Porta Palazzo: The Anthropology of an Italian Market

Chapter 7: Nostrano: The Farmers’ Market, Local Food, and Place

chapter 7 Nostrano: The Farmers’ Market, Local Food, and Place As I turn the corner and head behind the Mercato dell’Orologio (Alimentare IV) at Porta Palazzo, I feel as if I have entered into the heart of Piedmont. The light, sounds, and smells are different here. The sun filters through the cast-iron roof of the tettoia dei contadini (farmers’ market area) and warms the chilly fall air. Chickens squawk, and shoppers yell greetings in Piedmontese: “Bun di!” A man walks by with a steaming cup of espresso and stops in front of a cheese stand: the smell of goat cheese overwhelms the rich scent of the coffee. The farmers’ market engages all the senses and transports shoppers to another time and place when Turin had stronger ties with the surrounding countryside. The shopper vividly experiences the seasons in this part of the market: in summer, the stands are piled high with local fruits and vegetables , while in winter, the shivering vendors huddle around nearly barren tables displaying a few potatoes and maybe some winter squash. Although the Porta Palazzo farmers’ market seems timeless, this age-old market has undergone a number of changes over the past decades, many of which I witnessed during my research there. While conducting my fieldwork at the mercato dei contadini, I began to think about the importance of local food and how it connects cities to their hinterlands in a very social way. I also began to look at how local food is constructed and challenged each day by the people who shop and sell their wares at the market. Situated under a nineteenth-century cast-iron structure behind the Mercato dell’Orologio pavilion, the farmers’ market is different from the rest of the Porta Palazzo (Figure 9). This was something I realized the moment I 141 nostrano: the farmers’ market, local food, and place turned the corner and my gaze scanned across this relatively peaceful little market. The space is smaller and more sheltered than the rest of the piazza; in many ways, it is more intimate because one can see from one end to the other: it is not a maze like the big resellers’ market. The fact that each stand does not have its own structure and awning makes this market seem more like a community, a coherent whole. When the mercato dei contadini is at its Figure 9. Under the tettoia of the Porta Palazzo farmers’ market, 2009. Photo by Rachel Black. 142 chapter 7 busiest, the shoppers have to press through the crowds and are sometimes jostled by other customers as they wait their turn in front of the low, flat tables loaded with seasonal produce. Unlike the resellers’ market, customers are face to face with the farmer—a shopper does not have to look up at the vendor. The spatial relations have a huge impact on the way people interact and socialize in this part of the market. What makes this part of Porta Palazzo unique is that this is where the city and the countryside meet and have met for over a century. It is one of the few places where urban consumers come in contact with the people who produce their food, an experience that is becoming increasingly rare (Robinson and Hartenfeld 2007). The old woman behind the table hands me a beautiful bouquet of radishes with the dirt still clinging to them and tells me about how dry this growing season has been. Going to the Porta Palazzo farmers’ market puts people in touch with the areas surrounding the city and gives city dwellers a sense of another reality, that of country life. The farmers’ market may seem like a remnant of the past in a cityscape that has done away with many of its rural contacts; but most important , this market puts people in touch with their food and the people who produce it. The mercato dei contadini may seem as if it is from another time, and it can also seem like another place. When I go to the farmers’ market, I feel as if I have left Turin because vendors and clients often speak in the local dialect (Torinese or Piedmontese);1 conversely, for most Torinese, there is nothing more local than this market. There are few places in Turin where people still converse in the local dialects; this is one of the reasons young people are not learning...