Markets Matter

One of the many oddities of the lockdown period was that while supermarkets were busy – both in their stores and online – many food markets were closed down. This despite the evidence soon emerging that, with regards to the coronavirus, shopping outdoors rather than indoors is safer. For many small-scale food producers selling at markets is an important income stream and being deprived of it so abruptly was a major blow. Some markets, however, commendably stayed open, adapting swiftly and flexibly to the new circumstances of the lockdown. They carried on trading – albeit in an altered form – a fact which was important to both their stall holders and the communities they serve.