What I Told Dani Valent About Roadside Stalls
I went on Dani Valent's food podcast, Dirty Linen, to talk about roadside stalls. Here's what I told her, and what's surprised me along the way.
Dani Valent had me on her food podcast, Dirty Linen, in an episode that came out on 3 September. Dani's a Melbourne restaurant critic and food reporter, and she opened by saying one of her favourite things on a country drive is spotting a little sign for potatoes or fresh eggs and pulling over.
Where SideStall came from
I told her the story I tell everyone. After we moved to the Adelaide Hills, I'd drive the kids back to my parents' place most weekends, past stall after stall. On the way there the kids were screaming in my ears, and on the way home they were asleep, so I wasn't pulling over either way. And on the highways you just can't stop.
I caught up with a mate who's a software developer, and long story short, that's how SideStall started: a map of the stalls and farm gates near you, so you know they're there before you drive past.
What people are actually selling
I expected eggs and surplus citrus, and there's plenty of both. What I didn't expect was the baking. Some of the newer sellers bake from home, a few of them stay-at-home parents, and they don't need a table at the end of the driveway at all. They can take pre-orders and confirm a pickup time, and there's a pickup code at collection so the right person walks away with it.
Sourdough is huge at the moment. I told Dani about one seller I've been following who started with three or four loaves a week. She's now got an old chicken house that's been cleaned up, with five rows of sourdough, plus fruit sourdough and a low-gluten one, and she's started making cookies too.
There's honey, tomato sauce made in the family kitchen, farm-gate butchers, and olive oil from people's own backyard groves. Up in Queensland we've got banana stalls coming on board, and I even saw a couple of stalls with mangoes, which is pretty rare here in South Australia.
It's about not wasting things
What I told Dani I'm seeing the most is community. Plenty of people grow more lemons or collect more eggs than their two neighbours can take, and as I put it to Dani, the neighbours are sick of eggs every two minutes. So instead of the surplus going in the bin, it goes on SideStall for a couple of dollars and someone down the road gets fresh eggs. I honestly didn't expect the waste side of it to become such a big part of the story.
If you're thinking of selling what you make at home, the rules for home-made food aren't the same everywhere, so I always point people to their local council first. The ones I've spoken to have been really happy to help.
Markets are on the map now
When we recorded, markets were still a feature we were taking registrations for. They're on the map now, and stalls that trade at a market can join its page. Dani made a point I really liked: once you can see markets on a map, you can also see the places that don't have one.
If you run a market, you can register it here and we'll be in touch.
The episode runs about 16 minutes, and you can listen to it on Apple Podcasts. Thanks again for having me, Dani.
Have a look at some of the stalls on the web, or download the app to see what's near you. SideStall is free on the App Store and Google Play.