A Trip to the Farmers Market (Or: The Fine Art of Hummus Seduction)

So, I realized recently that I hadn’t thoroughly explored my local farmers market! Well, not the one where I go to school, anyway. I go to the one at home frequently. Anywho, I decided that I should see what sorts of organic/local awesomeness they had going on. So, super-pumped and doing my best to ignore the daylight saving sleep lag, I walked myself down into the Village (i.e. the off-campus part of town) to see what there was to see.

I admit to being slightly disappointed. I was under the impression that a SoCal farmers market would be way more extensive than one in say, suburban Northeast Ohio. It was about half the size. Also, about half of the fruit/vegetable sellers didn’t say that their produce was organic. I don’t know if this is an oversight, or if there is just a dearth of organic produce at this market. I also could have done with fewer pushy cookie-wielding Girl Scouts. However, the market still had some pretty cool things.

I got a pair lovely looking organic pears (haha, a pair of pears!). They’re not quite ripe, which is excellent, because they won’t go bad before I get a change to eat them this week. They can just sit on my desk in all of their not-stolen-from-the-dining-hall glory (alongside the decidedly not organic, but pilfered, apples and oranges).



I also walked by a booth called “Mom’s Specialty Foods: Mediterranean Appetizers.” As I perused the impressive selection of homemade tabbouleh, fresh feta cheese, and kalamata olives, the lovely man working at the booth offered me a sample of artichoke hummus on one of their homemade pita chips. It was fantastic.




It was a hummus seduction. I had to get some. Then, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted their regular whole wheat pita, their lemon pita chips, or their garlic pita chips. I finally decide on a tub of the artichoke hummus and the pita bread, and the man tells me “Oh, you can get another tub of hummus for $2 more.”

Like I said, misbegotten hummus temptress. So, I ended up with basil and sun dried tomato hummus as well.



All and all, I’d say it was a success. Here are more pictures I took:



Top to bottom: Strawberries; an adorable little girl selling someone vegetables; the place where I bought my pair o' pears; homemade soaps (smelled delish); lovely plants

I also saw a hummingbird and a very confused woodpecker who had landed on a metal streetlamp, pecked once at the bulb, looked quite offended, and flew off to an actual tree.

The whole experience really made me want to be home so that I can get some organic local veggies from our market and actually, you know, cook things. I have supplies and kitchen at home. Not so much in a dorm. However, my spring break is in a week (yay hooray!), which means that I will soon be home cooking/baking up tons of vegan goodies. Expect many, many posts.