Been meaning to post these photos for ages but I'm only getting around to it now. A good few weeks back myself and the fella headed into the centre of Dublin's Fair City on one of those rare lovely bright Saturday mornings when you've had a good rest...
The Temple Bar Food Market was in full swing, serving up it's delicious array of fresh foodie goods. Here's some of what we found:
They say ignorance is bliss, and it's probably true as now that's I'm a bit more food-origin-conscious I realized it's a "food market" and not a "farmer's market". The difference? I think it's down to the fact that the proprietors are more "distributors" than actual farmers, at least that's the feeling I got when compared to my precious
Santa Barbara Farmer's Market.
I hate being a negative nelly, but while all the lovely organic fare got me drooling, I did find myself a little disappointed with the amount of imported produce. A lot was flown over from Holland, France & Spain - but unfortunately there's not a whole lot you can do about that when living in the dark wet Irish environment. I've obviously been very spoiled growing up in California where the local climate is incredibly accommodating to most produce, and the farmers markets are made up of... farmers. But hey, it
is organic, and I would gladly go out of my way to support a local farmer/distributor than Tesco any day.
I tried my darndest to choose only local stuff, but boy was it tough. Here's what I cam home with: Irish tomatos, leeks, garlic, spinach, zucchini (courgettes to you Irish), an artichoke & apples. The non-Irish stuff came in the form of blueberries from Holland, peaches & plums from France. I think I did fairly well considering.
My biggest challenge was to next use ALL the fresh fruit & veg before it spoiled. A tough job for busy busy folks like the fella & me. The results coming soon.
Hey American friends, looking for a genuine "Irish Pub" experience? Looks like a few Dubliners have brought Ireland stateside without a hint of diddly-eye-doucheyness that's usually found in the American version of an Irish pub.
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