Spring is finally here! With the return of warm temperatures and green fields, there is also the anticipation for fresh produce to start being harvested from our local farms and gardens. Spring also signals the return of many farmers’ markets to our area, these unique community spaces where we gather together to support, celebrate, and learn about the abundant local foods grown in our county or region. Farmers are always hard at work preparing their land for their next crops, and spring is when the fruits of their winter labor start to come in.

March is also National Nutrition Month, an annual campaign organized by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to encourage us to make healthy choices to fuel our bodies with healthy foods and movement. The campaign’s theme this year is “Food Connects Us,” how food serves as a connection to our environment, our ancestry and culture, and our social networks and community. With this theme in mind and the timing of farmers’ markets returning to our area, today we will explore our food culture, how food reflects our shared cultural identity and values, and how farmers’ markets can be spaces to celebrate and explore our shared community food culture. We’ll also highlight important details for the return of the Sanford Farmers’ Market so you can be ready to join us when markets resume in April!

What is Food Culture?

Have you ever thought about why you eat the foods you do? What factors influence us to eat the foods we do everyday or prepare them in certain ways? By asking ourselves these questions, we are touching on our food culture, which is a reflection of shared cultural values and practices through food.

To dive deeper into this, let’s first define culture. Culture is the collection of experiences, values, beliefs, traditions, practices, languages, and behaviors shared by a social group that holds a shared identity, such as a common ethnicity or location of residence. Translating this concept to food, our food culture includes our values, beliefs, practices, and behaviors regarding the production, purchasing, and preparation of food, influencing the foods we choose to eat as well as the practices we use to grow and prepare it. Many of our values, beliefs, and behaviors involving food come from our families, friends, and peers. For example, you might consider eating barbeque, hush puppies, and coleslaw for a family meal because that was served at home when you were growing up; alternatively, these dishes might be tacos, chilaquiles, and tamales in another household. Your food culture might also reflect your religious beliefs, like not eating specific foods and/or only consuming foods prepared in specific ways (ex. Halal, kosher). They could also represent your values, such as eating a vegetarian diet to benefit your health. Other factors that can impact our eating behaviours and food culture include our access to and knowledge of preparing certain foods as well as our environment and the influences of government policies and programs.

Explore and Expand Your Food Culture

It can be a fun and enriching process to explore your food culture. If you know your family’s heritage, you can try different recipes from their countries of origin to connect with your ancestry. What ingredients did your ancestors grow or have access to, and how did they prepare their food? Food culture is also dynamic, as our communities change over time and we as a collective group gain new experiences with food. This month we encourage you to broaden your food culture horizon. Create new food experiences by trying different ingredients in your go-to weekly meals, making new recipes, or crafting new food and spice combinations, you might just stumble across your new favorite dish! Farmers’ markets are great locations to find new and interesting foods to try, such as different varieties of produce, new cuts of meats or seafoods, and more! Another great way to expand your food culture horizon is to share recipes with friends and peers.

Farmers’ Markets As Locations to Connect with Local Food Culture

Farmers’ markets are spaces where communities can gather to support local farms and food producers and celebrate the foods that are the building blocks of the community’s food culture. Here in Lee County, we enjoy access to an amazing variety of fresh produce that changes throughout the seasons all year round, and all those foods contribute to our collective food culture. Supporting local farmers and small businesses is also a shared value of our community, and buying our food locally not only helps support our local economy, it also helps us connect more with our hyper local heritage and where our food comes from.

In that vein, we are excited to announce the return of the Sanford Farmers’ Market to downtown Sanford in April! The market will kick-off its 2025 market season on April 5th this year and will be open each Saturday morning until November 15th, for a total of 33 weeks! The market will be open from 8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. on Saturday mornings and is located in the parking lot of 115 Chatham Street. With nearly 30 vendors anticipated to attend every week, you will find all sorts of locally grown, raised, caught and made foods from in and around Lee County, including fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, beautiful cut flowers, all sorts of delicious meats, fresh seafood from the NC coast, fresh-made baked goods and sweets, creamy goat cheeses, and more! The market will also host special events on every second Saturday of each month, with each highlighting seasonal local food available at the market. We look forward to helping you explore and grow your food culture at the market this year!

If you are not able to visit the Sanford Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings, consider visiting our fellow nearby farmers’ markets! You can reach out to your local Extension office to see what markets are near you and their days and hours of operation.

For more information about the Sanford Farmers’ Market and connecting with local farms in and around Lee County, contact the North Carolina Cooperative Extension – Lee County Center and ask for Meredith Favre, our Local Foods Agent, for more information.