The Fine Art of Feeding Oneself

Or, Rachel loves the English Market, "Cork's Food Emporium"

Here is the English Market!
"The English Market has entrances on Princes Street, Patrick Street and the Grand Parade. It is a covered market for fish, fruit, meat and vegetable. The origins of the market can be traced back to James 1st in 1610, but the present building dates from 1786. In 1980 it was destroyed by fire and was refurbished by Cork Corporation to an award-winning design by the Cork city architect T. F. MacNamara"

It attracts a diverse group of shoppers.

What can you buy here? You can buy olives!

You can buy imported oriental food! (Though I haven't yet.)

You can buy meat! (Though I don't...)

You can buy produce! (I do!)

And virtually anything else...it's a big place.

It's also very pretty.

And you don't necessarily leave the way you came...

One of my primary adjustments has been to the task of shopping and cooking in a surprisingly different shopping and cooking climate. I have mentioned my difficulties coordinating the supplies for the family corn chowder recipe during my first few days here. I like to think I've come some distance since then...with, admittedly, a long way still to go. But places like the English Market make it a little more fun.

I have long preached without practicing the importance of purchasing whole, local foods, avoiding excessive packaging, etc. Living here in Cork has made it easy to finally try to adhere to these principles, even in the case of those who are less conscientious than I am about their environmental impact, or giving their money to corporations.

For example, in Cork and, as far as I know, the rest of Ireland, you are charged for a plastic bag at a store. The hope being that you will reuse the bag you're about to buy, or better yet, have brought along with you a reusable receptacle for your purchases. Cloth and canvas bags are available almost everywhere you turn, and I'm finding they make useful souvenirs. Also, Tesco, the large grocery chain reminiscent of Dillon's, while a stark contrast to the charm and local flavor of the English Market, sells produce, milk and eggs primarily produced in Ireland.

Still, typically I set out to the English Market first, buying what I can there, filling in the holes in my shopping list with a trip to Tesco. I carry my backpack and fill it up, compartment by compartment, as I go. Not only does this save my arms the strain of carrying heavy bags the considerable distance back to my apartment, but it keeps my hands free so I don't have to juggle items from the previous stop while trying to collect and pay for items at the next one. This issue was my primary shopping obstacle when I was first accustoming myself to the routine of buying from small specialty stores instead of all in one place.

Price comparison is also an art at which I'm developing some skill. For example: at Tesco, you pay 35 euro per kilogram of goat cheese. At the cheese stall at the back of the English Market (as opposed to the one right at the Grand Parade entrance) you pay 23 per kilogram, but at the fine foods store off of Oliver Plunkett street, you pay only 18. Also, the fine foods store is all Italian, barely big enough to turn around in, and the Italian staff take your money and thank you with charming Italian accents. (Mom, I can now vouch for the authenticity of your own Italian voice.)

I live primarily off of whatever produce is cheapest (diced fruit with natural yogurt makes equals fruit salad for lunch; diced vegetables sauteed with garlic stuffs tortillas or is tasty over rice) with occasional splurges on seasonings for cooking experiments, which we all know I find hard to resist. I then tend to force my friends to have dinner with me instead of saving the leftovers, so the cost efficiency is completely in question, but I have fun and so do they - or at least, so they say! So far I have successfully created two separate potato curries, and with the availability and low cost of oriental seasonings, hope to do more while I have this kind of access. Next up is quinoa - the miracle grain! - in a supposedly fool-proof pairing with beans and cayenne pepper.

In unrelated news, I have a library card, class only on Mondays and Tuesdays, and flights booked to Belgium, Germany, and Spain, with a Scotland trip in the works. Despite all this, it was a slow pre-class week spent milling around Cork, and I am looking forward to a busy first day of class tomorrow, with - I hope - some time in between to check out the exercise facilities at the university's gym. I had some discipline for physical fitness that I left in the United States, but I'm hoping to muster some up soon, to counterbalance the sad fact of my limited self control and the availability of fresh bread at the English Market for 2 euro per loaf.