Brown Sugar.: Eveleigh Markets

Sydney has seen an influx of farmers markets over the last 10 years which I just assumed was a good thing. People were becoming more interested in where their food came from, who grew or raised it ect. But after speaking to one of the main organisers of the Sydney Slow Food chapter i learnt that 99% of these markets aren't genuine. It's not the growers you're buying off, but retailers who've just rented the stall space. If it is a legitimate growers market then what is sold should all be produced by the seller. So you shouldn't be seeing mangoes, or pineapple or hand bananas at a Sydney farmers market. You should only be able to buy what is in season in your area. He considered Eveleigh Markets, the one i go to, as the best on offer. Eveleigh is really strict on who they allow to become a stall holder, you must be a primary producer. It does have a lot of non farmer oriented stalls, like cupcakes and bagels, but the first half of the market is pretty much all farmer produced goods, veggies, eggs, meat. It is probably one of my favourite places to go in Sydney. When i'm in a bad mood the markets make me happy. The stall holders are all so friendly and chatty and love telling you about their produce. I almost made one man cry once when i told him that the pumpkin i had bought from him the previous week was the best i'd ever tasted. The whole thing is sickeningly middle class but I don't care. It is an undercover market housed in the old rail yards near Redfern station. It's the perfect location, the high ceilings and old rail yard machinery create a great atmosphere. I brought my mum down this weekend, to take some photos. They even did a fashion shoot there once, for the Sydney Magazine, great idea but the shoot was crap.