Market Shopping

I look forward to Saturday mornings all week - I start with a 5km run at Main Beach with Parkrun and then head on down to the Burleigh Farmers' Markets to stock up on all our fresh fruit and veg for the week. 

Living here, we are so fortunate to be able to pick from an enormous variety of produce all year round, and I love how these markets also sell some less common ingredients such as amaranth leaves and ready-shredded green papaya. I try to pick out something new each week to experiment with.

Our weekly fruit and veg. Photo: Andrea Chisholm.

My trolley was filled with such a bounty yesterday I wanted to photograph it, thinking how it will inevitably contrast with the selection available to us in Bhutan. As yet we don't know where we will be posted, and we've been told that some of the more remote locations will have less variety in foods available. Having said that, I know the Bhutanese certainly like to eat their veggies and I have found some lovely photos on the net of markets there displaying a colourful assortment of vegetables and fruits including everyday favourites we know like carrots, tomatoes, eggplant, potato, cauliflower and oranges and bananas. I have no doubt that I will embrace whatever is available - it may be a challenge to convince Xavier that his diet of broccoli, corn, carrots and pasta needs to s-t-r-e-t-c-h!

And then there is the other interesting concept that in essence Bob and I are swapping roles so I will be out working while Bob is home attending to domestic duties including whipping up dinner for us - this is probably the biggest risk we are taking in this whole adventure!!!! I will certainly be arming Bob with a book of recipes I think will suit the food and equipment we'll have available, and the rest is up to him! 

Check out this link to a Times photo essay exploring the food that families around the world consume in a week, and its relative cost. The Bhutanese, with an expenditure of only $5 per week, are smiling broadly with a diet consisting of mainly vegetables and rice. 

I will definitely revisit this blog idea when we are settled in Bhutan and let you know about our local market and the delicious meals that Bob is putting on the table (good to be optimistic!).