I hurried to seize the precious time and bought pesticide-free guavas, Tribal e-Go vegetables, Zhunan zongzi... and so on, until I ran out of cash on me. As I shopped, I repented and comforted myself: "It's only once a year, to support the caring small farmers of Taiwan, China." At small farmers' markets or small-farmer produce co-ops in Belgium, it is very hard to buy produce from more than 30 kilometers away. And the carbon emissions created by the heavy backpack on my back reflect, to some extent, the planning problems between the Taipei metropolitan area and agricultural production regions, as well as the phenomenon that land in the metropolis is so precious that community-supported agriculture is hard to find.

Mobile payment in Belgium has only just started, and most people are still unfamiliar with QR codes. Although there are many farmers' markets in various places, most are still traditional markets with cash transactions. But volunteers with an information-technology background launched "Local Market," creating a much-talked-about new model of logistics and cash flow.

In West Flanders Province in western Belgium, two "Local Markets," aiming to reduce the carbon-emitting mileage of food transport, raise consumers' willingness to buy, and promote the idea of local agricultural produce, hold their small farmers' market day every Friday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. The first "Local Market" is located in an abandoned old factory, which both reactivates the function of an old building and avoids wind and rain; the second is even more eye-catching, as a church has been transformed into a market and bar!

Times have changed, and churches are used less and less. Besides leaving them idle as cultural assets, motivated local governments are actively giving churches a new mission. People enter the church market or the factory market and, with a single market transaction card, "beep" their way through buying groceries; vendors store the purchased items and amounts on the customer's transaction card, and when customers reach the market exit they only need to take out their wallet once to pay in cash or by debit card, saving both buyer and seller the trouble of making change. People can also order online in advance and pick up their goods directly at the market on Friday.

Adults buy groceries and drink beer, and of course children should have fun too. "Local Market" provides a children's hands-on play area and holds children's food-education workshops. Going to the market becomes a daily life enjoyment for the whole family, rather than something stereotypically left to mothers and housewives.