Thursday 24 September 2015

The Colour Collaborative: September: Market


I'm very happy with this month's Colour Collaborative theme. At first, I started thinking about seasonality and locally-grown food. About this - autumn - being the most sensuous of months, and how markets are all about tastes, aromas, sounds, colours, textures: how things catch our eye and we have to reach out and touch, smell, feel.


But then I realised something else: that if you want to really experience the essence of a place, to discover what people eat and how they interact, to learn about the landscape and climate and culture... Go to the market.


I remember  - back in those distant footloose and fancy-free days - staying in Paris, not far from the Champs Elysees. I arrived at night time and went for dinner then to bed. The following morning I opened the curtains and to my delight there was a market in the street below: beautifully-arranged fruits and nuts and vegetables, breads and cheeses. I'd never before seen the humble market elevated to a spectacle of such beauty.


Since then I've been lucky enough to visit flower markets in Amsterdam, Quincy Market in Boston, the Ramblas in Barcelona, the Cloth Hall in Krakow... all places filled with vibrant, kaleidoscopic colour and unusual regional wares. 


But to return home again (sigh). I grew up visiting the market each week with my mum. Often my grandma was in tow too, clattering people around the ankles with her tartan trolley. I remember the plant stalls bright with potted chrysanthemums and cyclamen, the bolts of  patterned cloth, the steam-enveloped black pudding stall. You'd eat the bursting puddings with yellow mustard squirted into their crumbly, fat-studded insides.


The traditional British market is an institution in its own right. Those old halls with fancy steelwork and glass roofs, home to greasy spoon cafes and hardware stalls. The red-and-white striped bag from the butcher. The kitschy-coloured iced buns.

These days we occasionally visit the local farmer's market. There are more exotic (and expensive) things to be had than at the weekly Saturday morning affair: vivid Romanesco cauliflowers, purple carrots, cheeses encased in rainbow-hued wax.


Most of it is locally-produced and seasonal.


Some of it isn't. But that doesn't mean it should be resisted. I do love the scented, delicately-coloured Turkish delight sitting in trays of powdered sugar.


Our weekly market is very small. But the fruit and vegetable stall is big and we seldom need to go elsewhere for our healthy stuff. Aside from the usual staples I love to go and discover what the season has to offer. The fact that these things are only around and at their best for a short time makes me anticipate their arrival all the more.


Right now, we have jewel-filled pomegranates, rich purple figs (each nestled in its own orange paper case), blue-black damsons, violet-smudged baby turnips, rosy Cox apples, bright satsumas, inky blackberries, speckled golden plums...


The things we buy at the market seem to keep us in touch with the earth and the seasons. That's something we crave in these busy days where it's easy to feel ever-more removed from slow, simple living. I principally stick to my shopping list then see where my eye takes me; more often than not it's to the bright stuff. Maybe that's a subliminal thing. My body telling me to 'eat the rainbow' as we're often advised to do. Or maybe it's just my magpie instinct.


But there are few things better than coming home laden with produce and cooking a big pan of soup whilst arranging these seasonal delights in bowls around the kitchen.


Don't forget to visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts, just click on the links below.


What is The Colour Collaborative?

All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways.

18 comments:

  1. This is my first visit to your blog and I so enjoyed this lovely post. Thanks for the beautiful photos and thoughtful narrative on the theme of color as related to September: Market. I have visited a few Farmer's Markets on the West Coast of the USA and have found them colorful with various foods and flowers and often times crafts as well. I am putting your blog on my blog roll so that I can hopefully visit you again and get to know you better as well, Sarah :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello! Thank you for your lovely comment and thank you for adding me to your blog roll. I'll pay you a visit. I'm glad you like the blog and the post, and it's always nice to meet new people :)

      Delete
    2. When I started to click to become one of the followers of your blog my icon was already there, so I am chagrined to realize I have visited your blog before...
      Now that I have put your blog on my blogroll I hope to visit more regularly! :) xx

      Delete
  2. It's a wonderful time of year at the market isn't it, so much choice. I love your photos, there are some wonderful veggies there, especially that romanesco cauliflower and the fantastic purple carrots. Love the mouse on the cheese as well! CJ xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful photos! What a lovely sounding market. I wish our local market was more vibrant. It is a bit of a sad affair! The French do seem to do markets much better than we generally do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! Our local one is very small but I still go every Saturday without fail. It's not as romantic as a French market though. The tarpaulin's usually sagging with rainwater and the man who sells fish always has a plastic bag tied around his foot for some reason...

      Delete
  4. What a lovely, lovely post. Photos and words so delightful that I want to rush out to a market immediately. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you too! I'm glad you enjoyed it - and I hope you find a good market!

      Delete
  5. What amazing veggies, they never fail to delight me. Your onion and carrot pics are especially gorgeous. I hope all is going well on the home front. Elaine

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh yes, your market experiences are much more inspirational than mine! These all look wonderful :)

    S x

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love your photos, Sarah. They have a moody quality that really brings the season to life for me. I'm envious that you've been to so many markets; the only one on your list I've been to is Quincy Market in Boston, and that was in November so there wasn't much produce left to sell by then. Lots of Christmas decorations, though, I remember that. I'd like to visit more markets in other cities too, but one thing I already do is go to regular grocery stores wherever I travel. I really love to see what people eat, as well as the everyday household items they buy. It's a never-ending source of fascination for me!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Old school weekly markets rule. I'm always astounded by the quality and variety of fruit and veg on offer, and the value for money. Aren't the Romanesco cauliflowers just amazing? I love their shape so much.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My mouth is watering. A plate of quality veggies with maybe a dusting of grated cheese would do as dinner everyday for me!

    Lovely post Sarah

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love your up close photographs of produce - they look so artistic!

    Stop by!
    https://itaverony.wordpress.com/
    https://www.etsy.com/shop/itaveroknits

    ReplyDelete
  11. oh that cheese mouse is the perfect finishing touch!
    I love finding a decent local produce stall, we found one last week that had beetroots just dug up from the owners garden. so fresh and delicious x

    ReplyDelete
  12. I wish we had decent markets where I live.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ours is very small, and the man who sells meat and fish is best avoided - I got food poisoning in the early stages of pregnancy thanks to his salmon. Never been back!

      Delete
  13. What fabulous market photos. The vegetables look amazing.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...