Your Local Cornicopia

Arm yourself with a canvas bag and a small wad of loose cash and you are ready to go on an expedition into a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. Pass up the pithy hot house tomatoes, bland iceberg lettuce, and waxy apples. Head to your corner cornucopia - your farmer's market.

Whether you live in a large city or a rural area, try to find a market that pours out the land's goodness. Going to a farmer's market is much like going on an edible safari. There is a certain level of high energy and excitement found at markets. When you cook for one person, farmer's markets are your secret source for the freshest, most delicious foods. At a farmer's market, the single person easily controls the quantity. Most farmers will allow you to buy in small quantities. This eliminates waste of uneaten food and money. It also gives you freedom to fill your fridge's produce bin with greater diversity.

There are several reasons why farmer's markets are a goldmine for creating a meal for one person. The most obvious is freshness. Fruits and vegetables begin their slow decline to spoilage as soon as they are picked from the mothering plant. It is a race against time whether you are a local farmer or a giant supermarket. Just as people look and act their best in the prime of their lives, ripeness means the "prime" of the produce's life. Ripe produce will have more nutrients, look the best, and most importantly taste the best.

Another reason is that farmer's follow nature's rhythmic calendar. You won't find northern farmers selling strawberries in October, but you may find rosy 'Pink Lady' apples. You will always be "in season" on the latest food that makes its catwalk debut on the markets. Don't know what is in season?

The variety available to you can be amazing. Egg-shaped, lavender eggplants, pencil-thin asparagus, heirloom tomatoes (actually taste like a tomato), plump and inky berries, and many more oddities are waiting for you. I let my senses determine what to buy. I touch, smell, and look at the variety available. Let the produce "speak" to you. Buy what is good, fresh, and delicious. Then use your chosen fruit or vegetable as a culinary springboard. Make it the star of a dish. Don't bury its inherent flavors. Bringing my treasures home, the excitement fuels creativity to simply prepare the produce. If a friend visits for dinner, he asks, "where did you get this"? I always wonder . . . should I let him in on my secret?

If you don't know what it is or how to eat it, ask the farmer. Farmers take great pride in their crops, and gush from complements. Once I came across a softball-sized melon which I was told was a French variety. The smiling women quickly took out a knife and slit out slice for me to taste. It tasted like honey-dipped peaches. The juices were still running down my chin as I handed over $2.00 for tomorrow's breakfast.