Farmers Market Vs. Supermarket

What would life be like without supermarkets? Could families even survive without the weekly and sometimes daily chore of grocery shopping for essential household items? Supermarkets and grocery chains are a modern marvel, we are able to find basically anything and everything we need all under one roof. They have varieties of product and usually in large quantities, they are air conditioned and have convenient carrying devices for your ingredients.

Farmers markets have variety as well but of a different kind. There are usually many different farmers selling the same products, you usually need to bring your own carrying devices for the food you buy, and there is no air conditioning. So why bother even going to farmers markets when you can easily find everything you need right at your local grocery store? Ask anyone who has ever gone to a farmers market early in the morning, bought mostly everything they need for a meal right there and gone home and cooked it themselves. Satisfaction, the satisfaction of going the market, talking with the people, buying their product, and preparing it yourself is just really gratifying. After that experience shopping at a grocery store chain or supermarket just isn't the same.

Local is a key word when talking about food products nowadays. There is a growing awareness about our ingredients and where they come from. If a little research is done into our food system and food products we can find out that most of our food comes from hundreds of thousands of miles away. It is not truly "from the vine fresh" or "picked at the peak of ripeness". Many fruits and vegetables are picked when they are extremely un-ripe and are left to sit in large warehouses until they are shipped to your local supermarket or grocery store, in the process being ripened purely from age. At a farmers market you can actually talk with whomever picked that vegetable or fruit when it was ripe and ready for picking.

If there is any question about the effectiveness farmers markets one only needs to see the lifestyle in foreign countries. In many countries they don't know the meaning of a grocery store. Their way of life is based on local markets. In countries like France and Mexico, most people and families travel to their local markets everyday to pick up whatever is fresh that day to cook for lunch and dinner.

Now this is definitely not a front against grocery stores or supermarkets, nor is it a choose on or the other argument, after all you can't usually find toothpaste and toilet paper at a farmers market in America. Grocery stores are essential to the American way of life and without them we would be lost. However as we move towards "greener" ways of life we should become more aware of local foods and local markets because local economies can still thrive in tough economic times.