by Jack Moffitt

Hello to all you veggie maniacs and locavores!

How do you feel? An astute psychiatrist might follow that up with  ”What have you been eating?” Food and feelings have long been thought to be linked. The common phrase “You are what you eat”, was a basic premise of Anthelme Brillat-Savarin  who wrote, in Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante, 1826, “Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.” [Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are]. About 40 years later, Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach wrote: “Der Mensch ist, was er ißt.” [The man is what he eats].

Now, over 80 years later, University College London reports that eating a bunch of processed junk food can get you down. A recent report from those researchers indicates that eating a lot of processed foods had a 58% higher chance of suffering from depression, and that those who ate the most whole foods had a 26% lower risk of future depression than those who ate the least whole foods.

Compound that depression problem with addiction to junk foods, and you have a recipe for disaster! Dr Paul Kenny, a neuroscientist, is performing research which indicates brains may react in the same way to junk food as they do to drugs. The research indicates that rats binge and require greater stimulation to get neurological response when they are fed unlimited amounts of junk, including cheesecake, fatty meat products, and cheap sponge cakes and chocolate snacks. Junkie behaviour!

All the more reason to stop by the market this Saturday morning and get some good food!

Kudos to Brownsville Health Department

Behind the scenes, the Brownsville Health Department works with the Market Manager and vendors to insure your food safety. Recently the department was awarded the Texas Environmental Health Association’s  ”Award of Excellence”. I can tell you from my experience in getting my permit, they are a well-run and friendly outfit. If you are curious about some of the food establishments in town, the Department inspects them, and Channel 5′s web site publishes those inspections. Check it out at HealthReports.

Can you imagine living in a city where 80% of food comes from convenience stores, liquor stores or gas stations? Where you buy a raccoon carcass from a skilled trapper neighbor when you need “fresh meat”. It’s a city in the U.S. – the once great city of Detroit. Now a third world food desert, read it for yourself - Detroit.

Support your local farmers!

Now the Market report:

Out on the farm we are enjoying great weather and moisture and the bulk of our crops are about to come in. It is cool enough that some of the salad greens are germinating and the tomato plants making fruit. If a blue norther doesn’t sweep down, in a week or two there will be some beautiful tomato harvests.

We’ll be missing Alice’s baked goodies this week, but the ladies with the artisan breads will fill some of that gap, and the weather looks to be nice, so come on out.

From Max, the Max report:

Dear Mr. Jack,

When I first started my rotation around to check out the veggies, I started at River’s End.  They had an abundance of starfruit, dragonfruit, and inca beans, which I was told taste like vanilla ice cream (which led me to think of a freak-for-ice-cream sister I know named Molly.  She doesn’t have a sweet tooth;  she has sweet teeth!)  He had some lemons the size of a tennis ball.

Attention!  Make ready for citrus!  Grapefruits, oranges, and tangerines were seen at several vendor’s stands, with more to come.  The Alaniz family had some good looking sweet corn, and will have nopales and watermelon soon.  The Artisan Bread ladies had their brioche, foccacia, and they had pumpkin muffins for a Halloween treat.

Bayview Veggies had dandelion weeds, or as Miss Rhonda calls them, Jack’s yard weeds. Yahweh had pecans, avacados, and butternut squash, and the Gracias had radishes, wild cucumbers (which they recommend cooking for best flavor.  The taste is between a squash and a cucumber.  Squashcumber?)   Miss Ruth had mustard greens, avacados, tangerines, and mustard greens  along with her handmade goods.  She will have some string beans and oregano , and Mr. Dickerson says his tomatos, beans, and cucumbers, are looking good, and that his donkey ear plants are very green and productive.

The Weather Service guys were there handing out hurricane guides, and so were the crafters.  I saw charming birdhouses, and the cool weather made me want to wrap up in the crocheted goods like a mummy.  Also seen:  silver rings, crocheted-and-beaded necklaces, handmade jewelry with vintage beads, and paper crafts such as cards and journals.

I’m working on some new magic tricks, so stop by the honey stand!

Sincerely,
Max
“The  Almost Magnificent”

Max and I will see ya’ll at the market!

Jack Moffitt and Max Graybill

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The Brownsville Farmers’ Market

Saturdays from 8am – Noon
Linear Park
Harrison St. between E. 6th and E. 7th