|
Farmers Markets
Many Americans are getting serious about eating foods that are grown locally and organically in season. A glance at the 2002 National Farmers Market Directory tells us over 3,000 farmers' markets flourish in the United States. According to the USDA this represents a 79 percent increase since 1994. The USDA also says there are some 19,000 farmers who sell their produce solely at farmers' markets. And 58 percent participate in programs that help poor families purchase fresh fruit and vegetables.
 | |
Herbs for sale at a farmers' market.
USDA Photo by Bill Tarpenning
|
 | |
Fresh fruits and vegetables are found at the USDA farmers' market.
USDA Photo by Bill Tarpenning
|
Thriving farmers' markets mean support for the local environment. The American Farmland Trust says that about two acres of farmland is being lost to development every minute of every day. According to Local Harvest, a non-profit group linking the public with farms, farmers' markets and local food sources, "most produce in the United States is picked 4 to 7 days before being placed on the supermarket shelves, and is shipped for an average of 1,500 miles before being sold." Radio host and food writer, Michele Anna Jordan, author of The BLT Cookbook, frequents the farmers' markets in Sonoma County, Calif., for the ripe tomatoes and crisp lettuce she uses to create her favorite sandwich. "Find someone who grows near you," she advises. "Tomatoes need to be just 12 hours this side of being ripe."
Food writer and cook Deborah Madison, is famous for her vegetable cookbooks and for having been a founding chef of the Greens restaurant in San Francisco. Madison is also an inveterate traveler to farmers' markets across the country. In Madison's informed and delightful travelogue, Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets, she writes, "Farmers' markets are vital to our national health in the deepest sense of the word." Madison says farmers' markets are our "new village green, the plaza, the town square, the place where everyone gets to know each other."
When Deborah Madison is not visiting farmers' markets around the country, she is heavily involved with her own local market in Santa Fe, N.M. In fact, Madison spent several years as general manager of her local market. She's seen grow from half-a-dozen farmers 30 years ago to 60 today. She notes a trend in farmers bringing to market organic meats.
"The grass-fed Choro lambs raised in the nearby mountains are full of flavor," she says fondly. Another exciting aspect of farmers' markets for Madison are the heirloom vegetables that generations of farming families have grown. "There's one family I know that grows 36 varieties of eggplants," she says. "People line up for them." But she notes that farmers must "balance what they enjoy growing with what people like." Her tip? "When you go to a market, ask the farmer questions like 'how do you cook this?'
"Ask questions, get a dialogue started with your growers. And don't forget to taste. Farmers want you to taste their produce."
The popular revival of farmers' markets has renewed interest in heirloom vegetables. Jeff Dawson is the Curator of Gardens at Copia: the American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts. He oversees 3 1/2 acres of edible and organic gardens at the center. He has played an important role in the International Seed Savers Exchange program which protects rare heirloom seed varieties from extinction.
"In the seedsavers program, gardeners and farmers can exchange many varieties of heirloom seeds handed down by generations of growers," Dawson says. "In my garden I'm growing over 30 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, 24 of eggplants, 24 different chiles, another 24 types of sweet peppers as well as beets, carrots, peaches, eggplants and so on."
On a farm near Londonderry, Vt., Ellen Ogden has devoted 20 years to providing people with gourmet vegetable seeds and recipes to go with the vegetables that will issue from the seeds. Ogden founded The Cook's Garden Catalog with her husband, Shepherd.
"Twenty years ago, not many people knew anything about arugula or mesclun," she says. "With my seed catalog, I wanted people to grow something different. I would ask friends to bring back seed packets from Europe and other places."
Heirloom vegetables, exotic herbs and flowers are represented in The Cook's Garden Catalog along with her recipes and comments. Her new cookbook -- From The Cook's Garden -- gathers 150 recipes from the catalog. Although Ogden has her own organic garden, abundant with fennel, yellow peppers and baby artichokes, she says she still loves going to farmers' markets. "They're just fun places for all ages," she says. "It's also how I get to know what is season in my part of the country-rhubarbs, greens, herbs. I buy a little something from everybody. I'm looking forward this summer to the new peas, sugar snaps, herbs, lettuce, and cherry tomatoes."
Just as Deborah Madison keeps copies of The Cook's Garden Catalog in her kitchen, I keep close by my copy of Amanda Hesser's The Cook and the Gardener. It's a lyrical memoir/cookbook about Hesser's year cooking in a 17th century Burgundian chateau for a famous culinary family. It details her unusual friendship with a cantankerous French gardener who is a genius with the hoe.
Hesser, a food reporter for The New York Times, is an excellent guide to the seasons of growing, harvesting and eating the luxurious produce from a well-tendered garden. She admits the year in France was "a life-changing experience."
"I learned from the French a strong sense of what makes food work," she told me. "You just also need to cook and eat what's in season. It simplifies things too." In her Times role, Hesser explores the world of cooking and dining. She loves shopping in New York's farmers' markets. And she has a few pointers for people planning a trip to their local farmers' market:
Buy a shopping cart with wheels; shop for heavy things first, leaving delicate produce such as raspberries to be chosen near the end of your marketing; and go early to get the freshest vegetables.
"Summer is a season of subtle changes, growth, and ultimately, transformation." So said Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila Latourrette, the beloved French cook and monk. Now is the perfect time to visit local farmers' markets and enjoy the abundance of lush fruit and fresh vegetables.
In Depth
 Sept 20, 2002: NPR's John McChesney reports on the resurgence of farmers' markets.
 June 5, 2003: Amanda Hesser, a food writer for The New York Times, finds that simple, no-stress food is the backbone of her own kitchen repertoire.
|
