This Week at Smart Markets Reston Farmers' Market

12001 Sunrise Valley Dr. Map

Uncle Fred’s BBQ is back this week! Spread the word and pass the BBQ sauce; we are happy to have him back where he belongs. Come early as he will be building slowly to the amounts he brought in the past. He hit the ground running at our Lorton market last week and still sold out an hour before the end of the market.

You can preorder by calling him at (540) 313-2222, or you can ask him to hold something back for you if you know you will be arriving later in the market. Here is an updated menu and price list.

We realize that we are heading into the dog days of summer (didn’t we have those already?) when many of you will be heading out on vacation. Don’t think you can just sneak out—we know so many of you by now that we do miss you when you are gone.

But if you are hosting family and friends who like to come to the D.C. area, we are here for you with a bountiful market. Always remember to check our Facebook page—the vendors do not usually send me their specials or menus until after this update has been written, so we get that info on the Facebook page as soon as it comes in.

Nevin Hostetter, who manages the Heritage Farm co-op, will offer a clearance sale on sausage all month to make way (and room) for the next couple of processed pigs and lambs. If you buy three packages of pork or lamb sausage, you will receive a ham steak free. We will provide recipes for grilling those steaks. They work well for a big breakfast in lieu of sausage or bacon, or you can carve the steak into cubes and saute with summer veggies such as peppers, onions, and corn for a quick dinner.

Have you seen the Salsa in a Box at Fossil Rock? We are permitting them to sell one item that they do not grow for your convenience. Everything you need to make salsa at home is in the box, even the lime. I made quesadillas for lunch yesterday, and in the 15 minutes that it took the quesadillas to brown in the oven, I had made the salsa to serve with them. You can do that, too!

Max will be picking new peach varieties this month. and he will be picking apples before the end of August. Just in time for the start of school. I am also working on simple sandwich and salad ideas for lunch boxes. And the melons at Ignacio’s just keep getting better.

See you at the market!

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