Every other Friday the Green Shanghai club hosts a Farmers’ Market. October 9th was not any different in this sense. Nofar Hamrany, the executive director of Green Shanghai, stressed that the main goal of the Farmers’ Market is for NYU Shanghai students to get easy access to better food. “Our mission is to increase the transparency of food production. We want more people to enjoy the opportunity of buying healthy and tasty food directly from local farmers at the market, where they can talk with them and get to know where their food is coming from,” Hamrany said. Green Shanghai’s Farmers’ Market prides itself in the fact that all of its food is ecological and hormone free. Open from 1 to 6pm, the market bustled with students and teachers just outside of the school in the campus backyard. Under several makeshift tents, farmers and craftsmen displayed their products; one table offered a variety of caramelized snacks while the next presented several Tibetan scarves and decorative pieces. Another table overflowed with fruit and vegetables, and for the first time this Friday a few farmers offered organic chicken. Green Shanghai invites farmers from various regions - Tibet, Jiangsu, Chongming, and Shanghai - to further facilitate multi-cultural learning. In Shanghai, a globalized city that heavily commercializes Western brands, it is hard to come across authentic products such as those sold at the Farmers’ Market. Therefore, all the Farmers’ Market events in the upcoming period will be open not just exclusively to NYU Shanghai, but to the whole Shanghai community. Wang Juan, a proud farmer from Jiangsu province, noted: “All these products are from Tibet and Sichuan province and the organic food is from Qinghai province, mostly the Yak milk and wolfberry. These scarves are made of Yak fur. We love to communicate with teachers and students here so it’s a good location for us. The scarves range from 490 to 1000 Renminbi. This is a great opportunity [for NYU Shanghai students] to learn more about the Tibetan area—both food and craftsmanship.” Wang Juan is also part of a social enterprise called Ziwu, which is devoted to the preservation of traditional Tibetan craftsmanship. So, as fall is coming upon us, it might not be a bad idea to bundle up in a soft Yak fur scarf as you head to school! To learn more about Green Shanghai events, check out Org Sync. This article was written by Maeve Lazor. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Nofar Hamrany