Soulard Farmers Market, St Louis

Maybe it was the rain or maybe the sad-looking, Busch-sipping vagrants, but it was a miserable day at the market in St. Louis. We arrived at Soulard Farmer’s Market hungry and road-weary, looking for something good to eat and somewhere warm to sit. This was not the place to go.
As we walked into the market we were greeted by a stack of boxes bearing the label “California Oranges.” Not a good sign. Walking up the corridor towards the center of the market building, we found stacks of citrus and bananas, pineapples and bags of baby carrots. Not a local or seasonable vegetable to be found.
When we reached the food vendors, we found ourselves faced with the difficult choice between Schmitz’s Snacks or Joyce’s Corner, a pair of second rate hot dog stands. Would we like a Busch beer with that? Perhaps a Hawaiian ice?

Soulard Market wasn’t all bad though. At the only stall with a crowd, we found a vendor selling collard greens, spinach, and kale. Frandeka Meat Market in the Main Hall offered all the fixin’s for a Southern pig fest including the biggest pile of smoked ham hocks I’ve ever seen. One stall sold only Missouri pecans. To be fair, it is early in the season. It was also Friday. Im not sure, however, that Soulard deserves the name “Farmer’s Market.”