There's a palpable energy there, from the convergence of shoppers and vendors. Regional farmers and artisan food-makers. Crafters and musicians. Dogs and baby strollers.
Sometimes dogs IN baby strollers.
But most of all, I love the treasure trove of edible goods that can be discovered all in one location on a weekend morning. I live for the joy of filling my grocery bag with locally grown vegetables, small-batch peanut butter and hand bottled pasta sauce.
Local goat cheese sample? Pass the crackers. Hot pepper jelly? I'll take a small jar. Vegan cheese spread? Sounds oxymoronic, but what they hey!
Unfortunately, here's the all too common problem I run into with my farmer's market patronage: actually getting myself to market to buy these great things.
Most markets in the area are only open for a few hours on Saturday mornings. So if I'm not in town or can't carve out time in my Saturday morning schedule (may or may not correlate to Friday evening activities...) I miss out on a weeks worth of local food enjoyment.
Sad face.
BUT, a fortunate encounter at Raleigh HQ on First Friday revealed a brilliant solution to this problem: Relay Foods.
Imagine with me for a second: an online marketplace where you can browse food by category (fruit, vegetable, bakery, dessert, meat, etc.) add and remove items from your virtual cart, select your pick up day, time and location and pay for your order. All from the living room couch (potentially in your fuzzy bunny pajamas).
Well that's exactly the service that Relay Foods is looking to provide, but with a deliberate focus on supporting a local food community by connecting shoppers with quality, healthy and sustainable foods.
They offer locally farmed produce, milk, cheese and meats, as well as other Triangle area food items including: Cackalacky Spice Sauce, Big Spoon Roasters nut butter, and Nello's Pasta sauce.
This means my farmer's market bounty can be assembled, bagged and waiting for pickup after work on a Tuesday evening.
With a huge smile on my face.
With a huge smile on my face.
Relay is new to the Triangle (since the end of June 2014) but traces its history as a startup back to 2010 in Charlottesville, VA. As of now, there are 24 different North Carolina producers selling their products on Relay Foods, with that number to grow as business does in the area. Pickup locations (14 in all) are spread throughout Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, with home delivery also available for a higher fee.
After learning about them, naturally I had to give Relay the ol' college try. I browsed the website for some enticing NC products (Nello's Hot Pepper Pasta Sauce and Chapel Hill Creamery's Calavander aged cheese are a match made in heaven) along with regional flair from north of the state line (Bombolini spinach fettuccine out of Richmond, VA: you look great sitting in my cart). Add in some organic broccoli for a dose of greenery, choose my pickup location and payment method, and just like that my order was ready.
That Tuesday, on my way home from work, I stopped by Sam's Bottle Shop in Durham to collect my edible bounty. I gave my name to the friendly Relay employee manning the delivery truck, she gathered all my items, paper bagged them and I was on my way.
Farmers Market: if you're reading this, don't be jealous. Nobody's taking me away from your Saturday morning goodness.
But there's no question Relay Foods will expand my appreciation and ability for local food buying and eating.
What's not to love about that?
Farmers Market: if you're reading this, don't be jealous. Nobody's taking me away from your Saturday morning goodness.
But there's no question Relay Foods will expand my appreciation and ability for local food buying and eating.
What's not to love about that?
Interested in giving Relay a try for yourself? Use the link below to get $30 off your first order of $50 or more:
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