to go to a farmers market implied that one was less educated. Although prices were lower and quality was higher. Thinking of today, when farmers still struggle to make a living, but the general consensus is that buying fresh produce/products at a local farmers market is a somewhat rarified, elitist thing to do. Except for a place like Boston’s Haymarket (slowly dissolving after many, many years) where the crates of produce may come from farms, but are certainly not local.