It tastes better because … consumer understandings of UK farmers’ market food

In the social sciences there has been much exciting and informative work on farmers’ markets and this paper contributes to this literature by considering how the place of farmers’ markets affects the way consumers understand the taste of food. I draw on the difficulty faced by many consumers in articulating the taste of food, especially when food is perceived to taste good. I explore how consumers demonstrate their evaluations of taste, whether through descriptions of taste that are metaphor-laden or through beliefs and values emboldened by food knowledges and opinions. I argue these are how farmers’ market consumers understand and perform taste in relation to market food. The findings that inform the paper are taken from interviews with farmers’ market consumers in the UK.

► The place of the farmers market influences the taste of food.
► Farmers’ market consumers in the UK were interviewed.
► The consumers express a preference for market food because of its taste.
► Consumers had difficulty articulating the taste of farmers’ market food.
► Nevertheless, consumers perform taste in articulate ways.