I know that some of you out there hate it when I feature pictures of vegetables in this column for you to feast your eyes on. However, you can't tell me that you don't think that the colors in this image aren't gorgeous. I'm always impressed at the vibrant colors that can be found so easily in nature. This picture comes to us from Slashfood Flickr pool member clayirving. Thanks Clay, for adding your pic to the pool!
Sunday afternoon, I had more than ten tasks and projects to get completed before the week started up again. However, instead of running around the apartment, marking things off my list, I got completed sucked into a documentary that Scott was watching. Called To Market, To Market, To Buy a Fat Pig, (from the old children's nursery rhyme) it is an hour-long visit to farmers markets all over the country. They take you from New Mexico and California to Ohio and Hawaii.
The only market they visited that I've personally been to is Lancaster, PA's Central Market and, having seen this program, I now have an unquenchable urge to plan my vacations around new farmers markets. I think before the summer is out I'll be driving down to Lexington Market in Baltimore to explore.
If you are a fan of farmers markets, this is one not to be missed. It's on the PBS schedule in various locations for the next couple of weeks.
Last December, while I was in Portland visiting my parents for the holidays, I met up with occasional Slashfoodie Sarah Gilbert at the Park Blocks Farmers Market. We spent some time wandering around, buying up some of the most gorgeous produce I've ever seen and taking lots and lots of pictures. I remember taking a picture similar to this one of a small mountain of turnips.
The thing I especially like about this picture of these parsnips is the contrast between the white of the root and the vivid, fresh green of the tops. I am constantly in awe of how beautiful the work of nature is! Big thanks to Clayirving, for adding this one to the Slashfood Flickr pool!
All across the country, farmers markets and CSA programs are gaining popularity. This year my boyfriend and I are splitting a CSA share with a friend of ours and I try to get to at least one farmers market a week. However, I often come home with bags overflowing with food, only to be confronted with the challenge of how to best use these new fruits and veggies. While many are old friends, I've frequently found myself purchasing kohlrabi or foot long Chinese beans without any clue as to how to prepare them. Luckily, Deborah Madison has stepped up with a beautiful book called Local Flavors that often bridges my personal knowledge gap.
Madison opens up the book with a introduction that describes the journey she's been on for many years now, visiting and sampling farmers markets from all over the country. Madison presents information from farmers, market managers and others who are involved in local growing, talking about the ways in which buying food directly from the people who produced it is a huge boon to your local economy. Just before heading into the recipes, she offers ten market tips that are great for people for whom shopping at farmers markets can be a little intimidating.
The recipes included in this book are, for the most part, both deeply simple and totally delicious sounding. Madison demonstrates how if you are using fresh, seasonal food, you don't have to put energy into covering up flavors. Instead, you can add little touches to bring out the inherent goodness of what you have, making meal prep so much easier. One recipe that leaped off the page at me was the one for Spaghetti with Overgrown Arugula and Sheep's Milk Ricotta. The arugula that's been showing up in my CSA share has been getting larger and leggier with each week and this seems like an amazing way to use it up.
If you are a devoted farmers market shopper who is in need of a little inspiration, this would be an excellent cookbook to add to your collection. Same goes for those newer CSA members who keep receiving veggies that were previously unknown to them. Deborah Madison has created a beautiful cookbook that will be of use for years to come.
These late spring weeks mean lots and lots of fresh, young greens at the Farmers' Markets and in CSA shares. Wandering my local market yesterday, the tables were bursting with the vivid colors of arugula, tender spinach leaves and lots and lots of salad mixes. One of the things I love about this bounty of greens is the knowledge that they are super fresh and very close to the soil from which they came.
Recently, as I was washing a batch of soft baby lettuces, I found a tiny, curled up pill bug. A bowl of arugula yielded the blade of grass you see above (it was actually one of five long, grassy bits I found in that bag). If I had found grass in the soulless bags of spring mix I sometimes buy from the supermarket, I would have been irritated, thinking it meant that their cleanliness standards weren't up to snuff. In this situation, instead of being annoyed, I was instantly charmed, because I could imagine the earth, water and sun that had worked together to produce those greens.
When I was growing up, we ate a whole world of vegetables. Artichokes, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, onions, potatoes, cabbage, string beans, beets, spinach, squash and mushrooms regularly crossed our plates. Because of this early initiation into the world of veggies, when I moved out into the world on my own, I cooked for myself happily and with great variety.
However, as I started shopping at Farmers' Markets and local produce stands, I discovered that for as many vegetables that were old friends, there were still just as many I had yet to explore. So I made a point of trying out new veggies, trying not to be turned off simply because things were unfamiliar (my grandmother Bunny would have been so proud).
Earlier this week, I decided to take on the fava bean. Favas first entered my awareness when I was nine, because that was the year that Silence of the Lambs came out and even though I didn't see the movie until years later, it was hard to avoid the infamous line in that movie that includes a reference to fava beans. I'd seen the beans, in their huge, fuzzy pods, at my local produce market for the last couple of springs, but I'd never purchased them, mostly because I had no idea what to do with them. But on Monday, I decided to be brave and bought two pounds.
On a recent trip to the farmer's market, sunflower sprouts from Claverach Vineyard and Organic Farm were one of the only local greens we could find . My husband and I had never had sunflower sprouts before, but we were determined to use them. We asked the grower for some advice on what to do with them. She suggested a salad with the sprouts, some avocado, and some lemon.
We followed her advice, plus we added some goat cheese, garlic, and truffle oil and had an incredible salad. This worked much better than our plan before talking to the grower (to cook the sprouts with some pasta). Apparently, you should eat sprouts raw. I know, I'm a food blogger, I should be aware of these things. However, I don't know it all. I'm constantly learning.
Moral of the story: Don't shy away from items you are not familiar with at your local markets. If you see something and you're not sure what to do with it, ask the grower. They are full of great ideas!
Beth D'Addono writes about becoming a compassionate carnivore (one who makes sure to only buy and consume meat from producers who raise their animals in a humane manner). Challenges include the fact that she isn't able to buy meat at regular supermarkets, limited availability and higher prices.
Farmers' Market season kicked off early in the Philly region this year, and while prices are higher than they were last year, there are still good deals to be had.
I am eagerly awaiting the opening of my beloved Headhouse Square Farmers Market this weekend, and so this picture caught my eye since I have local and seasonal produce on the brain. I am jealous of Princess Peach, as she has had gorgeous produce at her local farmers market now for sometime. Darn Californians (Don't throw things at me CA folks, I tease because I love). Thanks Princess Peach for adding your picture to our Flickr pool.
Top chefs in Los Angeles are livid over changes in business at the famed Wednesday Santa Monica Farmer's Market. Seems they can't get to the produce they need for their own restaurants anymore. Produce companies catering to restaurants and markets elsewhere lock up the deals in advance, according to a piece in the Los Angeles Times this weekend.
"Look at all of these trucks," fumed one chef quoted in the piece. "This isn't a farmer's market anymore. It's some kind of boutique wholesale operation.
Last week, Kim O'Donnel, the blogger over at the Washington Post's food blog A Mighty Appetite asked the question, "How far does $20 go at the farm market?" Farmers market shoppers from all over her area answered the call, and the comments on that post have gotten pretty interesting, not only including lists of what people bought but also what they planned to do with it.
I made a stop at my favorite Philly area farmers market today, and attempted to stay within a $20 budget so see what I could get (I confess, I went $2 over). The list of what I bought is after the jump. If you are a farmers market shopper, what can you get in your area for $20?
From college campuses to groups of friends, dining "clubs" are sprouting up to build new friendships, nurture old friendships, and simply find good places to eat.
Todays Guardian has a great article on food markets across the country. Now I have a bit of a problem with markets - especially those with rows of stalls selling tat, plastic rubbish and 5 cashminas for a fiver. As the article says the dirty, smelly aspects put many people off.
My problem is with the honesty of the market stall holder and the provenance of the products; I am sure most are fine but apart from buying at special artizan markets I seldom buy off a stall. (And I have never been to Borough Market, the bloggers mecca). Maybe these markets, as recommended in the Guardian, are a cut above the norm...
The 12-year old Westwood farmers' market that has been providing fresh produce and food to the UCLA students,
staff, and westsiders on Thursday afternoons has been told
by the City to shut down.
The Los Angeles Fire Department has determined that the area that the market takes place, on Weyburn Avenue
just east of Westwood Boulevard, is unsafe, as an enormous new mixed-use construction project is underway nearby.
All across the country, farmers markets and CSA programs are gaining popularity. This year my boyfriend and I are splitting a CSA share with a friend of ours and I try to get to at least one farmers market a week. However, I often come home with bags overflowing with food, only to be confronted with the challenge of how to best use these new fruits and veggies. While many are old friends, I've frequently found myself purchasing kohlrabi or foot long Chinese beans without any clue as to how to prepare them. Luckily, Deborah Madison has stepped up with a beautiful book called Local Flavors that often bridges my personal knowledge gap. 
A review of cookbooks for kids: the good, the bad and the downright ridiculous
Call it: Chef's gone wild.
From college campuses to groups of friends, dining "clubs" are sprouting up to build new friendships, nurture old friendships, and simply find good places to eat.
Todays Guardian has a great article on food markets across the country. Now I have a bit of a problem with markets - especially those with rows of stalls selling tat, plastic rubbish and 5 cashminas for a fiver. As the article says the dirty, smelly aspects put many people off. 
DIY Foods: Making homemade sausage
Cakes so amazing they'd be hard to cut into
Fruit juice: An invitation to diabetes?
