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There was still a little chill in the air the day Foodstand’s\u00a0Summer Rayne Oakes (@sugardetoxme<\/a>)\u00a0sat down to interview Barry Benepe. They\u00a0agreed to meet at the Union Square Greenmarket on a Wednesday\u2014one of the busiest market days of the week (~300,000 walk throughs in a given day) \u2014and spend a good forty minutes talking about how it all came to be. It<\/em><\/strong> is the Greenmarket.<\/p>\n Barry, who was an urban planner in the 70s, went on to spearhead urban revival throughout New York City by ushering in the creation of our city\u2019s Greenmarkets<\/a> as a way to connect urban dwellers to surrounding farms. So in a way, you can say that Barry is the Father of NYC\u2019s farmers markets. That\u2019s how Summer\u00a0introduced him to those who stopped by Foodstand’s demo booth at the market when Barry paused\u00a0to thank Summer\u00a0for the interview. Rest assured\u2014the people there were genuinely starstruck, particularly because the 50+ Greenmarkets and 15 Youthmarkets<\/a> in the city have become a fixture for many-a-people\u2019s daily or weekly shopping habits. Here\u2019s how it all began:<\/p>\n Why did you go with \u201cGreenmarket\u201d vs. the more traditional \u201cfarmers market\u201d?<\/strong> How often do you cook for yourself at home?<\/strong> What were the problems that you were looking to solve when you came up with the idea for creating a farmers market in New York?<\/strong> While Bob and I were working with our clients, we saw the lack of attention to farming. That led Bob and me to discuss how we could help farmers save farming. The other thing that was obvious to us was that the quality of food in our stores was terrible! In August when peaches are ripening in Long Island, they weren’t appearing in New York. They were hard and green and from California or somewhere else. There was no sense of food taste, smell or handling\u2014everything was wrapped in shrink wrap. We didn\u2019t have a sense of real food. We wanted to link the sense of a farm economy with a concept of nutrition and enjoyment of eating food.<\/p>\n Also, I grew up on a farm. My father bought the farm in 1938 when I was 10, and as I became a teenager, I worked on the farm. I helped harvest, package and deliver the food to market which was usually an auction block. Or canneries for tomatoes and freezing plants for food to be frozen. None of it was shipped fresh. Occasionally my brother would drive to the market in Baltimore or maybe in New York to sell wholesale by the basket, but generally none of our food wound up fresh on anyone\u2019s table.<\/p>\n Was there anyone running something equivalent to a farmers market at the time\u2014whether in the city or otherwise?<\/strong> The woman who was head there, Susan Snook, was very generous with information and helped us get started. Bob also read about Richard Po who was part of Williams Farmland Preservation. Richard Po gave us a cash contribution of $800 to go out and raise money. At that time I did a feasibility study for the city to do a farmers market. We went to a couple of foundations\u2014the Kaplan family (part of Welch\u2019s Grape Juice) made a donation, and America the Beautiful Fund to bring life to city spaces.<\/p>\n
\nWe talked to the city law department and consumer affairs and we wanted to have them say the \u201cfarmers market\u201d. To do it legally they had to be farmers selling farm produce. They wouldn\u2019t do it until city council passed a law. So we couldn\u2019t go farmers market and then had to explain what a Greenmarket was\u2014from the farm to table. You are really dealing with farmers\u2014buying from the farmers. It used to be the farmers that sold, and it wasn\u2019t until recent years that they began hiring city people. Even now, the farmer has to be there a certain number of days in the year.
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\nWho was initially buying [from the market]? Ordinary citizens? Chefs?<\/strong>
\nEveryday people. Not chefs. Danny Meyer from Union Square Cafe said he located here because the market is here. He is devoted to local produce. That was the beginning of chefs shopping here, and I believe they pay retail prices when they shop here. I think there are at least 70 chefs that shop here now, if not more.<\/p>\n
\nAll the time. I love cooking for myself. I\u2019m totally inventive. I love food. I love leftovers especially! One thing I do: I never repeat a meal.<\/p>\n
\nI was a planning consultant and I hired a man named Bob Lewis\u2026 I had developed a zoning map that was unique. Up until that point, zoning maps were flat. I had a sense of the larger picture of land and how it was used.<\/p>\n
\nThe city of Rochester was running a successful farmers market program run by the Chamber of Commerce. And they did it because they wanted to bring business downtown. Business was suffering and they thought a farmers market would do it, and they were correct.<\/p>\n