In Praise of the Asian Market

Today, I realized a minor dream I've had to make bubble tea, homemade.  Luckily, I had an unsuspecting group of young, eager snack-takers this afternoon at our Creative Writing "Club" at school.

I should have taken photos of what turned out to be an overly complicated and messy set-up (typical me!), but I'll have to get the finished product photographed next time.  Suffice it to say there were many Mason jars and an empty sour cream container of various teas, homemade blueberry syrup, homemade pineapple syrup, syrup-preserved tapioca balls, a drippy can of condensed milk, and a slowly melting bag of ice.  Luckily, I did manage to include the huge customary straws and clear cups so we could see the pretty tapioca pearls at the bottom.  My students loved it despite mixed reviews on the flavor and texture of tapioca pearls. I felt like a genius, even though I suppose the Asians invented bubble tea.  My choice was pineapple syrup in the Tazo mint tea.  Genius.

Anyway, running to the store for the tapioca and giant straws ($6.99!!!) reminded me that I have been wanting to honor our little Asian market 'round the corner.

Apparently, it has not always been our little Asian market 'round the corner.  According to my friend Deva, who has been Chinese American her whole life, and from Tucson or Marana during much of her life, G&L Imports used to be one of the largest, most respected Asian markets in town.  I read somewhere else that it is one of the oldest. Now, times are a bit slower I suppose.  It shares an aging strip-mall with Desert Pet (another store I really like) and a martial arts studio.  The Hong Kong Dim Sum advertised outside is nowhere to be seen, but if you need your nails done there must be at least 20 different Asian nail studios advertised with simple white fliers stapled up outside the front doors.

Inside, G&L is an adventure.  I don't consider myself extremely adventurous culinarily, but if I was there would be plenty to work with here.  The Asian servingware, cooking utensils and kitsch is fun to shop, also.  You never know what will be in-stock or out-of-stock.  Finally, after months of peeking in, I scored myself some Asian soup spoons.

Although it smells a bit funky and the refrigerators never really feel quite cold enough, the discriminating shopper can find some good produce deals:  Shallots for $.99/lb (if you can handle a few moldy ones in the mix), pre-peeled garlic for a good price, fresh scallions, cilantro, limes, lemongrass, ginger, etc. at good prices and with good quality.  I always pause to peruse the various types of greens available, with at least three varieties of bok-choy and many other choys which I'd like to try someday (I was told by the proprietor that "choy" means "vegetable")  They also have great prices on various chiles and those little baby eggplants and that kind of thing.  Occasionally the produce is not the best quality, but most of the popular items are very fresh.

And then, of course, there is an entire aisle of rice, and an entire aisle (and then some) of noodle products.  I certainly would not know what to do with 90% of what they sell, but I have been happy with everything I have ventured to buy there.  The baby bok choy has become a staple of my pho and other dishes, and I enjoy my little adventures into new flavors at G&L.

G&L Imports   4828 E. 22nd Street, Tucson, Arizona

The Gentrified Tucson Farmers' Markets

On the way home from picking up our dogs at my brother's house in Green Valley on Monday, I stopped by one of the local farmers' markets to grab some produce.  We had been on vacation for a week, and I had two tired kids and two dogs in the car.  I wasn't about to stop at the grocery store, and I happened upon the market.

I'm pretty sure it was one run by Earth Made Farmer's Markets, a company that I believe is run by Ed Dubis.  (I previously blogged about an attempt to start a CSA in the Broadmoor neighborhood where I used to live, and my negative experience with that.)

I'll share my shopping experience and then make my point:

First of all, the signs said the market would be open until 2:00.  I pulled up just before 1:00, and vendors were already packing up their shade structures and leaving.

I remember seeing one table of tamales, tortillas, etc.  Those looked good but I didn't have a lot to spend and needed fruits and veg.  The next table had aloe products, and the lady immediately pounced, explaining all the benefits of aloe.  The free-range beef guy was packing up (too rich for my blood, anyway, though they have good products.) 

The produce guy right at the front was getting talked into doing this for a living by another man (I sensed he was hired help, not someone who had developed his own business) and maybe because I was in a hurry I was suckered into paying $1.50/ lb for jicama that ended up being half-rotten (partially my fault because the gashes were underneath and they looked great on top) and 2.00/lb for in-season tomatoes.  The same jicama was $.59/lb. this week at Fry's, but it didn't look like this:

Then I wandered way to the back of the courtyard behind the large tent of beaded and semi-precious jewelry, and met Hector.  For the same $8 I had spent up front, I walked away with ten more tomatoes, 5 limes, two small watermelons, a butternut squash, and four nice sized Mexican grey squash, plus a bonus jalapeno. The produce was not local, but it appeared fresh.

And Hector was pleasant and engaging, eager to talk with me about the vegetables, how I would prepare them. He had been working with produce for 21 years. He said that the organizers had kicked him out of another market and didn't like him at this one either because he sold things at good prices. I believed it.

When the farmers market (also Earth Made) first started in Broadmoor at the Broadway Village shopping center, folks came who had grown herbs in their back yards, families who had harvested nopales from their back yards, a guy who lived in a grapefruit orchard and needed to unload the booty, a guy who was selling pastries made from mesquite flour he had harvested and ground himself...  there were also the solar flashlight dealers, jewelry makers and guys playing guitar and selling their CD's, but there were plenty of neighborhood folks and a diversity of products.  Prices were a bit high, but you could find a bargain.

That changed quickly, and now there are only a couple of produce people, some horchata and tamale makers, and sometimes baklava and grape leaves.  The coffee truck shows up.  But I can't shop there anymore because I work.  And it's expensive.  I once wrote to Ed Dubis to suggest holding the market Fridays from 3-6 so that folks could stop for happy hour and also patronize the restaurant in the plaza, so that working families could shop there.  He said they were doing fine with the time slot they had going.

I'm not sure of the inner workings, but I have a feeling that the cost of a vendors' stall in these markets must be high.  And the foot traffic is not great except for the more established locations such as St Phillips Plaza.  I can't see the whole system lasting until it can serve more of a broad spectrum of people, and truly tap into the roots of food culture and gardening/ farming in Tucson.  I have a feeling a lot of folks are turned off to the way the markets are managed right now.  I know I am.  I am a would-be shopper, definitely.  I love farmers' markets.  But not artificially inflated prices, wilting, rotting produce, products I don't need and an exclusive attitude.

In contrast, the Community Food Bank's farmers markets have truly attempted to create a diverse and sustainable food supply and support the small backyard farmers.  They have tried to reach out to real, working class neighborhoods and families.  The Earth Made markets have become, in large part, a gentrified upper-middle-class experience that is most easily accessed by single professionals, stay-at-home parents, and retirees.  The prices, products, hours and even the P.R. simply does not meet the needs of families who work during the day and need to buy their produce at market-competitive prices in order to stock their refrigerators with healthy food. 

Let's hope things change.  I refuse to shop at farmers markets just for the romance of it.  They have to meet my needs, too, or else they are simply a tempting and spendy form of entertainment that I can't afford.