- A great deal of work has been done in Bergara for years on consumption and the primary sector. The creation of the Ereindajan cooperative and the Food Bureau provided an impetus in this overall work. In recent years, it has focused on the process of reflection around the plaza de Abastos. “We felt that the Bergara fair needed a comprehensive project, even though the Saturday market was working, as there were fewer and fewer fixed seats and a proposal was needed,” said Aitziber Plazaola, a member of Ereindajan and Elikatuz. They've been modeled by the Azpeitia Food Center.
On 6 September the new space of the Bergara Oxirondo Fair, Elikaenea, was opened, but there is a work of years and many people behind it. During the process of reflection around the fair, it was observed that on the ground floor of the building, many of the positions on the right were closed. “Most of the posts on the left were open and functioning, so we decided to keep them and perform the work on the right side to create a great space to build the new store and the kitchen.” The central open space is maintained as before, as the baserritarras go to the fair on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
By agreement, the City Hall entrusts the cooperative Ereindajan with the management and dynamization of the new space. Ereindajan, which had 330 partner-consumers and 27 partner producers, has launched a new project in which they hope to gradually increase this figure to a larger number of citizens. “Members have a 5% discount on all purchases, they receive information, they have priority on some products… but at the store they don’t need to be partners,” Plazaola said.
More than shops
The products produced in the region have priority in Elikaenea, as well as organic products, and bring from Euskal Herria the products they lack in the region. “Today, in Euskal Herria there is almost everything, fresh things are almost always close here, and with the products of Navarra we have the opportunity to extend the season,” he explained. There are also products that come from outside, and they get them from the ecological model and from fair trade. To fill the weekly shopping cart, in addition to food, they have everything: cleaning products and others.
And in addition to the store, they've also set up the kitchen. “Cooking is one more tool to give way to the local product, the intention is to offer it modified and prepared,” Plazaola explained. Every day different dishes will be prepared and consumers will have a ration and menu format to choose from. “In addition to the store and the kitchen, here we will also organize other initiatives, as the idea is to attract people and create a living space, recovering the socialization function that the fairs have always played”, he concluded.