Farmers' Markets

Case Study: Consumers Tricia and Bryn

Tricia and Bryn regularly shop at Manchester Farmers' Market and enjoy the ambience and experience.

Tricia is enthusiastic about the types and range of food at the market. She suspects the expectation is that the market will sell vegetables and fruit but the bias is actually meat, fish and cheeses. There are stalls selling bread, preserves such as chutneys and jams, apple juice made from locally grown apples and six different producers of sausages.

What Tricia really enjoys is rediscovering the taste of food, which she feels has disappeared from many supermarket products. The bacon is from 'rare animal breeds' and because there is no added water becomes crisp when cooked. Whilst the producers do not necessarily have organic status they are happy to talk about the methods used to raise the animals.

Bryn appreciates good cheese. They buy cheese direct from the producer who knows when it will be ripe and at its peak. There is smoked salmon, mackerel and haddock from the stallholder's smokehouse which Tricia enthuses "actually tastes like fish, it's gorgeous!" And apple juice comes in distinctive flavours from named varieties of apples. "You can tell the difference!"

Tricia finds another benefit of buying from the producer is that she can purchase parts of animals that are no longer available from the supermarket (tongue for instance). Although she is confident about cooking and preparing these, the stallholders will provide recipes and cooking tips if required.

Purchasing the product from a local producer and the financial exchange that takes place is very important to Tricia because she knows that she is directly supporting individual small producers. In her experience, the food isn't cheaper compared to supermarkets. What they are buying is quality, taste, a personal service and the assurance of knowing and supporting the supplier.