Farmers Come To Town
Margaret Brooker
If you live in Invercargill, you’re blessed with the proximity of the oysters (although you have to know the right people, because these days they’re no cheaper in the local shops than they are in Auckland). If you frequent the Matakana area north of Auckland, you will be familiar with their very good farmers’ market. And if you live in Wellington, you’ll be all mature and unsmug about having Moore Wilson’s Fresh, still the best big food shop in the country.
Now Wellingtonians are going to have it even better – Moore Wilson’s is about to host its own farmers’ market, out at its Porirua premises.
The company is providing the venue and coordinating the stalls. “It’s our role to get the right mix of products, to create a good shopping basket – the things people buy on a weekly basis,” says director Julie Moore. The market will offer a wide spectrum of fresh food, including fruit and vegetables, fish, smallgoods, bread, cheese, olive oil, nuts and preserves.
The standard rules of a farmers’ market will apply: stallholders will be growers or producers, with no middlemen allowed. And their produce will be food or food-related – you won’t find crafts in this market. “Local” is broadly defined to include the whole lower North Island – Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, Horowhenua, Manawatu and Wairarapa, as well as Wellington.
Moore Wilson’s has refurbished its former bulk store in Porirua, in a continuing association with renowned architect Ian Athfield, who did the earthquake-inspired “broken” premises in Wellington’s Tory St.
The interior walls are enlivened by a mural commissioned from artist Dick Frizzell, a play on the theme of road-stall signage.
Wafting through the market will be the delectable smells of fresh coffee, courtesy of one of the capital’s many roasters, along with bacon butties, brat in a bun and the like made by Wellington smallgoods specialist Harringtons. This company has relocated from Island Bay to premises adjoining the market hall, and under the direction of Ian Hornblow, formerly maître d’ at the award-winning Café Bastille, is the on-site caterer.
The market will be open on Fridays and Saturdays, 7.30am-2pm, from early July. Moore Wilson’s Farmer’s Fresh, 65 Kenepuru Drive, Porirua.
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