Smart Farmer's Market Debuts at GMU Campus

The sweet, smoky aroma of cooked BBQ and luscious spreads of freshly-grown fruits and vegetables could easily be described as food heaven, and can be found in the parking lot of the Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Center in Manassas every Thursday. 

That is where you will find the newest installment to Smart Markets, Inc.—"guaranteed, producer-only farmer's markets".

The market launched this spring and offers guaranteed locally grown produce, meats and cheeses, as well as food vendors serving homemade dishes from around the world.

At the market you can pick up an array of goods to include, grass-fed beef,  a wide range of fruits & vegetables, uniquely flavored cheeses, homemade jams and apple butter and jarred pickles—all locally grown.

Nibble on some crisp apple samples from Tyson's Farm before heading over to one of the food vendors. Enjoy Indian Cuisine from Indigo, Turkish food from Borekg and smoked BBQ from Uncle Fred's.

The idea for the market was brought about when GMU Assistant Dean Charvis Campbell reached out to local Foodie and founder of Smart Markets, Inc., Jean Janssen.

"He wanted to expand the lunch cafe, offer more to the students & faculty and do something for the community," Janssen said.

Campbell was looking for healthy ways to expand the campus cafe and felt a merge with Smart Markets was the way to go.

"It's essentially really creating healthy food options for our students and staff. The opportunity to get local vendors here really made sense for our students. We're also taking advantage of the Freedom Center parking lot and all the visitors that come, making sure it's a community effort," he said.

Reaching out to the community, being a model of "cultural nutrition" and offering education in cooking and nutrition are what sets Janssen and her Smart Markets concept aside from other markets in the area.

Janssen utilizes her  20-plus years in the catering business and over 10 years experience as a local Market Master to preach her knowledge about the benefits of locally grown and sourced products.

"We have lost at least a generation when it comes to simple food values, by reaching out into the community we try to get people to feel comfortable about cooking food," she said.

The market also offers cooking demos for the public using all ingredients that can be purchased from inside the market.

The community outreach would not have been possible at markets Janssen has managed in the past for Fairfax County. Politics played a major role in her shifting roles into creating Smart Markets a couple years back.

According to Janssen,  markets run by Fairfax County charge vendors $40 every 10 days for inspections that don't always take place.  Then there was the time when Whole Foods Market approached Janssen to donate re-usable grocery bags to customers, but the county put their foot down and told her no.

Jean had to get creative and have the grocery retailer donate the bags to the farmers to delve out accordingly.

After discovering a vendor selling Driscoll's strawberries, which don't fall under the "grown within 150 miles" radius from the market, Jean caught flack for not inviting that vendor back the following  year.

The final straw was having to inform an inspiring young musician who worked on a farm that he couldn't play his fiddle at the market because the county said so.

"I cried on the way home that day, almost pulling my hair and asking myself why am I doing this," she said.

Now, Smart Markets, Inc. has expanded to seven markets throughout Northern Virginia with the most popular market in Gainesville. In under a year, 1,000 people had already signed up for the Virginia Gateway market's newsletter.

The market at GMU is for everyone, not just students and staff. The surrounding office buildings have heard the buzz and could be why Uncle Fred's is always selling out of ribs.

"You want ribs, you need to get here early, he's been selling out every week." Jean said.

Jean also said new vendors will be arriving this week and that the market is looking into having some of the popular D.C. food trucks at the market on a rotating basis.

The market runs from 11:30am-2:30pm every Thursday and is located in the parking lot of the Freedom Center on the GMU Campus in Manassas.

Visit Smart Markets, Inc. at http://smartmarkets.org/

On the Menu at the Market:

• Indigo (Indian Cuisine) - Butter Chicken served over Basmati Rice; Parantha Rolls, an Indian version of fajitas.
• Borekg (Turkish Food) - Homemade Gyros, Hummus & a variety of freshly prepared dips.
• Uncle Fred's BBQ - Served hot off his smoker, Uncle Fred serves up Baby Back Ribs, Italian Sausage, Pulled Pork & Chicken, Beef Brisket & Homemade coleslaw. Don't forget to add some of Fred's Famous "Come-Back Sauce", so good it will keep you coming back.