Table Manners
Last weekend I participated on a panel at a symposium in Washington DC for distinguished professionals in the food and hospitality business. As a farmer, getting out of town for a day or two takes a considerable amount of planning and sometimes it's downright impossible. But this is the time of year when I am able to walk away for a day or two without much impact. I get to trade my farm clothes for nice clothes, my muck boots for a pair of heels. I even curled my hair and put on some lipstick.
The topic of the panel was diversity at farmers markets. Along with my fellow panelists, we discussed not only vast assortment of vendors, but among the customers as well. At first I was a little dismayed to hear one of my fellow panelists repeat the white faces in white places adage that has been trotted it out by those complaining about the lack of local foods in urban areas. Having served a diverse urban population for over 20 years now I took great pleasure in setting the record straight.
And it's not even in urban areas, but anywhere there is a farmers market a diverse crowd is bound to show up. You're going to have people from all walks of life, high income, low income, and those in between. You'll meet people from different cultures, assorted faiths, with opposing political opinions, and of diverse orientations. There will be children who shop with their parents and customers well into their 80s, even their 90s.
Why does this tend to happen at farmers markets? Because we all eat food.
So imagine my dismay, when after such a wonderful weekend, I showed up Sunday at the farmers market only to encounter a customer who insisted on forcing their narrow minded and bigoted opinions upon a vendor. Fortunately, the vendor had the grace with which to handle the offensive person, simply asking them to move along and take their business elsewhere without raising voices. Other customers and fellow vendors kind of stood there gob smacked that someone would have the audacity to say such ugly things to someone they’re patronizing. Just because you spend money at someone’s stand, does not give you the right to verbally abuse them. And woe to anyone who dares physically accost a fellow vendor or another customer. There are quite a few of us who wrestle livestock for a living and will not hesitate to stop such an incident.
After leaving one stand, the offensive customer went on to other vendors where their complaints were aired. Some vendors ignored them and others simply responded with we're here to do business not to debate personal beliefs. Fortunately, they passed by my stand, or I would’ve had to remind them about biting the hands that feed them. If you want to protest, go down to the national mall and hold up a sign. The farmers market is not the place to voice your grievances.
This is a reminder that farmers markets are an amalgamation of small businesses under an organizing umbrella that can be either a private business, a not-for-profit organization, or a government entity. Private business owners have the right to refuse business to anyone they don’t like. The Supreme Court has already made that ruling.
So for those who haven’t read the memo I am going to reiterate that the farmers markets are like one big family. We may have our squabbles with each other, but when push comes to shove we've got each others backs and that includes standing up to anyone who bullies our fellow vendors or other customers. We reserve the right to tell you to move along and shop somewhere else if you speak or behave offensively. As I like to say, we all eat at the same table, which means if you have bad table manners, be prepared to be corrected or be asked to leave.