Seasonal Best: The ritual of the Italian food market
It’s true that you can’t swing a cat in Italy without coming across a food market somewhere each day here. Watch any of the travel or cooking shows promoting Italy to overseas audiences from the likes of Stanley Tucci, Rick Stein, Nigella Lawson or the wonderful Alex Polizzi, and you’ll be sure to find them all at some stage effervescing about the draw of the weekly ritual of a market visit, with all the accompanying explosions of colour, hunger-inducing smells and inspiring array of fresh produce.
Food markets here are a much larger part of the culture than in the UK, but it’s not quite true that ‘everyone’ shops in the markets instead of supermarkets – as Alex Polizzi suggested in her own excellent TV series Italian Islands. For every town with an open-air weekly market, there are probably at least four supermarkets in the neighbourhood also, vying for the local’s custom. Italy has a lot of supermarkets; to a foreigner, what seems like a crazy number, actually. And they’re popular, usually inexpensive and often packed with excellent fresh produce. However, the number and frequency of open-air food markets alone speaks to their continuing popularity, especially amongst the older generation who learned long ago that these are the places to get seasonal bargains and, sometimes, items or quality you won’t find in the average Lidl, Spar or Mercato.
In and around Rocchetta Palafea, for example, there is a Monday weekly market in nearby Calamandrana with another ‘farmers market’ on Saturdays, a Friday one in Nizza Monferrato combining with the larger general market on the main square, and my personal favourite of the Tuesday market in Canelli. With all the markets, as well as the wonderful fruit and veg from the larger sellers, you’ll also find smaller home producers, usually tucked towards the back somewhere, selling whatever they happen to have – always seasonal and usually disproportionately inexpensive compared to their quality. Courgettes, courgette flowers, leeks, potatoes (the latter not always good in supermarkets), apples, wild mushrooms, green beans, sweet red onions are all produce I’ve found for exceptionally reasonable prices. Alongside this you’ll usually find a selection of delicatessen (ham, cheese etc.), a fish stall, and a truck with roast chicken and meats. Somehow the experience of bringing home these freshest of vegetables and mushrooms and cooking something led by what you’ve bought, rather than a recipe, really brings out the magic of local produce and the punch of seasonality. Every time I go to the market I am reminded of how lucky I am to be here in Piedmont, enjoying what it has to offer.
The stall holders are very good sales people so it’s good to have decided exactly what you want before starting to make your order. Otherwise, it is more than possible you’ll come away with all kinds of things you didn’t know you wanted! Not to say you won’t find me being persuaded to sample a slice of veal or local cheese from my favoured deli counter, as they know they’ll persuade me to buy some to take home. But then ‘posso provare?’ (can I try?) is one of the great pleasures of these markets, so it would be madness not to try things you might be unfamiliar with, or to check what you are buying is the quality you want. You just have to demonstrate enough knowledge and confidence not to be picked out as ‘stranieri’. This is especially true of us Brits, as they know we’re too polite to turn down a sample and to then not buy something!
It’s worth noting that you should be prepared to throw a few elbows. I’m now almost accustomed to being jostled by a throng of middle-aged women on a mission to get the best items for their family, whilst their respective boyfriends or husbands watch from the safe distance of a nearby café or bocce court, waiting for the signal to come and carry the week’s haul back to the car.