The Menu: Permanent farmers’ markets

The Menu has spent the last decade bending the ears of any with pockets of sufficient depth and the business nous necessary for creating and maintaining such aforementioned fiscal fortitude about the viability of a ‘permanent’ farmer’s market, believing it to be a marvelous business opportunity with equally positive social implications for the community.

The Siopa Gan Ainm, on Cork’s Coal Quay, alongside the fine Coal Quay Saturday Farmer’s Market, has carried a small range for some time as well as offering hot beverages and small snacks. But a new shop in Waterville, Co Kerry, An Siopa Feirme ( www.facebook.com/AnSiopaFeirme ), is really the type of venture The Menu had envisioned, offering a superb and ever-growing range from local producers.

The commercial suppliers include: Wilma’s Farmhouse Cheese; Valentia Island Farmhouse Dairy; Vegetables, Fruit and Berries, from Roddy Carroll; O’Connell’s Ducks, from Ballinskelligs; Harty’s Foods, jellies and condiments; chocolate and confectionary from Skelligs Chocolate; and from Benoit Lorge.