Things I Like - Food

One of the things I enjoyed most about living in NYC was the Green Market on Union Square. Frequented by many of New York's restaurant chefs, the market is open several days during the week and on Saturdays. During the main season (May through October), you can find just about any herb, fruit or vegetable grown at that time plus fresh farm eggs, jams & honey, flowers, plants, baked goods, a fish stall, fresh meats and artisan cheese.

Walking through the market on a Saturday morning always made me feel like I was in Europe where fresh food markets in city centers date back hundreds of years (Les Halles in Paris, Campo de Fiori in Rome). And while going to your local grocery store or Whole Foods to pick up some produce is convenient, there's something about wandering through an open air market and selecting produce that you can see was recently harvested that makes the meal you prepare with it special.

The biggest farmer's market in Chicago is the Green City Market at the south end of Lincoln Park on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Last time I was there, I was impressed with the selection but didn't much care for the layout. There didn't seem to be any overall plan to the stall locations and I spent too much time trying to find the place with the amazing selection of peppers that I had seen earlier.

This is not a problem at the green market down the street from us. We were so excited to see the sign promoting the market in our neighborhood last Spring and eagerly awaited the inaugural Sunday in June. There were 4 stalls that first day - fruit, produce, flowers and baked goods. Not much in the way of vendors but pretty good selection at the stands that were there. Throughout the summer, the original 4 were joined by another bakery and a cheese stand. The cheese guy was great - always excited for you to try something different but you could tell when he'd had a rough Saturday night.

We supported our local market every week and hope to see it grow this year - maybe a meat stand will join our little party? The lamb chops I picked up at the Green City Market in Lincoln Park last summer were very tasty...