February 16, 2011

What's a Farmer's Market?

I was one of those kids growing up who always fought with my parents about eating my fruits and vegetables. I always assumed I would never change and be one of those people who forced down greens preferring meat and carbohydrates; until I moved to California.

My first week in California I discovered a whole new world that I had been missing my entire life; fresh fruits and vegetables. I was suddenly and addict. Employees of the Trader Joe's down the street from my apartment knew me by name because I was a regular customer in the produce section. A few months into living in California, a friend dragged me to a thing call "The Farmer's Market". She described it as a place where lots of farmers go to sell stuff. I had a picture of a flea market for farmers, but what I found blew my mind. The Farmer's Market offered the freshest fruits and vegetables I had ever sunk my teeth into.

This made me question everything I had known about fresh produce and I suddenly wondered if the east coast had farmer's markets too. As it turns out, big shocker here, yes, there is indeed farmer's markets on the east coast, but boy are they a disappointment in my eyes. The farmer's market that I wish I could frequent more here in San Francisco, at the Ferry Building every Saturday, offers everything from fresh cheese and honey to meats and of course produces. The Farmer's Markets I found in New York were very similar to flea markets. They had some produce, but a lot of booths with goods such as homemade jewelry and scarfs. The one thing that New York offers that I've yet to find here is cart after cart offering fresh Falafel's and Hummus. I know there are a few stores that offer this is San Francisco, but there's nothing like shopping for vegetables and scarfs and ending up with a pita full of Mediterranean food.


Ferry Building Farmers Market:

Picture from: http://california-travels.com/tag/san-francisco/page/2/

I'm assuming that New York is lagging in the Farmer Market selection because when it snows it's kind of hard to have an outside market; not to mention the fact that California seems to have some form of agriculture in every county.
The bottom line is that I am now a fruit and vegetable lover. If you had asked 12 year old me if I ever dreamed I'd utter those words I would have scowled at you and asked for a hamburger, hold the tomato, lettuce, onions, etc. The only problem now is that I hope to move back to the east coast one day, and I'm worried I'll fall back into my produce hating ways. Maybe I've simply gone to the wrong places. Has anyone found an amazing fresh produce Farmer's Market's in New York? Any wonderful Falafel cart's at one of the Farmer's Market's in San Francisco?