Nowadays, the possibility of having direct contact with farmers, even in a city, has increasingly become a rarity. That’s why I’m always happier whenever I manage to go to one of the many farmers’ markets in Rome, like the Mercato fonte Egeria.
In this market, you will find many different products. All of them are brought in by independent farmers that drive each weekend to the parking next to the Egeria water plant and set up their stands to sell excellent food to the locals.
Whenever I have time and I remember about it, I always prefer to drive to this market as the products sold here travel fewer km and are fresher than the generic vegetables I can find in common markets or, even worse, in supermarkets.
All the producers come from the region, therefore not only are the vegetables seasonal and fresh, but in times like the ones we are living in, increasing the consumption of local products instead of those that have travelled for long distances in containers is, I think, the best decision we can make with our tiny amount influence to help a new kind of economy thrive, one based on a more sustainable supply chain.
Besides this ideological thesis, fresher food is in fact richer in vitamins, plus the food I buy there is on average tastier than the one bought at the supermarket or elsewhere.
