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Is it just me, or has every farmer's market I've ever been to been a terrible disappointment? The produce isn't as reliable as a good grocery store, and when it

Is it just me, or has every farmer's market I've ever been to been a terrible disappointment? The produce isn't as reliable as a good grocery store, and when it is, there's never enough of it. Sample size: New York (Brooklyn and Manhattan) and Los Angeles. FWIW, cooking isn't an interesting side hobby for me: I cook pretty every meal my family eats from scratch, and it's hard enough planning and executing 21 meals a week without dealing with artisinal suppliers.

timmaah 9y ago
Just you. Some smaller towns farmer's markets are amazing.
virmundi 9y ago
Point 1: that probably depends on your farm's markets. Indianapolis has one ever Wednesday. Being in the heart of the heartland, it's pretty good. Down side is it closes too early for folk that work on the ring of Indy (I465 to downtown is about 30 minutes, so it's hard to hit up on a lunch HOUR). Point 2: I'm working on getting that 21 meals planned fixed. Unfortunately, it's just me and my wife, who's a Social Worker by training. Going to be a while since it literally took me 4 months to get the security system in place. Look for a Shown HN.
rm_-rf_slash 9y ago
Ithaca has a great farmers market, lots of pop-up farmers markets, and even a lot of farm shares around the community. What are you thinking expecting major metropolitan areas to be good places for farmers markets? Although I'm told the one in Seattle is supposedly legendary...
ajacksified 9y ago
I cook most of the meals as well. I do 90% of my shopping at traditional grocery stores, and use the weekly farmer's market as a way to experiment over the weekends. At least in SF, they're high quality and typically have a wide variety of things I wouldn't find (or buy) in grocery stores. We have a few kids, so it's nice to have a reliable menu throughout the week, then do something fun like a smorgasboard of oysters, salads, bread, and cheeses for lunch on a Saturday, crab tacos for dinner, and omelettes the next morning. The constraints enforced by seasonality and the availability of atypical ingredients is refreshing.
- kchoudhu 9y ago
  This is pretty much our household. As an aside, it's interesting to see how others introduce new foods to the rotating menu. I'm pretty conservative: cook a new dish and serve it on the side on night T, and if it works, it becomes the main dish on T+1.
- ams6110 9y ago
  I cook most of my meals also but find recipes too troublesome. Meat, veggies, some oil in a hot pan. 10 minutes, done. Sometimes a roast if I have the time.
tsunamifury 9y ago
Bay Area and Los Angeles (Echo Park) both have farmers market in spades that blow away the local grocery stores. You need to look for local farmer's markets, not the faux-distributor's ones. I think what you need to know about Farmer's Markets is that you must buy (can only buy) in-season produce. While this might disappoint the regular grocery shopper who is used to bad tomatoes in December, to the the chef, its a great delight to be able to pick from only the right season's produce.
treehau5 9y ago
There are farmers markets where you have local farmers come together as part of a co-op or some other organization and sell their produce, and then you have "farmers" markets which are basically outdoor grocery stores that sell the same things in your big chain grocery stores. You have to go to a "real" farmers market. The best way to tell is check out where all the delivery trucks are and read some of the boxes. If you see "product of California"" or "product of Mexico" on many of the boxes and you are in a farmers market no where near Mexico or California, you are at an outdoor grocery store.
- brookside 9y ago
  The outdoor grocery store version (however fake and lame) addresses the exact issues parent sees. Real farmers markets will have a limited and seasonal supply of produce.
antognini 9y ago
I used to think that there was no point in going to a farmer's market. But I went to one for the first time in Columbus, Ohio and bought some blackberries. I remember very distinctly waiting for the bus to go home, eating one of the blackberries, and thinking, "Oh, so this is why there are farmer's markets."
- kchoudhu 9y ago
  I've had this experience as well, but usually about 400 miles away from where I live. It's a shame.
bradleyjg 9y ago
It isn't meant to be as reliable. There is only supposed to be corn or apple or blueberries at your local farmers market for the relatively short period of time every year when they are in season where you live. Instead of going to the farmers market with a list of ingredients for what you want to make, you are supposed to go and see ingredients are available and plan meals accordingly. Compared to the modern supermarket where everything is available all the time it is certainly a pain in the neck. But in exchange you (sometimes) get produce that's so much better than the visually flawless but tasteless items you often get in a supermarket that it doesn't even seem like the same plant.
- kchoudhu 9y ago
  > you are supposed to go and see ingredients are available and plan meals accordingly Farmers markets are not part of a serious urban domestic supply chain where reliability matters. They are for fun, and that is ok! I love picking up a weird jar of flavored honey or some fresh blackberries for snacking. I just wish people would stop suggesting that farmer's markets are some kind of solution to all that ails the urban cook. I get the urge to go back to simpler times when people spent two hours shopping before spending all day over the stove, but by and large, I think it's silly. We've moved on, and the number of people that turn up unannounced at our home for a warm evening meal tells me that even the degraded produce in markets today is more than sufficient to produce great meals.
spodek 9y ago
Sorry to hear your experience. Mine is the opposite. I live between the Union Square and Abington Square farmers markets in Manhattan. Delicious food Great variety Low prices in season Friendly farmers They've made nearly all grocery stores into disappointments. I get over 90% of my food from them and my CSA. Plus I bring my compost there. Because of them I cook nearly everything from scratch, with ingredients picked around 24 hours before I bought them. Shopping at those farmers markets, and picking up my CSA delivery is the highlight of my week: I can't wait to see what I'm going to love eating.
- kchoudhu 9y ago
  I don't want surprises, I want reliability. And I definitely don't want to drag my compost through lower Manhattan.
  - emodendroket 9y ago
    Nothing wrong with that but I think you're showing up at the wrong place. It's like going to a flea market; novelty and maybe deals are the point more than knowing they're going to have whatever it is you need.
    - kchoudhu 9y ago
      Yup, I've said as much elsewhere in this thread. Good for fun treats, not so good for the urban resident trying to get a cooked dinner in front of his family every meal.
      - spodek 9y ago
        > not so good for the urban resident trying to get a cooked dinner in front of his family every meal. Vegetables from the farm is how I create meals every day, plus legumes and nuts from the bulk food store, probably 90+% of my calories. I don't buy packaged food. My vegetables come from the farmers market and farm share. I bring compost through Manhattan because I love living here and the alternative is putting it into landfills, which I'm not willing to do. It means carrying a few pounds a few blocks maybe once a month to where I was going anyway to get vegetables that are more delicious, healthy, and cheap than any alternative. These are all improvements to my life.
overcast 9y ago
Come to Rochester, NY. Our public market is AWESOME. Super cheap, tons of quality produce.
notyourday 9y ago
Union Sq market on Saturday blows every grocery store away, catches it on a way out, and blows it away again but that's probably the only farmers market that has the scale and popularity needed to replace a large section of a grocery store
jawilson2 9y ago
The Madison, WI farmer's market is incredible[1]. They block off the entire capital building, and thousands of people go. That was my and my wife's Saturday morning tradition for years while we were in grad school, and we still go back a few times a year. http://dcfm.org/markets/saturday-on-the-square http://dcfm.org/markets/saturday-on-the-square
- kchoudhu 9y ago
  Holy crap, the farmer's market takes EBT. That's awesome!
  - jmcgough 9y ago
    So does the farmers market in berkeley, and they double the value of it to incentivise lower-income people to eat healthier food.
treehau5 9y ago
I feel you on cooking not being a hobby. However where it clicked for me: Once I got good enough at it, I realized I could 80-90% of the time cook food that tasted way better and was a lot cheaper than what I could find out at a restaurant. Then it didn't become a matter of hobby but a matter of practicality. Some of my own personal specialities: Omelettes and steak. Almost every restaurant I have been to has no idea how to properly execute an omelette. They are suppose to be light and fluffy, not wrapped-up scrambled eggs. Also, most restaurants have no idea how to grill a steak, especially if it is a thick cut. When you learn about the reverse sear technique, you'll never waste money buying a 50$ steak dinner out again. The only other problem left at this point is the efficiency equation -- can I think of, buy and then execute on the ingredients faster than it takes for me to drive, get seated, and eat my meal at a restaurant. I am finding the more I do it, the more the answer becomes: yes.
- ghaff 9y ago
  Reverse sear is effectively doing something similar to using sous vide. It works very well. The only time I go to steak places is for business dinners as they often seem one of the defaults for high-endish places to take customers. But I basically never go on my own. They're generally pretty boring and steak is something I can make easily at home. When I go to fancier restaurants I usually have something that would be way too fussy for me to make at home or that I simply couldn't do a good job of.
  - treehau5 9y ago
    I'm the exact same way. There is a very scientific and analytical aspect of cooking that people miss out on and I think would appeal to many more here on HN. Baking is the ultimate example in my opinion of you must get everything perfect -- measurements, mixture, consistency, and cook time. It's applied physics. Plus, the best part is you get yummy treats to enjoy afterwards as your reward.
    - ghaff 9y ago
      That's true but it's actually why I'm usually more of a cooking person than a baking person :-) Sous vide and reverse sear notwithstanding, I tend to be more improvisational than someone who carefully follows recipes.

timmaah 9y ago

Just you. Some smaller towns farmer's markets are amazing.

virmundi 9y ago

Point 1: that probably depends on your farm's markets. Indianapolis has one ever Wednesday. Being in the heart of the heartland, it's pretty good. Down side is it closes too early for folk that work on the ring of Indy (I465 to downtown is about 30 minutes, so it's hard to hit up on a lunch HOUR). Point 2: I'm working on getting that 21 meals planned fixed. Unfortunately, it's just me and my wife, who's a Social Worker by training. Going to be a while since it literally took me 4 months to get the security system in place. Look for a Shown HN.

rm_-rf_slash 9y ago

Ithaca has a great farmers market, lots of pop-up farmers markets, and even a lot of farm shares around the community. What are you thinking expecting major metropolitan areas to be good places for farmers markets? Although I'm told the one in Seattle is supposedly legendary...

ajacksified 9y ago

I cook most of the meals as well. I do 90% of my shopping at traditional grocery stores, and use the weekly farmer's market as a way to experiment over the weekends. At least in SF, they're high quality and typically have a wide variety of things I wouldn't find (or buy) in grocery stores. We have a few kids, so it's nice to have a reliable menu throughout the week, then do something fun like a smorgasboard of oysters, salads, bread, and cheeses for lunch on a Saturday, crab tacos for dinner, and omelettes the next morning. The constraints enforced by seasonality and the availability of atypical ingredients is refreshing.

kchoudhu 9y ago
This is pretty much our household. As an aside, it's interesting to see how others introduce new foods to the rotating menu. I'm pretty conservative: cook a new dish and serve it on the side on night T, and if it works, it becomes the main dish on T+1.
ams6110 9y ago
I cook most of my meals also but find recipes too troublesome. Meat, veggies, some oil in a hot pan. 10 minutes, done. Sometimes a roast if I have the time.

tsunamifury 9y ago

Bay Area and Los Angeles (Echo Park) both have farmers market in spades that blow away the local grocery stores. You need to look for local farmer's markets, not the faux-distributor's ones. I think what you need to know about Farmer's Markets is that you must buy (can only buy) in-season produce. While this might disappoint the regular grocery shopper who is used to bad tomatoes in December, to the the chef, its a great delight to be able to pick from only the right season's produce.

treehau5 9y ago

There are farmers markets where you have local farmers come together as part of a co-op or some other organization and sell their produce, and then you have "farmers" markets which are basically outdoor grocery stores that sell the same things in your big chain grocery stores. You have to go to a "real" farmers market. The best way to tell is check out where all the delivery trucks are and read some of the boxes. If you see "product of California"" or "product of Mexico" on many of the boxes and you are in a farmers market no where near Mexico or California, you are at an outdoor grocery store.

brookside 9y ago
The outdoor grocery store version (however fake and lame) addresses the exact issues parent sees. Real farmers markets will have a limited and seasonal supply of produce.

antognini 9y ago

I used to think that there was no point in going to a farmer's market. But I went to one for the first time in Columbus, Ohio and bought some blackberries. I remember very distinctly waiting for the bus to go home, eating one of the blackberries, and thinking, "Oh, so this is why there are farmer's markets."

kchoudhu 9y ago
I've had this experience as well, but usually about 400 miles away from where I live. It's a shame.

bradleyjg 9y ago

It isn't meant to be as reliable. There is only supposed to be corn or apple or blueberries at your local farmers market for the relatively short period of time every year when they are in season where you live. Instead of going to the farmers market with a list of ingredients for what you want to make, you are supposed to go and see ingredients are available and plan meals accordingly. Compared to the modern supermarket where everything is available all the time it is certainly a pain in the neck. But in exchange you (sometimes) get produce that's so much better than the visually flawless but tasteless items you often get in a supermarket that it doesn't even seem like the same plant.

kchoudhu 9y ago
> you are supposed to go and see ingredients are available and plan meals accordingly Farmers markets are not part of a serious urban domestic supply chain where reliability matters. They are for fun, and that is ok! I love picking up a weird jar of flavored honey or some fresh blackberries for snacking. I just wish people would stop suggesting that farmer's markets are some kind of solution to all that ails the urban cook. I get the urge to go back to simpler times when people spent two hours shopping before spending all day over the stove, but by and large, I think it's silly. We've moved on, and the number of people that turn up unannounced at our home for a warm evening meal tells me that even the degraded produce in markets today is more than sufficient to produce great meals.

spodek 9y ago

Sorry to hear your experience. Mine is the opposite. I live between the Union Square and Abington Square farmers markets in Manhattan. Delicious food Great variety Low prices in season Friendly farmers They've made nearly all grocery stores into disappointments. I get over 90% of my food from them and my CSA. Plus I bring my compost there. Because of them I cook nearly everything from scratch, with ingredients picked around 24 hours before I bought them. Shopping at those farmers markets, and picking up my CSA delivery is the highlight of my week: I can't wait to see what I'm going to love eating.

kchoudhu 9y ago
I don't want surprises, I want reliability. And I definitely don't want to drag my compost through lower Manhattan.
- emodendroket 9y ago
  Nothing wrong with that but I think you're showing up at the wrong place. It's like going to a flea market; novelty and maybe deals are the point more than knowing they're going to have whatever it is you need.
  - kchoudhu 9y ago
    Yup, I've said as much elsewhere in this thread. Good for fun treats, not so good for the urban resident trying to get a cooked dinner in front of his family every meal.
    - spodek 9y ago
      > not so good for the urban resident trying to get a cooked dinner in front of his family every meal. Vegetables from the farm is how I create meals every day, plus legumes and nuts from the bulk food store, probably 90+% of my calories. I don't buy packaged food. My vegetables come from the farmers market and farm share. I bring compost through Manhattan because I love living here and the alternative is putting it into landfills, which I'm not willing to do. It means carrying a few pounds a few blocks maybe once a month to where I was going anyway to get vegetables that are more delicious, healthy, and cheap than any alternative. These are all improvements to my life.

overcast 9y ago

Come to Rochester, NY. Our public market is AWESOME. Super cheap, tons of quality produce.

notyourday 9y ago

Union Sq market on Saturday blows every grocery store away, catches it on a way out, and blows it away again but that's probably the only farmers market that has the scale and popularity needed to replace a large section of a grocery store

jawilson2 9y ago

The Madison, WI farmer's market is incredible[1]. They block off the entire capital building, and thousands of people go. That was my and my wife's Saturday morning tradition for years while we were in grad school, and we still go back a few times a year. http://dcfm.org/markets/saturday-on-the-square http://dcfm.org/markets/saturday-on-the-square

kchoudhu 9y ago
Holy crap, the farmer's market takes EBT. That's awesome!
- jmcgough 9y ago
  So does the farmers market in berkeley, and they double the value of it to incentivise lower-income people to eat healthier food.

treehau5 9y ago

I feel you on cooking not being a hobby. However where it clicked for me: Once I got good enough at it, I realized I could 80-90% of the time cook food that tasted way better and was a lot cheaper than what I could find out at a restaurant. Then it didn't become a matter of hobby but a matter of practicality. Some of my own personal specialities: Omelettes and steak. Almost every restaurant I have been to has no idea how to properly execute an omelette. They are suppose to be light and fluffy, not wrapped-up scrambled eggs. Also, most restaurants have no idea how to grill a steak, especially if it is a thick cut. When you learn about the reverse sear technique, you'll never waste money buying a 50$ steak dinner out again. The only other problem left at this point is the efficiency equation -- can I think of, buy and then execute on the ingredients faster than it takes for me to drive, get seated, and eat my meal at a restaurant. I am finding the more I do it, the more the answer becomes: yes.

ghaff 9y ago
Reverse sear is effectively doing something similar to using sous vide. It works very well. The only time I go to steak places is for business dinners as they often seem one of the defaults for high-endish places to take customers. But I basically never go on my own. They're generally pretty boring and steak is something I can make easily at home. When I go to fancier restaurants I usually have something that would be way too fussy for me to make at home or that I simply couldn't do a good job of.
- treehau5 9y ago
  I'm the exact same way. There is a very scientific and analytical aspect of cooking that people miss out on and I think would appeal to many more here on HN. Baking is the ultimate example in my opinion of you must get everything perfect -- measurements, mixture, consistency, and cook time. It's applied physics. Plus, the best part is you get yummy treats to enjoy afterwards as your reward.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    That's true but it's actually why I'm usually more of a cooking person than a baking person :-) Sous vide and reverse sear notwithstanding, I tend to be more improvisational than someone who carefully follows recipes.