Month: December 2018

Why do you identify with yams?
Because yams are solid. …They are solid. And they are beautiful color and they are … so versatile. But they are solid.
Versatile in terms of…
You can cook them in a lot of different ways, you can put lots of different spices with them, you can cook them, you can put butter and sugar, you can eat them plain out of their wrapper, they are beautiful shape, you don´t have to peel them. They make a good soup, they make good slices, they roast up. They are wonderful.
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Tisha, portrayed with butter-cinnamon-sweet potatoes, not only grows kale & Co in her garden but also brings all yet unknown fruits and vegetables to light: She is a midwife.

Why do identify with a watermelon?
Because it has always been one of my favorite and it has most recently become a huge part of my life. I eat probably two a week. It has been a part of my transformation. I guess, it´s the most important thing to me. My health transformation. It has been the cornerstone, I guess you could say of that. It has been my go-to food that keeps me happy. (…)
I used to be hugely over-weight. I was a couple of hundred pounds heavier than I am now and that has been like, figuring that out, in growing, getting rid of the bad food that I used to eat. This would be something easy to grab on to, something I always liked …it would always fill me up I guess, not just physically but emotionally and I guess that´s what I´m trying to say.

How do like to eat them?
I cut it in half and eat it all with a spoon. I had over 80 watermelons this year so far.
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Kenny is part of Phoenix Public Market´s Community Exchange Stand, offering all kinds of local delights.

[photo credit: Kenny]

I would say I´d have to be a tomato.
How come?
Because most people think that a tomato is a vegetable but it´s really fruit. And also I´m like kind of red (laughter) …or mostly because you are making me laugh. So, okay I think I´m a tomato because they are a lot sweeter than they look.
A lot of people think I am more…. But I am not… I´m actually a Teddy Bear.

How do you like to eat tomatoes?
It depends. Depends onto my mood. I like them in a salad, sometimes just plain with salt, sometimes just plain. I mean, I like them on food, they are awesome as marinara. … Plenty of potential.
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Larry has another sweet side: He lets you try different types of honey such as “Fall Desert Bloom” at Phoenix Public Market.

…the fruit I have always identified with is a pomegranate – for a number of reasons. First of all, the mythology story, the mythology of Demeter and her daughter Persephone (…) really spoke to me and the story of the mother having to rescue the daughter from the underworld, right. …I guess I´m identifying more with the daughter, Persephone who ate the pomegranate. (…) Plus I love the color and I love the complexity of it when you open it up and all the chambers and all the little cells. So there you have it! And I have a tree in my backyard.
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Victoria also uses wonderful colors for her ceramics, called “Clay Madness”, presented at Phoenix Public Market.

[photo credit: Victoria]

I´m a tomato because it´s both a fruit and a vegetable. It is one of my absolute favorite smells in the world and one of my favorite flavors too. It´s like tomato and parmesan and dark chocolate are my favorite things. It´s meaty and juicy, … I don´t know, it´s both subsistent and delightful.

Any further questions?
(Geschichtsträchtiger Apfel) The raw tomato or the cooked tomato?
Oh, raw. Yes, although I do liked cooked tomatoes too. I do liked cooked too but I was thinking of raw.
(Geschichtsträchtiger Apfel) A red or yellow or green one?
Red. No question. Not a cherry. A proper tomato. (Laughter)
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Rob sometimes also enriches his dishes, with or without tomato, with freshly picked basil leaves from the bathtub in his garden. Best pesto-maker.

Why are you identifying with a potato?
I come from Bavaria, I grew up there and I think my parents cook four times a week potatoes, in every kind of styles. In gratin, purré, most of the times it was salt potatoes, only cooked. And I think potato is a very special root and you can live only with a potato, I think. Every day you can do many things with it. Okay, you must cook it that´s one not such a good thing but it´s okay, and I think it´s a very old root and it´s the first time, it was the first thing I was thinking about when you asked.
And, yes, but it´s better to eat it together with other things (laughter).
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Sebastian presents all different kinds of dishes, with and without potatoes, to his guests – he is a chef.

I am a radish – and I don´t know why. I remember as a child, in the garden in the back yard, which was not a luxury, it was quite necessary, my two rows I had to tend to were beets and radishes. And I hate beets. And possibly all radishes may hate beets, it could be a natural built-in prejudice, I don´t know … I just thought radishes. You know, that´s about it. I like radishes, I´m a radish.

How do you like to eat them?
Straight. I mean, I could just eat a meal out of radishes. I don´t want them to be in a salad. Everything else is distracting. … Just knock the dirt off them, don´t even wash them, a little bit of dirt is good for you. Especially on a radish.
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Charlie is working together with a pomegranate: They are “Clay Madness”, ceramic artists. He also paints.

…Du bist also nicht einfach irgendeine Kaktusfrucht?

Nein, hast du ja gesehen. In Peru, die Frucht ist viel süßer und die war so erdig vom Geschmack, so Rote-Beete-mäßig. Und die andere war eher so Wassermelonen-mäßig, die Kerne waren weicher, das heißt die konnte man irgendwie mitessen (…) Kaktusfrucht ist nicht gleich Kaktusfrucht.
Weil du identifizierst dich mit welchem Typ Kaktusfrucht?
Tuna heißt die in Peru. Und da gibt’s die auch in anderen Farben. Nicht nur in pink, auch in grün und in gelb.

Und warum identifizierst du dich damit?
… Die stimmt mich immer sehr glücklich. Vielleicht ist es das: Dass ich auch irgendwie Leute glücklich stimmen möchte…
Das gelingt dir so weit ganz gut!
Weiß ich nicht (Lachen). Aber genau, diese Frucht ist so ein bisschen … unerwartet weil das nicht so …also als ich in Peru war hab ich noch nie etwas von dieser Frucht vorher gehört und dann war das immer so: „oh ja!“ wieder die Kaktusfrucht oben drauf, wieder die Tuna oben drauf auf dem Fruchtsalat. … so der Hingucker

Die Krönung!
(Lachen) Nein, das ist jetzt übertrieben. Aber genau, das hat das alles irgendwie rund gemacht. Weißt du, da war da alles so Apfel, und Pfirsich, und alles so gelb-weiß-lich, eine Weintraube … und dann oben drauf die pinke Tuna. Das hat schon was. Ja, und da geht das Gesicht ganz anders auf. Und das war auch was, dass man bei uns nicht kriegt, in Deutschland. (…) Die Farbe ist wirklich schön. (…)
Ja was ich noch sagen kann, was auch anders ist bei der Tuna als bei der prickly pear hier: Das Schälen. Die hier hat eine hauchdünne Schale, wie die Kiwi, und die andere die ist bestimmt so, wie ein Pelz, so ungefähr einen halben Zentimeter dick. Die hältst du so, die kannst du so aufziehen. …Die Schale ist nicht hart (Lachen), aber du musst wissen wie man sie schälst sonst weißt du echt nicht wie du sie essen sollst. Ich weiß nicht wie ich das zum ersten Mal gemacht hab bis mir jemand erzählt hat wie man die schält, so abziehen. Ja weiß ich auch nicht was ich da jetzt mit mir verbinde….
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Hanna ist nicht nur eine Kaktusfrucht-, sondern auch eine Kaffee-Spezialistin. Innerhalb ihres PhDs etabliert sie gerade eine nachhaltige Kaffee-Lieferkette zwischen den USA und Mexico (https://web.asu.edu/slfee/people-1)

Why can you identify with a mushroom?
It doesn´t require photosynthesis. It is independent of what most would consider the norm of energy or resources.
Self-sufficient?
Mushrooms are very self-sufficient, yes (laughter).
And you can identify with this?
Yes (laughter).
Anything to add?
Thank you. That was fun (laughter)
How do you like to eat them?
Anyway they come.
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I met Aaron working at the Abby Lee Farm (http://abbyleeaz.com/) stand at Phoenix Public Market.