(Matthew Kupfer)
It’s a sunny Thursday afternoon in June and the suits are mingling with the gourmands at the Bay-Adelaide Farmers’ Market.
Now in its second year, among its 20 vendors you’ll find a mix of the market staples familiar to regulars of the Brick Works’s Saturday food fair, which operates this outpost in the business district. And prices here aim to please—you can have a pretty hearty lunch for less than $10.
You can find organic and local honey, maple syrup and crackers. The Canadian Pie Company sells fresh pies as well as steak-and-Guiness turnovers. Micha and Jackson Kennedy, sons of the famous Jaime Kennedy, have their fry-stand, which Ken Weiner visits whenever the market’s around.
“I treat myself to fries,” Weiner says after coming down from his Bay-Adelaide office. “If you’re going to do it they might as well be the best fries available.”
Market manager Lauren Wilton says the market brings local and organic options to people who might not have thought to head out to a farmers’ market. “We’ve invited a number of our vendors from [the Brick Works] to come join us down here,” Wilton says. “It gives the people working in this neighbourhood an opportunity to buy some fresh produce, honey or maple syrup when they normally wouldn’t have the chance to make it to the afternoon markets in the city.”
The artisanal producers definitely offer something special for Bay Street types. Andrew Stevens, who works at KPMG, says it gave him a chance to look at healthy, locally grown and made options.
“I like to think about it if I can. It’s not always possible. It’s not a make-or-break for me, but at the same time it’s better. I just get Wendy’s usually.”
Stevens got a gluten-free chicken wrap from Hearty Catering, and organic lemonade and caramel corn from Grant Street Caramel Co. One of the most popular vendors is Loic Gourmet, which sells steak and vegan barbeque sandwiches. The stand is at the southeast corner of Arnell Square, where the line for sandwiches spills onto the sidewalk.
(Matthew Kupfer)
LPK’s Culinary Groove provides a downtown-exclusive—sweet potato doughnuts in maple sugar (the doughnuts are vegan friendly and gluten-free, cooked in aromatic sunflower oil). Chef David Chan suggests the Bay Street crowd should lighten up when it comes to fried foods.
“A lot of the nice office ladies take one look and go I want to eat that but it’s fried, so I’m not going to,” he says. The farmers market has better traffic than the LPK’s store, which is great because Chan wants people to try them fresh. They’re just sweet enough and a great snack served in a paper cone.
This is the only Toronto market where Anastasia MacLean from Embrace Foods sells her quinoa-based products (that’s pronounced KEEN-wah if you were ever wondering). MacLean has the hard-sell ready, and she’s had to struggle to get a gluten-free preparation place to make her products, which are also vegan-friendly and come in all kinds.
“We do a fabulous cereal, and we have recipes for it for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” MacLean says. “We also do quinoa bars, they’re peanut and sweetened with agave nectar. They make a wonderful breakfast or snack on the run. We do a cinnamon raisin-kissed cookie and a smoothie mix.”
If you’re starting to think all you want to eat is quinoa, there are enough options at the market to persuade you otherwise. Aside from the prepared foods, Bizjak and P&H farms are on-site selling their latest fresh produce.
As manager, Wilton has to wrangle a diverse group of vendors, including farmers, local catering businesses and preserve-making artisans.
“It’s hard especially when you’re getting a market up and running to get everyone on the same page. I really want a consistent market, where people can go back to the same vendor from week-to-week,” Wilton says.
Her desire for consistency, however, doesn’t mean the market will grow stale. Even though, she says, the market can’t grow much more in Arnell Square, there will be even more to check out at this week’s edition. Hearty Catering is expanding to two booths—one specializing in crpes—and Savour Stratford will be joining in, bringing a 12 x 12 foot tent with dairy, artisanal products and various treats from, well, Stratford.
The Bay-Adelaide Farmers Market will be happening at Arnell Plaza, from 11 am to 2 pm on July 14 and alternating Thursdays until September 15.
