straw tote

My straw market basket inspires me to pursue adventures of a culinary nature. Large straw baskets are commonly found in the hands of market shoppers all over France. Aside from being stylish, they make a statement about the way the French shop for their food; les Français value fresh, quality ingredients and eating together in an unhurried fashion. My food goals exactly!

I used to go to the farmers’ market every Saturday morning. I enjoyed surveying all of the options around the perimeter. The Amish selling meat, eggs, and milk. The self-made cheesemongers. The produce. Everything at the market was deliciously fresh, but the prices were significantly higher than those at Trader Joe’s (my most-frequented grocery store). It wouldn’t have been economical of me to buy everything on my grocery list from local vendors, so I limited my market haul to a few items each week.

When I lived in London, I’d buy produce from the market on Church Street. In central London, I found the prices to be lower at the market than they were in the grocery stores. I’d buy everything else from Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, or Tesco, but the market was consistently my one-stop-shop for all produce. Rarely did I spend over £7 on fruit and vegetables for the week.

My husband and I buy most of our groceries from Trader Joe’s, but I intend to start visiting the farmers’ market again for the experience. Ultimately, the outing is an opportunity to take a stroll in a pleasant outdoor environment, something that has been difficult to come by in Philadelphia as of late. Of course, I’ll be pretending to be in Paris the whole time anyway. You’ll recall that savoring the last days of summer is pretty high up on my list of priorities. Not only is the straw basket a farmers’ market staple, it is also roomy enough to hold picnic essentials. Think of throwing down your blanket in the Parc du Champ-de-Mars! I’ll be dinning en plein air at least once a week until the autumn chill sets in.

Works Sighted: LARLiving large French market basket