Saturday morning at the market begins with a list and ends with several things that were never on it.
Tomatoes are stacked like small red arguments. Herbs spill over plastic crates. Someone is cutting a melon to prove that this particular melon is the one you should buy.
The market works because it is both practical and social. You come for food, but you also come to ask who has the best peaches, who is away this week, and whether the rain helped the beans.
A vendor recognizes a customer and reaches under the table for a bag he has set aside. Two people compare recipes. A child is handed a strawberry and immediately becomes sticky.
Supermarkets are efficient. Markets are legible. You can see the season changing one table at a time.
I leave with parsley, cheese, bread, tomatoes, and a bunch of flowers I did not need. The list was mostly successful. The morning was better.
Discussion
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