Queens County Market local food fair full of global flavor

On Saturday, the Queens County Market graced Sunnyside Community Services on 39th Street, showcasing locally made goodies. The Queens County Market is basically a pop-up food fair that provides local food businesses with an affordable marketplace to build a customer base and connect to their Queens community.

Besides being drawn to anything Queens + indie + foodie, we were happy to have the excuse to hang out in an air-conditioned spot. (If more Sunnysiders had known about the event, we’re sure it would have been swarming with hungry cool-air-seekers.)

It was still morning when we got there, so we woke oursleves up with a cup of (spicy!) almond milk iced tea from Chai Mookie. Free samples came in little hand-folded recycled paper cups—a cute touch.

Then it was on to the solid foods. We tasted a bit of everything, from fiery chipotle salsa to sweet tomato sauce, from Guyanese pastries to savory Finnish rye tarts. Most of the foods were made in Queens, many of them at the Entrepreneur Space, a food business incubator in Long Island City.

We also chatted with friendly vendors of baby food (Mommy’s Yummies delivers fresh, organic toddler-friendly meals to busy families) and medicinal beer (Rainforest Beer is brewed with bitter herbs with health benefits). No free samples there, but plenty of entrepreneurial spirit.

Not all of the indie food makers were based in Queens. Some vendors brought smiles from Brooklyn…

And one sweet highlight from Long Island was the alfajor—a dulce de leche-filled cookie popular in Argentina.

There’s no word yet on when the next pop-up market will take place, but you can follow Queens County Market through their mailing list or Facebook to find out.

Joanna Eng is a Sunnyside-based writer covering arts, culture, and all things green. She loves biking, books, public parks, and Southeast Asian vegetarian food.