Red Beans & Advice for Monday, Aug, 7
How to tell if your local farm market is really selling you local products
A few years ago, I went to the famous fruit market in Benton Harbor, Mich., in the heart of Michigan's fruit belt. My photographer and I arrived at dawn for the fruit equivalent of the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, minus the wet floors and shouting. Vendors set up rows of trucks, with their wares in the back. Customers such as restaurants, produce companies and a few individual chefs walked along, cutting deals for flats and crates of fruit.
When I stopped one woman to talk, I learned that she ran a farm stand in Toledo, Ohio. She traveled several hours up to southwestern Michigan every week to get fruit to sell to her customers. I was surprised that she wasn't selling local produce, but she said no one in her part of Ohio grew the type of fruit she could buy in Benton Harbor.
Ever since then, I've been on my toes when I visit a farm stand or a fruit and vegetable market. I've learned how to detect whether products are from nearby or whether they have been trucked in. Here's how I can tell.
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