To Market

It's a happy time for those of us living in West Michigan, since the Fulton Street Farmers Market opened last week. I decided to stop by on Saturday afternoon, and although there isn't much produce yet, I found a bunch of lovely rhubarb for $1.25.

Now I'd never cooked rhubarb before, even though it grows in my parents' garden. So I decided to make the easiest thing I could think of - rhubarb crisp. Let's face it, you can make a crisp out of almost any fruit (I thought bananas might be an exception, but there are several recipes out there for that as well). Five ingredients (rhubarb, oats, honey, magarine, and cinnamon) and 30 minutes later, my brother and dug in to our still-warm dessert. Mmm!

I live where I do (and deal with my goofy landlord) partly because I'm so near the Farmers Market. Walking or biking to a place where you can buy fresh, local ingredients and even talk to the people who grew them, well, it changes how you think about food. Americans are used to cheap, abundant food, but we don't seem to put much emphasis on quality, or even think about how many miles our food may have traveled before it ends up on our plates. Perhaps rising gas prices will change how we view food and help us put the emphasis back on eating locally and seasonally.