Complex Carbs
Decatur Metro | March 7, 2011UPDATE: The Decatur Farmer’s Market has clarified to both Andisheh and in a comment to Kessler’s post stating that Nazifa “was never formally part of the market and can’t be because her ingredients aren’t local or organic.” Rick posted the AJC comment in full below.
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John Kessler’s got a great piece on his Food and More blog about Nazifa Garib, a native Bosnian making the most in-demand Iraqi flatbread in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Her store is located in the Fox Trot Center on North Decatur Road, a “no-man’s land” that really is an “everyman’s land”, according to Kessler. (I concur, as we lived out in this area for 5 years before migrating in-town.)
But as Andisheh points out in an email, don’t come to the Decatur Farmer’s Market looking to buy Nazifa’s breads anymore. Take it, Kessler…
Now she is looking for ways to expand beyond traditional customers from the nan-eating world. Which, as the crow flies, is close.
A stall at the Decatur Farmers Market earned her praise but it came to a quick end after another merchant there complained she was taking away too many of his customers. (Market manager Duane Marcus confirms this.) This season she may try a stall at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market.
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I want to know more about this story – I read it in the paper yesterday and I have to admit, it really bothered me.
Soooooo…she comes to the DFM, has a product that lots of people want to buy, another merchant complains that she’s “taking” too many of “his” customers (what, they’re not capable of making the decision of whose wares to buy on their own???), so she loses her stall because of that? Without more explanation, this sounds a bit ridiculously overreaching (not to mention fiscally unsound) on the part of the Market’s management. Perhaps they should remember that karma is a major beeyotch…
DFM’s Response (from AJC comments)
March 7th, 2011
10:18 am
Ms. Garib was never officially a part of the Decatur Farmers Market.
One Wednesday in the winter of 2009 she was brought to the market by a
man who is market founder Greg Coleson’s neighbor. He claimed that
Greg told him I would give her a space in the market so I did that
day. When I spoke to Greg after the market he said that was not the
case. He told the man to see me about the possibility of her
participating in the market. We require potential vendors to complete
an application that is reviewed and a decision is made as to whether
or not the applicant meets our requirements and is a good fit for the
market.
Weekday markets in general are not nearly as well attended as Saturday
markets and during the winter customers are especially scarce. Our
vendors depend on market for their living. Even a few lost sales hurt.
After the market at witch Ms. Garib showed up our long time bread
vendor told me his sales were off as a result of her selling her
bread. When she came back the next week she was allowed to sell her
bread and she was informed we would not be able to provide her with a
space at the market.
Had she followed procedure and submitted an application it would not
have been approved. Our market focuses on products made with organic,
local ingredients which she does not use. We make every effort to
insure that all our vendors are successful. Our market is also
physically small. We only have 15 spaces for non-farmer vendors. We
select vendors so as to provide a diverse mix of products for our
customers. We get lots of applications from vendors who want to sell
similar products to those already offered by our vendors. Our customer
base is just too small to make it possible for us to have competing
vendors.
Duane Marcus
Market Manager
The Decatur Farmers Market
> After the market at witch Ms. Garib showed up
She must have floated when she should have sunk, or sunk when floating was expected…
Sorry. Sorry. Could. Not. Resist.
Yikes.
But…there are several vendors who seem to sell baked goods?(http://decaturfarmersmarket.com/wordpress/?page_id=25).
Mgmt might want to clear things up before boycotts affect the wrong vendor…
Speaking as a regular patron, I think the only regular vendor that sells bread is the Magnolia Bread Co. I doubt that the granola guy or the lady who bakes pies would see a nan booth as competition.
Duane’s official response (which he copied to me when I asked by e-mail) seems right on. I love Nazifa’s bread, but she was never really formally part of the market and couldn’t be she doesn’t use local organic ingredients. I think Kessler’s description, while accurate, leaves a misleading impression.
Hmmm. So, the DFM requires not just “local” produce/foods, but they have to be organic, too? Did not realize that. Well, they of course have the right to decide what they’ll sell & choose their sellers. Likewise, I have the right to decide I’d rather get my organics from YDFM.
Didn’t realize it was an either/or proposition. We certainly will continue to patronize both.
This seems like a lot of fuss about nothing. Neither side was acting maliciously. Ms. Garib (who obviously slings great nan) was trying to find a market for her products and likely was not fully aware of the application process to sell at the Decatur Farmer’s Market nor of their local/organic requirements. Meanwhile, the DFM has been consistent in laying out what it requires of its sellers, and we have certainly benefited from that. There are plenty of other markets around town that should be able to accommodate her products. Hopefully she will hook up with one of them.
It certainly doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition for YOU, and I wasn’t suggesting that it had to be for everyone else. If I decide that I’d rather spend my $$ somewhere else because the whole thing was more than a bit off-putting to me, that’s my choice, and that’s what I was commenting about. It’s not your or anyone else’s place to take me to task about that choice.
So, this is a nan-issue, then?
Don’t open Tandoori’s Box.
LOL, you guys! OK, I mighta been rubbed the wrong way when no wrong way was intended, but thanks for lightening it up…I’m a sucker for a good pun, and them was good’uns!
Yes Cuba, we know you are gluten for punishment.
Guh-roooooooannn!!! I laughed at that before I could stop myself…
Sorry to be such a PITA (don’t make me spell it out for you).
LOL! No need, lump.
Okay, I am proposing giving Gibs and Karass gold medals today!
You are, of course, referring to Gold Medal Flour. It’s not organic!
http://www.bettycrocker.com/products/gold-medal-flour
Yes, Gibs and Karass are my gyros for rising above. I falafel about how this whole thing has been blown out of proportion.
Heh! (Now, you know at least one person is gonna read this and think, “They’re his ‘jye-roes’??? I don’t get it…”)
I think that about wraps it up. (Really I’m done.)