Good Eats on the Outside of Eastern Market (Old School)

(Under the "farmers' shed," 2009) Old-school food on the outside of Eastern Market is found under "the farmers' shed". Eastern Market was built as a public market in 1873; local farmers came from Maryland and Virginia to sell their produce, baked goods and other products, such as flowers, outside under this shed. In 2009, while most produce under the shed is sold by merchants, there are still local farmers at the Market. I remember when the "farmers' shed" was falling down and the word came down that it would be rebuilt. Many of the merchants, farmers and exhibitors wondered: would the new structure be the same would it fit in with the historical nature of the ("market Shed" by: Cherie Lester 2000, archival pigment print hand tinted image transfer)

area? When the construction was underway for the new shed, I was in Europe (France, I think), back in 2004. Many traditional markets in France are covered markets: maybe a bit larger, but much like our "farmers' shed". So, when I came back to Eastern Market in the fall, I was a bit fearful that some architect with glass and steel ideals had done in the old shed. However, when I saw it from afar, I could hardly tell the difference from the old one. Yippee! progress foiled again! For those of you like myself, who don't value the new simply because it is new, there exist wonderful images of the outside of Eastern Market. They can be seen, for instance, in the work of photographer/painter/collageist Cherie Lester. With the new shed, too, all the lights under the shed actually work, and there are electrical outlets on every other pole; when they're used, they don't blow fuses in the North Hall (okay, I admit that's a bit of a bonus.) There are also, I believe, a faucet for watering plants and washing down the bricks. Oh, yeah--the new shed also lacks the holes that graced the old shed, so that when on rainy days it provides shelter. For fifteen years, I set up on Sundays across from Jesse Dunham's produce stand. Next to me for over a decade was abstract expessionist painter Sheila Crider, who often commented on how beautiful Jesse's stand, was especially when his wife Sherri Dunham, arranged the produce. There is something captivating and evocative about fresh produce; the colors, shapes, textures and smells just draw you in. And whom else can be found under the shed? Farmers Robert"Bunk" Knopp and his wife Cindy are owners of Knopp's Farm in Severn, Maryland. They have been at Eastern Market for five years, and tomatoes are one of their specialities. (Knopp's Farm) (yellow tomatoes) Green tomatoes are wonderful fried, needing only a pinch of salt and pepper, cornmeal, eggs, a good "seasoned" cast iron skillet and some Crisco (some Philistines, like my evil best friend, say you can even cut out the eggs and Crisco, but I'm not about that craziness.) Make some hot water corn bread and you've got a meal! But then, the question arises: what wines go with fried green tomatoes and corn bread? I mean, is a pinot noir to serious, a rose too light? Perhaps one needs a Shiraz. Me, I'm for homemade lemonade in a jelly jar, a classic vintage.

Of course, for the health nuts out there,

one can always eat tomatoes.....RAW! Freaks! (green tomatoes)

Over here, farmer Cinda Sebastian is owner of Gardeners Gourmet farm in Uniontown, Maryland. Many

folks have commented on how tasty are her greens and cabbage. She has been at the market for seven years.

(Gardeners Gourmet) I know what you're thinking when you look at these pictures (me, too!): borscht! There is just nothing better than hot borscht on a cold winter day after the market, accompanied by some of that brown bread with black spots in it (okay, so I mean poppyseed bread, homemade, of course.) I have not the slightest idea how this stuff is made--I just like going over to a friend's house and eating some. But again the question--what fruit of the vine? Chardonnay, no! Ah, I have it: the only choice--borscht needs a bottle of Cote-Rotie to bring out that beety flavor. Plus, Boone's Farm ain't wine! Of course, feel free y'all to stop by the market and shop on a cold winter's day. Nor would it be inappropriate to bring frozen artists et. al. a piping hot bowl of food and, as the Irish say, "a wee dram... " We won't mind, and we wont tell. I feel healthy just looking at this photo, don't you? You know you are old when....in the background is Daniel Barker, of Dunham Farms; I have known Daniel since he was thirteen, but now he is in charge of his Dad's produce stand at the market. He ain't thirteen anymore, and I ain't twenty-five anymore (I am at twenty-five...plus.) But Jesse Dunham of Shanghai, West Virginia, has been a produce merchant at Eastern Market for thirty years. His produce stand has the best West Virginia peaches! And in the fall, his selection of apples is second to none. And we all know where to look for Christmas trees, the day after Thanksgiving. Peaches=peach cobbler with butter pecan ice or, if you're dieting ,vanilla ice cream (see? dieting isn't so bad!) One can also eat them sauteed in butter, with a touch of brown sugar, nutmeg and/or cinnamon, then let cool and (the finishing touch) add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I have also heard tell of folks who....(close the children's ears)...eat fruit "commando"...raw with the skin on!!!! (Dunham Farms) So, how do you eat your fruit? One can hear her singing out "cooked all night for your eating delight" every weekend at Eastern Market. Ma Brown is a baker. She has been at the market since, well, not since 1873, but let us say longer than thirty years. If you have not eaten her pound cakes, pecan pies or coconut cakes, you have not come to Eastern Market . She does not mince words; if asked she will tell you, "I don't spare the butter or sugar!" Ma Brown, under the "farmer's shed," is an Eastern Market institution. (Ma Brown) That was just a taste of good eats at Eastern Market (old school), but in the last three to five years we have a new school of "good eats on the outside". I just love his... a hungry witness, Sonda T. Allen Turtle's Webb