Event: The Market Place 2018
Venue : Vedic Village Spa Resort, Rajarhat
Duration: 13 – 14 Jan 2018, 12 noon – 8:00 pm
The Market Place is an initiative to promote natural and organic living and a platform for direct interaction between real farmers & real consumers.
Having kick-started in Dec 2016, it
showcased it’s second edition from 13 to 14 Jan 2018, at Vedic Village Spa Resort, Rajarhat, from 12 noon to 8:00 pm.
In my own sweet thoughts, I presumed my 14 Jan 2018 visit to The Market Place to be a foodie’s day in paradise, comprising of – curated good food, workshops, nature walks and purchase of assorted organic local produce.
However, no thanks to some sudden occupancy that resulted in our (my hubby and myself) late departure (read 5:00 pm) from home to the aforesaid fair, my visit turned out to be a nightmare of erroneous road navigation, 80% empty fair ground with not a farmer in sight and reluctance of cooking by a couple of exhibitors whose food counters were still open!
It so happened that, though Google map directives are quite updated, still they cannot keep abreast of changes in road maps that incur every second. Thus Google Baba (personification for fun) made us miss our last turning to the intended destination and directed us to the following parallel turning that led to wilderness!
Finally, we switched off the Google Map and employed the age old method of road navigation i.e. asking the localites.
Upon reaching the main gate of Vedic Village, which is a huge property, the guard at the entrance made us merry-go-round the property twice, as he continuously skipped telling us about a small turning, that we were required to take, in order to reach the ground that hosted The Market Place!
Ultimately, we went to the main reception area and requested the staff therein to accompany us to the concerned ground.
At last, we reached the intended destination around 6:45 pm – 7:00 pm after wasting full 45 minutes in roaming the dark and muddy roads outside and circling the pathway, inside the resort.
Apparently, some prize distribution concerning The Market Place vendors, took place a couple of hours before our arrival, which acted as the ‘pack your wares and leave’ signal to the farmers!
Resultantly, we never spotted any of them. Few natural & organic produce and Kolkata based food and beverage stalls were open, along with an in-house make shift restaurant by Vedic Village.
Thankfully, we spotted a couple of friendly food brands and faces and it was a relief to try their wares and share a word or two with them.
We intended to buy a lot, but could spot only a few selected items that matched our taste and requirement.
We bought the following items –
– Jalbhara and Patisapta from Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick (Rs. 20/- each): Our irritated and tired minds and saddened spirits experienced an instant high upon sighting the stall of one of our favorite sweetmeat brands. After consuming it’s good quality seasonal wares, we returned back to our original happy selves.
Personally, I am always on the lookout for coconut and jaggery (not mawa or khoya) stuffed Patisaptas and I almost never get them in any of the Bengali sweetmeat shops. Either they don’t make it, or they make it in a very limited quantity which gets sold out just before my arrival!
So, I was actually happy to consume my kind of Patisapta at the fair.
– Date Palm Jaggery (Rs. 140/- for 500 gm): Marketed by Basundhara Enterprise, it was a farm made village product that came packed in a ‘kalash’ shaped clay pot with it’s mouth covered with a paper bearing the aforesaid marketing enterprise’s logo, tightly bound to the pot’s rim with a turbine.
The roads were bad and jumpy. Thus a good portion of it leaked out on the way back!
Back at home, we used most of it in making Gurer Sandesh and they turned out quite good.
– Matcha Tea from The Tea Trove (Rs. 200/- for 20 gm): Of late social and print media is filled with info on detox and health benefits of Matcha Tea. Thus it was in my to-buy-list since a few months, but I never came across it anywhere.
Seeing the Matcha Tea packs available at the stall occupied by The Tea Trove and hearing it’s laurels from the owners, I promptly purchased a pack.
Unlike other green teas, the Matcha Tea did not came packed as loose tea or tea bags. It came in the form of a muddy green powder, which got dissolved in the hot water, when I prepared a cup for tasting, back at home.
The prepared tea also carried the aforementioned hue. It was mostly odourless and tasted slightly astringent and bitter.
– Black Rice from EcoHarvest: Ever since I had them in a local restaurant, I have been aspiring to cook both black and red rice meals at home. But, I could never find their raw form in any of the nearby grocery shops and was never motivated enough to order them online.
Thankfully, I found Black Rice at the EcoHarvest stall and the vendor was sweet enough to email me a few of it’s vegetarian recipes later.
I am yet to make them.
It was getting darker and emptier by the hour. So, post the purchase of the aforesaid 4 items, without much dilly-dally we commenced our ride back home.
Though I missed on catching up the actual fair, I was still happy to spend a leisurely Sunday evening with my hubby – sans any mobile disturbance, going for a long drive, hearing good music and walking together hand-in-hand. We urban wives are suckers for simple happy times like this and believe it or not, they are quite hard to come by!
Lesson Learnt: Visit such fairs during noon hours.
Vegetarian Food And Reviews 