Farmer's Market

One of my favorite things about L.A. is the abundance of farmer's markets. Any day of the week you can go just a little way and run into one. When I first moved here, I was excited to be only two miles from the oldest market in L.A. - the one at Third and Fairfax, which is open every day of the week. I went once, and it was fun, but I was disappointed in the fresh produce that was available. Only two booths were selling vegetables, some people were selling fish, meat, cheese and baked goods, but the focus seemed to be on the tourism aspect. A lot of booths were devoted to arts, crafts, and touristy L.A. things and also to prepared food you could grab for lunch. Don't get me wrong - the produce I bought was about the same price as what you would find at the grocery store but much, much better. I would definitely drop by to pick up a few things instead of stopping at the grocery store. But! When I moved here I did NOT expect to find the little market that happens every Thursday evening at La Cienega and 18th, which is about half a mile from my house. They have a good variety of everything I could want - produce as well as a guy selling fresh cheeses and... a local coffee roaster! He wakes up at 3:00 a.m. to roast beans to bring to the market, and if you can't make it to the market, he does deliveries on Saturdays. So early this evening I walked through my neighborhood to buy some coffee and anything else that caught my fancy. I ended up with half a pound of Sumatra and half a pound of Bolivian coffee, which came out delicious in my french press. I also got a basket of strawberries and a bunch of asparagus.

I do have one observation about the market - though Rob and I are pretty much the only white people in the neighborhood, and I saw our usual Indian, Hispanic and African American neighbors while walking to the market, the market itself was full of white people. I wondered what is it about farmer's markets that makes them continue to be a white yuppie thing to do? Surely it isn't that my neighbors don't like delicious, fresh, cheap things. I decided to consult Stuff White People Like and found this entry. Not terribly illuminating but, as always, true and funny.