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The Grateful Dumpling

I'll make a small confession here: I have a dumpling problem.

Some (many) years ago I decided that I should become a vegetarian. It was an impulsive decision made not under the best circumstances. I was a poor vegetarian, and after a month I was fiercely craving meat, specifically pork potstickers (or Peking ravioli, as they're sometimes called). When a friend told me about another friend who was a vegetarian except on the last Sunday of the month - and the end of the month was coming up fast - my time as a vegetarian was done for, and I returned to my pork-filled dumpling eating ways.

So I was very happy to see a new vendor at the Hanover Farmer's Market this year, Fred Lee's The Grateful Dumpling. Fred offers a variety of dumplings, traditional Korean mondoo, filled with mostly local ingredients like beef, chicken, tofu (from Vermont Soy), apples. Surprisingly light, they're sold 5 at a time, with accompanying sauces available as well.

You can currently visit The Grateful Dumpling at the Hartland and Hanover farmer's markets.

You can keep up with The Grateful Dumpling at Fred's blog, Parenting The Hard Way, which covers a wide range of topics including the dumpling business.

Fred was kind enough to take the time to talk to me about how he and his wife got into selling dumplings, and what being at the farmer's market means to them:

"The idea for the Grateful Dumpling (GD) was born out of our participation with a group in Hartland called Transition Towns (TT), which is actually an international movement that is seeking to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. It was started in England and is a global phenomenon, though there are numerous movements all over that have identical or at least similar goals.

"My wife was very involved with TT and I played a more peripheral role, but their primary mission is to reduce fossil fuel usage, and by extension carbon emissions. One way to support this is to buy local. This would include, of course, farmer's markets, and one was slated to begin in Hartland.

"Wanting to take part, but not being farmers, we wondered what sort of venture we could create to be more locally involved. We've wrestled with our garden and have failed many times as nature has taken over, and I've come to the conclusion that I couldn't even grow mold if I wanted to. Then again, mold grows with our without my help.

"Our first idea was to make pizza made from local ingredients. The kids took a camp in town where they built a cobb oven and made pizzas, so we thought a great thing would be to build a portable cobb oven on a trailer and take it to assorted FMs and sell locally derived pizza.

"We even volunteered at Hartland Farm Fest, where they borrowed a wood fired oven from NOFA to make pizza under the tutelage of none other than the master baker of King Arthur flour, who happens to live in Hartland. I worked with him and he is an amazing guy, though we realized we didn't have what it took to build the oven. Pizza made on the spot is a wonderful thing, but it takes time and effort and we thought it might be too time consuming with all those impatient and hungry customers.

"We were then at a loss. What could we do at the market? We were signed up at the Hartland FM, and the start date was looming. Well, I grew up eating dumplings, known as mondoo in Korean, and we eat them all the time here at home. Since we knew how to make them, and they are very popular, we decided that they might a way to make something people like to eat, we could make at an affordable cost, and offer at an affordable price.

"Plus, they are filled with numerous ingredients that we could get locally, including beef, veggies, tofu (Vermont Soy-local enough), and all that other good stuff.

"As the market got closer, people were expecting us to make pizzas, and we had to change gears. We had also contacted the Sally at the Hanover FM and she basically told us that the market was full but things opened up all the time and she'd let us know. We took this to mean not this year.

"Anyway, we had to cover a lot of ground to get up and running, and needless to say, we did everything the hard way and made more mistakes than I care to mention, but learned many valuable lessons along the way.

"So far, it's been a really fun and rewarding experience, but not without its share of pain and suffering. We have no free time, it is hard work making so many dumplings and cleaning up afterward, and we are subjecting our kids to the rigors of the market. That is not to say we wouldn't do it all over again, it's just that we've learned a lot about who we are and what we can actually accomplish.

"It's been a wonderful experience for all of us, but especially the kids, who get to see what hard work can produce, but also because we all get to know the other vendors, who are great people who all have their own stories. You really see a side to them that you don't get when you're a customer."

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