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Tomatoes, eggplant, nectarines, free-range eggs, pasture-raised chicken. This is what’s expected at a farmers market. There are also bagels, croissants, cookies, cupcakes and coffee. And at a dozen farmers markets from Northern Virginia to Charlottesville, there’s a stand selling Alaskan salmon.
The fruits and vegetables are a given. They’re grown within a certain radius and sold by the farmer and their staff. Breads and pastries are common, too. They’re baked locally, but the ingredients being used are often grown far from here. There might be a peach pie, using local fruit, but where did that flour and sugar come from?
When Zac Culbertson gets asked, as he does every time he sets up his stand, “How come there’s fish flown from thousands of miles away at the farmers market?” he has an answer. And it challenges the very definition of a farmers market.
Last Friday, before he had to unexpectedly sleep at the Seattle airport on his way back to Virginia, Culberston fished for King salmon in Alaska during an 11 day span. He finally landed at 4:30 p.m., drove straight to his Fall Church warehouse, arrived at his house in Louisa County at 9:30 p.m. and left his house at 3:30 a.m. for the Old Town Alexandria Farmers Market.
He needs to be there, says Culberston, “to sell the story.” Culbertson likes to say his fish are pampered. Because he catches the fish, guts the fish, bleeds the fish (using a method called pressurized bleeding, which he says leads to a “cleaner taste and fresher flavor), sets the fish on ice and makes sure it’s frozen within a day of leaving the water—he can answer any customer question. Especially one about why there’s sustainably caught Alaskan salmon, halibut, Pacific rockfish or black cod at a Virginia farmers market in the first place.
Most farmers markets only allow producers to sell, which means they must grow or make the product. For Alexandria’s Old Town market, for example, the vendor must be located within 100 miles of the market. Culberston’s facility is in Falls Church and Cold Country Salmon is set up as a business within the state, so it’s considered local, though the actual product is not. It’s also why there’s Spartan Oil, from Vienna native Pericles Konstas’ family orchard in Greece, at area markets.
There’s also demand. “People want salmon, and for good reason,” says Culbertson. His argument to farmers market owners is: “They’re going to buy salmon and you’re missing a big segment of the market if you don’t have salmon.” If people must drive to the supermarket for salmon (or bread or pie), they might just buy their produce there as well.
Culberston extends the meaning of a farmers market beyond neighboring corn stalks for sale. His version encompasses the idea that it’s “putting a face to the production of the food” that’s important. Just like anyone can meet the farmer who collected the eggs and ask them questions about the hen’s life, he wants people to know who caught the fish and ask him what type of lure was used. That’s the benefit of shopping at a farmers market.
He rightly dubs this “romantic capital.” He not only sells King salmon for $39 per pound, but sells the tale of his so-called “artisanal grade” catch, too. // Find Cold Country Salmon at area farmers markets
