Aoyama Farmers Market is celebrating its 10th anniversary and will be holding a midsummer commemorative event, "APPETITE," packed with 10 years of food experiences, on August 31st and September 1st in the courtyard of the United Nations University in Aoyama, Tokyo.


Aoyama Farmers Market started in 2009 with around 30 stalls, and now has around 100 stalls every weekend. This 10th anniversary event, "APPETITE," is being held to celebrate the launch of the web magazine "APPETITE -Food Experience Press-" (http://appetite.press/). "APPETITE -Food Experience Press-" is an online magazine that looks ahead to the next 10 years for the market, and will disseminate information about "food & culture" from Tokyo to the world. It will cover four themes: "Culture," "Farm," "Drink," and "Recipes." Preparations are currently underway for its release in conjunction with the 10th anniversary event.


Three special contents will be available at the commemorative event, "APPETITE." "Food Experience" will collaborate with farmers, chefs, and food carts that the market has built connections with over the past 10 years to provide better, "delicious, fun, and interesting" experiences related to "farming" and "food." Plans are underway to propose evolved versions of street food befitting the Japanese summer.

The market, titled "Farm to Bottle," will bring together food and drinks packed into glass bottles that represent the bounty of nature. Drinks such as sake, wine, craft beer, craft gin, juice, tea, coffee, and even sauces and jams will be on display. All drinks will be available to sample free-flow, allowing visitors to compare them all. "Drink Tasting Tickets" (3,500 yen including tax with glass, 3,000 yen including tax without glass) can be purchased from the ticket page (https://appetite.peatix.com).


As part of this "Farm to Bottle" project, the "Glass Bottle Market" will be opening, which will bring together around 140 types of Japanese glass bottles under the theme of "Life With Bottles." Glass bottles are in high demand among farmers and chefs at the market as one of the containers for concentrating and fermenting the bounty of nature. The market will be displaying these bottles within the venue in order to meet the needs of those who want to see a wide variety of containers available.

The "NAKED – waste less market," which will be held only on Sunday, September 1st, is one of the projects launched by Aoyama Farmers Market with an eye to the next 10 years. This initiative explores a new market format, where fresh vegetables, fruits, processed foods, bread, and more are displayed in their natural state, with as little plastic bags or individual packaging as possible. The market aims to reduce the consumption of plastic bags and other items by selling by weight instead of individually wrapped, and by using reusable bags or glass bottles to carry items home.

Please note that on the first day, August 31st, the Farmers Market will be open until 8:00 PM to coincide with the "Night Market," when the market will extend its hours into the evening.