Farmers Markets

I don't normally go to the market. In fact I don't normally like to go anywhere, and prefer to sit at home, being of an unsocial turn.

 However i am sometimes dragged out from my home by relatives and friends ( this time all the way to California ).

 One place, however which I like to visit are the farmers markets in U.S.A. Today morning I went with relatives to the farmers market in the city where I am staying in California.

 The farmers market is a wonderful American invention.

There are no doubt groceries stores all over America where one can buy groceries ( e.g. vegetables, fruits, eggs, meats, etc ).

 But the farmers market is different from the groceries stores in several ways :

1. The agricultural goods sold on retail in the farmers markets are coming directly from the local farmers, and are therefore fresh, unlike in groceries stores where they are frozen or canned. The goods sold in groceries are those sold by farmers wholesale to corporates, which then sell them in their retail chain stores.

2. The vegetables,fruits, etc in the groceries stores may have come from far off places e.g. Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa, etc but the goods in the farmers markets come from local farms.

3.The fruits, vegetables, etc in the farmers markets are grown with the help of organic fertilizers, unlike goods sold in groceries which have often been sprayed with pesticides or are genetically modified, causing health risks.

4. The goods sold in farmers markets are usually cheaper than in the groceries.

 Farmers also get more incomes in the farmers markets as the middleman is eliminated, cold storage costs avoided, and transport,,and other costs reduced.

  The farmers market is usually held in an open space on a Sunday or Saturday, and not in a building as in groceries stores. In farmers markets there are stalls and booths where the fruits, vegetables, bread, honey, hummus, etc are displayed. One can taste cut samples of the fruits free.

 The farmers market in the city in California where I am staying is held every Sunday morning. Since that day is a holiday, there is usually a huge crowd of customers there every Sunday. It is almost like a mini United Nations there. There are Indians ( from all regions of India, but particularly from the South ), Chinese, Japanese, Hispanics, African Americans, Persians, Arabs, Pakistanis, etc.The stall keepers are usually, though not invariably Hispanics or Mexicans.

 There are estimated to be over 8000 farmers markets all over U.S.A.