I spotted this on a blog that I like to gaze longingly at while I'm in work, and thought I should share it with you all. The more people that know about it, the better it'll work! The idea is for people to input places they know about where you can buy food which you know to be local, or even direct from the producer.


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Great map and resource. How many have you been at ?

To my shame I couldn't say that many but look at them all around Kerry - now I could spend a while just browsing around the ones if they are like the ones I've seen in Ennis and in Temple Bar in Dublin.

Also I believe that in Midleton, Cork of a Saturday, Darina Allen is to be regularly spotted flogging her wares. There's also a very good food market in Castelmartyr near Midleton and Allen's produce turns up there too. She's been a great ambassador for farmers markets, her.

Darina is terrific - and she and her mother-in-law Myrtle are both very involved in the slow food movement.

You will often see Darina at Middleton but it's a hub for all kinds of artisan foodmakers - a great place to potter and get really good food - like nitrate free bacon and ham (these things matter).

Most decent towns have some attempt at a farmers' market but the problem is that cottage chefs have to invest in state of the art kitchen facilities to flog a few pots of jam. It's regulated very tightly. I've friends who work at it full time - baking and their kitchen cost a fortune but they had to have it.

My mother goes to a veg grower at the side of the road just inside the Offaly border and stocks up on a Saturday for all of her daughters with whatever is fresh and locally grown.

Naas used to have a good market near the Storehouse - anyone know if it's still there? There was a company from Carlow who used to sell wonderful organic chicken.

Kate P wrote:

Darina is terrific - and she and her mother-in-law Myrtle are both very involved in the slow food movement.

You will often see Darina at Middleton but it's a hub for all kinds of artisan foodmakers - a great place to potter and get really good food - like nitrate free bacon and ham (these things matter).

Most decent towns have some attempt at a farmers' market but the problem is that cottage chefs have to invest in state of the art kitchen facilities to flog a few pots of jam. It's regulated very tightly. I've friends who work at it full time - baking and their kitchen cost a fortune but they had to have it.

My mother goes to a veg grower at the side of the road just inside the Offaly border and stocks up on a Saturday for all of her daughters with whatever is fresh and locally grown.

Naas used to have a good market near the Storehouse - anyone know if it's still there? There was a company from Carlow who used to sell wonderful organic chicken.

Hi Kate P - that site is brilliant isnt it. There was some discussion last night about an on line First Month celebration party on the site next Sunday night - you could ask Audi is he still up for it in the cold light of day. If you are interested, would it be sexual stereotyping to ask you and The Bear if you would lay on some kind of visual spread / buffet which we can contemplate between posts? It just that you seem to have an excellent handle on all things edible. Audi said he would clean up the place. Perhaps a couple of balloons?

I am trying to find out if we could have music that we can all listen to while posting - not sure yet if technically feasible.

cactus flower wrote:

Kate P wrote:

Darina is terrific - and she and her mother-in-law Myrtle are both very involved in the slow food movement.

You will often see Darina at Middleton but it's a hub for all kinds of artisan foodmakers - a great place to potter and get really good food - like nitrate free bacon and ham (these things matter).

Most decent towns have some attempt at a farmers' market but the problem is that cottage chefs have to invest in state of the art kitchen facilities to flog a few pots of jam. It's regulated very tightly. I've friends who work at it full time - baking and their kitchen cost a fortune but they had to have it.

My mother goes to a veg grower at the side of the road just inside the Offaly border and stocks up on a Saturday for all of her daughters with whatever is fresh and locally grown.

Naas used to have a good market near the Storehouse - anyone know if it's still there? There was a company from Carlow who used to sell wonderful organic chicken.

Hi Kate P - that site is brilliant isnt it. There was some discussion last night about an on line First Month celebration party on the site next Sunday night - you could ask Audi is he still up for it in the cold light of day. If you are interested, would it be sexual stereotyping to ask you and The Bear if you would lay on some kind of visual spread / buffet which we can contemplate between posts? It just that you seem to have an excellent handle on all things edible. Audi said he would clean up the place. Perhaps a couple of balloons?

I am trying to find out if we could have music that we can all listen to while posting - not sure yet if technically feasible.

What type of party is it going to be: or ?

TheBear wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

Kate P wrote:

Darina is terrific - and she and her mother-in-law Myrtle are both very involved in the slow food movement.

You will often see Darina at Middleton but it's a hub for all kinds of artisan foodmakers - a great place to potter and get really good food - like nitrate free bacon and ham (these things matter).

Most decent towns have some attempt at a farmers' market but the problem is that cottage chefs have to invest in state of the art kitchen facilities to flog a few pots of jam. It's regulated very tightly. I've friends who work at it full time - baking and their kitchen cost a fortune but they had to have it.

My mother goes to a veg grower at the side of the road just inside the Offaly border and stocks up on a Saturday for all of her daughters with whatever is fresh and locally grown.

Naas used to have a good market near the Storehouse - anyone know if it's still there? There was a company from Carlow who used to sell wonderful organic chicken.

Hi Kate P - that site is brilliant isnt it. There was some discussion last night about an on line First Month celebration party on the site next Sunday night - you could ask Audi is he still up for it in the cold light of day. If you are interested, would it be sexual stereotyping to ask you and The Bear if you would lay on some kind of visual spread / buffet which we can contemplate between posts? It just that you seem to have an excellent handle on all things edible. Audi said he would clean up the place. Perhaps a couple of balloons?

I am trying to find out if we could have music that we can all listen to while posting - not sure yet if technically feasible.

What type of party is it going to be: or ?

On line, so if we want real food and drink we will have to bring our own. Ask a few friends over, open up a few party places for chatting (kitchen? bed covered with coats? smokers corner outside, queue for the loo - you know the sort of thing). Hopefully some party sounds ( if technically feasible), party games? maybe not party games, unless Riadach wants to set something up.

Suppose mods will have to stay sober

TheBear posted this lovely thread here and deserves a lot more attention as the Christmas markets kick off soon selling all lovely stuff like pies, cake, carrots, carrot cake, carrot pie, and other stuff. mmm.

Will any of you be near any of the markets above over the Christmas with your jammy phone in your handbag ? Would you not all take one photo at least of the lovely little markets selling all kinds of lovely lovely stuff (except grog and chestnuts) and we'll stick them here on this wonderful, forgotten but potentially brilliant and excellent Christmas market thread.

Also

I've written to Santa to bring TheBear back but don't know if he is supposed to kidnap blue women.

Was at a market today, and have just finished bagging up and freezing 12 salmon steaks and six tuna steaks and an atlantic char. Then I froze 20 stuffed apples. No photos, sorry.
Also got some sheeps cheese and some goats cheese. This will last well into the New Year. I was only able to do this because of the home grown stull and eggs from the chickens.
We are thinking about rabbits for added protein.

TheBear is missed. Anyone hear from her?

Had an Atlantic Char ( well, one half of one) for tea - the first time I've ever seen or eaten one. Amazingly good: a kind of pale gold and very shiny, with fine bones like a kipper and a beautiful delicate taste. The cat is having the last little scraps.

cactus flower wrote:

Had an Atlantic Char ( well, one half of one) for tea - the first time I've ever seen or eaten one. Amazingly good: a kind of pale gold and very shiny, with fine bones like a kipper and a beautiful delicate taste. The cat is having the last little scraps.

Hope that Char you bought was farmed, or if wild was frozen , or that least was from Norway - where they have a sustainable fishery - Wild Salmon, wild brown trout and Artic char (not Atlantic char - there is no such thing - we have Artic char here in a few isolated lakes - remnants of the ice age ) are strictly out of season at the moment - its breeding season - and IMO anybody catching,processing,selling,buying and eating such fish should be taken out and shot without a blindfold and as slowly as possible!! - yeesh how are we meant to sustain such creatures eh???? - I mean the Poles are fecking well bad enough - had two of them arrested and charged earlier this week when I caught them salmon fishing on the barrow and keeping the catch - for fucks sake - the Salmon season finished on the 15 September and will open again on the 20th of March - and even then its strictly catch and release only!

I know that the markets are all trendy at the moment - but some of these traders are taking the piss - and in regard to fish - people should ask for full traceability when it comes to where they come from - then again I cant say I blame the consumer either - the Irish Fishing Industry has a death wish which it will fulfill within 20 years - ya might as well enjoy it while you can - your grandkids will be asking what a char actually was.

Fish that are in season - plaice,sole,cod,halibut,ling,pike,perch,zander,bream and rudd - enjoy!!

I fully expected someone to post that it was an illegal fish. I have known my fishmonger well for years, and this week he has both salmon and char from Norway (farmed). What is happening to the fisheries is a disaster. It would well deserve a thread of its own.

Char is good to farm because it is a lake fish, and is farmed in isolated tanks so that there aren't the contamination issues that come up with other fish farming. Fish farming is generally not the answer, because it uses so much fish protein, but
the Char farms are mixing fish feed with grain and apparently these lads are prepared to go a little vegetarian.

One thing that has really worked is the ban on drift net fishing. There's a salmon and trout river at the bottom of my garden but I stopped fishing it more than five years ago as the numbers of salmon were falling away to nothing - it was very depressing to see it happening. Since the ban there are big fish back and I'll be out there again next Spring.

I have a prejudice against coarse fish, and there is huge damage being done to Irish river fisheries by bastards (sometimes bringing them in to Ireland in tanks in their SUVs) who put the wrong species in for their own mindless sport.

The biggest fish I saw caught this year was a brown trout caught by a cormorant. He came up from under the water a few yards from the bank with the fish sideways-on in his beak - I'd say the trout weighed twice as much as the bird. He gave it a few shakes, flipped it end-on into his gullet and somehow or other got it down, completely changing shape in the process. He managed to take off flying low and heavy laden a bit like a sea plane, and disappeared for a few hours serious digestion.

This is a great thread Cactus - very much appreciated. How I envy all of you who have access to a good market, though

We've been trying to get a market off the ground here in Clonakilty but the town council have voted to stop it. The ultimate reason given was that it would prevent elderly people from having much needed homes on the proposed site for the market. This is complete nonsense but when you understand that the town council is influenced by members who believe (wrongly) that their own shop businesses will be adversely affected the decision begins to make more sense. Meanwhile the vast majority of us locals who would love to see this initiative take off are immensely frustrated. In fact Darina Allen came here to support the one-day market stall protest that was held to try to persuade the town council to let it go ahead.

http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2008/08/09/story69419.asp

http://foodculturewestcork.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/whats-going-on-with-clonakilty-market/

Aragon wrote:

This is a great thread Cactus - very much appreciated. How I envy all of you who have access to a good market, though

We've been trying to get a market off the ground here in Clonakilty but the town council have voted to stop it. The ultimate reason given was that it would prevent elderly people from having much needed homes on the proposed site for the market. This is complete nonsense but when you understand that the town council is influenced by members who believe (wrongly) that their own shop businesses will be adversely affected the decision begins to make more sense. Meanwhile the vast majority of us locals who would love to see this initiative take off are immensely frustrated. In fact Darina Allen came here to support the one-day market stall protest that was held to try to persuade the town council to let it go ahead.

http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2008/08/09/story69419.asp

http://foodculturewestcork.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/whats-going-on-with-clonakilty-market/

Keep trying Aragon - any old location will do. It took our local market ages to get agreement from the Council. They started up in an area away from food shops, but were eventually moved right next to a veg. shop - no complaints as it actually brings more business to them. Perhaps if you were able to get some of the local traders to talk to traders who are in towns that already have markets, they might be convinced?
In Macroom the Council was fairly hostile to the local market until one of the lady stallholders got herself elected and became Mayor

Aragon wrote:

This is a great thread Cactus - very much appreciated. How I envy all of you who have access to a good market, though

'Tis indeed a great thread. I'm trying to remind myself to get out this week and see a few of the markets before Christmas. There's just under two weeks left and there should be a nice atmosphere for Christmas.

I must remember to take photos.

Of all towns, I assumed that Clon would have a vibrant farmers' market. Sorry to hear you're lacking, Aragon. Stick with it. A few farmers gather in a yard not far from me, selling great veg, meat and a few other bits. Even though it's in the middle of nowhere, people stop on their way to somewhere else.

Fight the power.

Kate P wrote:

Of all towns, I assumed that Clon would have a vibrant farmers' market. Sorry to hear you're lacking, Aragon. Stick with it. A few farmers gather in a yard not far from me, selling great veg, meat and a few other bits. Even though it's in the middle of nowhere, people stop on their way to somewhere else.

Fight the power.

Thanks Kate - there is a crumb of market comfort for Christmas because a local garden centre near Bandon are holding a farmers market there on Sunday next so we'll be hotfooting over to that. Scroll down at link for info:

http://www.hosfordsgardencentre.ie/events.html

The clon market people are regrouping at the moment - so we ain't given up yet.

I was chatting to a girl from Bandon on Saturday night, nice lass. I stumped her by guessing that she was from Bandon... told her it was from her accent... total fluke.

Aragon wrote:

Kate P wrote:

Of all towns, I assumed that Clon would have a vibrant farmers' market. Sorry to hear you're lacking, Aragon. Stick with it. A few farmers gather in a yard not far from me, selling great veg, meat and a few other bits. Even though it's in the middle of nowhere, people stop on their way to somewhere else.

Fight the power.

Thanks Kate - there is a crumb of market comfort for Christmas because a local garden centre near Bandon are holding a farmers market there on Sunday next so we'll be hotfooting over to that. Scroll down at link for info:

http://www.hosfordsgardencentre.ie/events.html

The clon market people are regrouping at the moment - so we ain't given up yet.

Would Billy Houlihan help?

Do you have these "spinoffs" from German Christmas markets in Ireland? They seem to have sprung up all over here in the last few years. Eg at the moment, there is a "German christmas market" along London's South Bank, which seems to a spinoff from Cologne Christmas market. I have seen the same spin-off from Cologne in 2 other areas of London in the last fortnight.

Am on the South Bank later in the week. My OH is the photographer - I'll try to persuade her to take a few piccies for you. Before Xmas, we are also planning a trip to one local market (though we know it's outrageously expensive) and to Borough market, which is still a major tourist attraction in London.

http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/

Please do Atticus - the original photos are the best.

'OH' ?

OH = Other Half ( and MUCH BETTER HALF, it goes without saying)
We have not achieved Rockyracoon's SU (Spousal Unit) status.

Ahhhh ... doh.

No, the German markets haven't migrated here yet anyhow. Is it German because of the goods sold or is there a particular atmosphere otherwise cooked up that makes it German ?

There is a 'Christmas Market' at the IFSC it is running from the 12th to the 23rd of December and is organised by the DDDA. I don't know if I would exactly describe it as a German Christmas Market though.

I have been to the Christmas market in Strasbourg on a number of occasions. My grandparents lived in Strasbourg for 20 years. It was great fun though I understand there are far better ones elsewhere.

Oh you know, wood huts, lots of sausages, Gluehwein (they might call it mulled wine, will always be Gluehwein for me ...mmm), waffles and wooden stuff - trying to recreate the atmosphere of a proper German Christkindlesmarkt.

Having once arisen at 3.30 or 4.00am to attend the Nueremberg Christkindl Markt - I appreciate the effort, but it will never be the same. However, Cologne Market is advertised on every hut. It's a brand now, obviously, what's new?!