Buying Fresh

Why Buy Fresh?


There are many great reasons to buy fresh foods from your local farmers' markets, but one of the best is this: Fresh food tastes better! A tomato from the farmers' market, for instance, really tastes like a tomato; whereas tomatoes from the supermarket often taste like watered-down versions of the real thing.

"Fresh" is the key word here. At your farmers' market you'll find food that has been grown locally rather than being packed and shipped over the course of days from other parts of the country or elsewhere in the world. The sooner you buy farm-fresh produce after it's been harvest, the more nutrients you and your family will get.

At the farmers' market you'll find fruits and veggies that are seasonal, which means that the farmers are harvesting them at the peak of their natural season and the height of their taste. Another benefit to shopping for seasonal produce is that variety gets built into your shopping list — you're not choosing the same old thing available to you at the supermarket all the time.

Speaking of variety, local farmers often feature more varieties of individual types of produce than do supermarkets. You'll probably find more kinds of greens and rarer types of heirloom fruits and vegetables, as well as some other things you don't usually see in the mass-produced piles at the supermarket, like homemade cheeses, honeys, granolas, jams, and soaps.

Sure, the farmers' market may not be as easy as the one-stop shopping at your supermarket, but it will provide you with the freshest and most delicious produce. In addition, by supporting local farmers, you can help revitalize rural communities, allowing small farms to stay in business and continue to create an alternative venue for organic produce and other foods that are not genetically modified. So do a little research and find the local farmers' markets near you — they're popping up all over the place, both in the city and in the country!

Know Where Your Food Comes From

Another great benefit of shopping at the farmers' market is that you get to meet the people who grow your food. You can ask them about their farming methods to make sure the meat and produce you're buying are organic and free of antibiotics. You can also use your local farmers as resources for recipes, food preparation ideas, snack suggestions, and gardening advice. They have a real passion for what they do, and they're usually generous when it comes to offering their expertise on healthy eating and living.