Talk about the trifecta of travel. Make farmers’ markets a priority on your travel agenda and you save money (no admission fees), go green (most markets showcase seasonal, sustainable agriculture) and local (slap that cash directly in the farmer’s hand).
As my husband, John, and I and our eight-year old, Liam, trade Wisconsin winter on our farm for a few weeks working on writing projects on the California coast, indulging in the farmers’ market scene is like the equivalent of a therapists couch for our frozen Midwestern souls. We see shiny happy people holding fresh spinach and the 20-degree below wind chill back home melts away as a far memory and all is momentarily right with the world.
While markets in January rank particularly appealing, you don’t have to solely escape parkas and snowplows to appreciate a farmer’s market while traveling. We seek out local markets wherever we may roam. According to USDA statistics, farmers’ markets grew in number by 13 percent between 2008 and 2009. Tanking economies may just be what folks need to connect back to their food roots, craving a better quality, authentic connection to what’s on one’s plate.
Pack these seven tips the next time you travel to add some farmer’s market flavor and fare to your touring plans:
Shown above is an organic cilantro salad with the feijoa and myer lemon. This delightful salad needs no pairing although the guava has a tart flavor that pairs well with mesculin greens.
Gathering together individual ingredients for a couple dollars at each vendor, has me spicing up dishes with organic produce.
“is a California certified farmers market operated by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture“ ~CUESA
The market is open Tuesday and Saturday.
Below are spotlights on a few of their unique vendors in this city building, such as the Far West Fungi shop, and organics from the Farm Fresh to You store.
With all of the attention being paid to the platforms of foodies like Jamie Oliver and Michael Pollan, you would think that Americans would cook more and rely less on fast- and processed-food.
The misperception that cooking is too time consuming turns out to be a major roadblock on our path to a sustainable national food system.
Cooking is not time consuming. Shopping for groceries, however, is.
One strategy for making cooking a part of your daily life is to maximize your cooking to shopping ratio.
Here are some tips on how to cook more and shop less:
The sustainability mantra may be “less is more,” but there’s one exception when buying more makes green sense: shopping the last farmers markets. If you’re not gardening and growing your own produce, your local farmers market serves as your easy connection to one-stop local fare shopping.
But as frosts linger and the cold winds start to blow, don’t punt and think your fresh local bounty will disappear till spring. With a little strategic shopping and planning, you can preserve a local meal focus all winter long by taking advantage of those last farmer’s markets.
Here’s another perk of eating local year round: you’re supporting the economic health of your community. Just ask Cindy Torres, manager of the Longmont Farmers Market outside Boulder, Colorado, and an IATP Food and Society Fellow. Passionate about using local food systems as a healthy economic development tool, Torres co-founded the Boulder County Food and Agriculture Policy Council to look at how her area can increase the local food supply to enhance the lives of community residents of all economic backgrounds.
“With a little bit of planning and preparation, we can readily eat local till the spring markets start up again,” explains Torres. Here are her favorite five tips:
Sweet potatoes are just starting to show up at my local farmers market. The first sweet potatoes of the season are not as sweet as those that come later. Farmers will set some by to cure, thus developing the super-sweet flavor familiar from holiday dinners. Fresh from the ground, they’re still sweet. But they’re not so sweet that they should be called dessert.
Sweet potatoes have a lot of nutrition packed into relatively few calories. According to NutritionData, a single serving (1 cup) of sweet potatoes has 769% of the daily value of Vitamin A. They’re also high in vitamin C and several B vitamins, as well as minerals such as Manganese, Potassium, Copper, and others. The low glycemic load of sweet potatoes gets them into low-carb diets and many weight lifters include them in their meals.
A quick trip to the farmers market Saturday afternoon netted me several more pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables. The canteloupe vanished soon after arriving home. My daughter had me cut it open and scoop out the seeds for her and she sat down on the sofa with a melon baller. Ten minutes later, it was gone.
While she gobbled down the melon, I surveyed the fridge for dinner. I needed to use up some leftovers from a party earlier this week where I served dips and chips. I had a half jar of salsa and some sour cream left over. With the red potatoes and jalapeños I bought today, I had the makings of a good side dish for dinner.
I’m not a morning person. When I get out of bed, I want an easy dish to make for my family. This red potato frittata is a big hit in my house. It’s a big hit with me because I can do it with my eyes half-closed.
Frittatas are well-known for their ability to absorb leftovers. Just gather whatever is in your fridge, dump it into an oven-safe dish, and pour eggs over it. Simple.
My daughter looks forward to shopping at the farmers’ market. I think she’s excited because she never knows what will be there. When one booth owner mentioned that he would have blackberries the next week, she talked about that to anyone who would listen and pestered me about it until we went back. If my husband or I purchase a head of lettuce at the grocery store, even if she’s with us, she won’t eat it. But she eats the lettuce she buys at the farmers’ market, just like she eats the lettuce she grows in her little garden.
I confess that I would do many things to get my daughter to eat her veggies – including eating vegetables I hate – but I, too, like gardening and going to farmers’ markets, so this one is no sacrifice.
It’s an experience many of us relish– taking a weekend stroll through the colors, sounds, and smells of a local farmers market and then choosing fresh items to take back to our homes, as well crafts, or maybe a cd from a local band. We know that the food will eventually fill our stomachs contently, or that another item we found will be a perfect and unique gift for a special friend or family member.
This summer you can show your support for your favorite farmers market, by helping it win a $5000 reward. Care2.com and Localharvest.org are sponsoring this great online contest. The $5000 top prize will be awarded to the farmer’s market that is voted the most popular by internet users like you.
I just finished watching the documentary The Future of Food. The film goes into the safety and ethical issues behind patenting genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and introducing them into our food supply. Check out the trailer:
If you want to watch the whole film, it’s available for free on Hulu! The facts about Monsanto and the GMO industry are pretty infuriating, but the film ends with an optimistic call to action. We can combat companies like Monsanto by voting with our pocketbooks and making our voices heard!
Talk about the trifecta of travel. Make farmers’ markets a priority on your travel agenda and you save money (no admission fees), go green (most markets showcase seasonal, sustainable agriculture) and local (slap that cash directly in the farmer’s hand).
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With all of the attention being paid to the platforms of foodies like 
