Foça Earth Market

Foça is a little town (60,000 inhabitants in the whole municipality) located on the Gulf of Izmir, north of Bodrum and about sixty kilometres from the capital of the region, Izmir.
This area is a tourist destination, and Izmir is an important port for the export of local agricultural products. Much of Foça district in under environmental protection, given its incredible flora and fauna, especially its considerable amount of endemic herbs and medicinal plants. It is exactly to promote and introduce these plants to the public that the Foça Convivium began inviting local gatherers to display and sell their crops in town.
Launched by Slow Food Convivium Foça Zeytindali in April 2011, the market takes place every Sunday from 8:30 to 18:30, in the market square or Yerel Pazar. The Municipality provided the market with its current location in a covered space in the city centre, nearby the sea.
All producers attending the market came form an area of 40 km of radius. The convivium carried out a considerable work by mapping local products and producers: bread, fresh fruits and vegetables, preserves, fresh herbs, mushrooms, chees, milk, yogurt, flower-related products. The only street food stand at the market presents gozleme, a phyllo pastry made with water, flour and salt, hand-rolled with a tapered rolling pin. Filled with herbs and cheese, is folded like a crepe and then cooked on the saç, a special convex pot.
It is important to acknowledge that the market stems from the convivium Foça Zeytindali’s will to promote and introduce wild herbs and medicinal plants. It has a strong education feature. Indeed, together with wild herbs education, the market is trying to campaign to reintroduce the use of grape molasses as a traditional substitute for sugar. With the help of more experienced producers, the market organizes educational activities for the producers themselves. Finally, they organize seed exchange amongst market producers.