ABOUT
BPhoto: Robin Riley
Founded in 2005, New Amsterdam Market was conceived as reinvention of the Public Market, a deeply rooted economic institution that has existed since the intertwined emergence of cities and of agriculture. Public Markets are perhaps the oldest forms of public space, and have existed long before the invention of urban parks and gardens. New Amsterdam Market was specifically developed to help incubate and support a new generation of food purveyors committed to alternative, sustainable food systems.
A purveyor is defined as "One who provides victuals, or whose business is to make provision for the table." Traditional purveyors include the grocers, butchers, fishmongers, fruiterers, cheesemongers and other small food businesses once found in every town and city. Largely replaced by supermarkets during the rise of industrial agriculture, these trades are being revived, reimagined, and reconnected to farms and fisheries who grow and harvest food with respect for human, animal, and environmental well-being.
Farmers markets have long provided a transparent forum where such food is sold only by those who grow it. For good reason, purveyors are typically not permitted at traditional farmers markets such as the New York City Greenmarket, which maintains its high integrity by enforcing its mission as a "grower-only" direct-sales outlet whose vendors are subject to frequent inspection and verification. New Amsterdam Market was envisioned as a complement to the Greenmarket, by accommodating a growing community of vendors who are not farmers or growers, but who nonetheless support similar ideals.
Between 2005 and 2014, New Amsterdam Market collaborated with over 400 vendors, many of them purveyors, distributors, wholesalers, manufacturers, or other non-farm, non-restaurant enterprises committed to building a better food system. While not all of these original businesses remain in operation today --one decade later-- it can also be said that similar initiatives, holding the same values, continue to emerge, and along with them increased recognition and support.
The premise held by New Amsterdam Market is that a new generation of public markets will have a valuable role to play in creating economies that are aligned with the restoration of a thriving biosphere.
A purveyor is defined as "One who provides victuals, or whose business is to make provision for the table." Traditional purveyors include the grocers, butchers, fishmongers, fruiterers, cheesemongers and other small food businesses once found in every town and city. Largely replaced by supermarkets during the rise of industrial agriculture, these trades are being revived, reimagined, and reconnected to farms and fisheries who grow and harvest food with respect for human, animal, and environmental well-being.
Farmers markets have long provided a transparent forum where such food is sold only by those who grow it. For good reason, purveyors are typically not permitted at traditional farmers markets such as the New York City Greenmarket, which maintains its high integrity by enforcing its mission as a "grower-only" direct-sales outlet whose vendors are subject to frequent inspection and verification. New Amsterdam Market was envisioned as a complement to the Greenmarket, by accommodating a growing community of vendors who are not farmers or growers, but who nonetheless support similar ideals.
Between 2005 and 2014, New Amsterdam Market collaborated with over 400 vendors, many of them purveyors, distributors, wholesalers, manufacturers, or other non-farm, non-restaurant enterprises committed to building a better food system. While not all of these original businesses remain in operation today --one decade later-- it can also be said that similar initiatives, holding the same values, continue to emerge, and along with them increased recognition and support.
The premise held by New Amsterdam Market is that a new generation of public markets will have a valuable role to play in creating economies that are aligned with the restoration of a thriving biosphere.