Day Trips
The Dallas Farmers Market offers up a foodie's paradise
By Gerald E. McLeod, Fri., Sept. 26, 2014
The Dallas Farmers Market is a foodie's paradise. The food rule that it is always better to have too much than not enough applies when shopping here.
Produce markets go through seasonal cycles, so the first thing I did when I arrived was walk from one end to the other of the block-long corrugated tin building with open sides. Even for a Thursday afternoon in the middle of August, the selection of colorful produce was pretty good.
I doubt that the blueberries were local, but they were tasty. The East Texas red onions were magnificent, and pure sweetness gushed from roma tomatoes picked in Jacksonville (Texas). The pears were harvested the day before. I ate okra gumbo for nearly a week after my shopping trip, but there's nothing wrong with that.
The Dallas Farmers Market is located at 1010 S. Pearl Expy. on the edge of downtown, and has supplied Dallas with fresh produce since the scattered vegetable stands were consolidated in 1941. Professional shoppers arrive in the early morning hours to supply restaurants. The public can wander the stalls in the shed from 3-6pm. The market is open daily except on major holidays.
A revitalization project is about to change the character of the market. Walls of brick townhouses already surround the last functioning shed. Close your eyes and you can still imagine when six sheds were full of produce dealers. Dallas needs to eat more vegetables, and you should help them.
1,209th in a series. Collect them all. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of "Day Trips," is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
