farmer's market

summer and fall are the best seasons for the farmer's markets in nyc. the most succulent produce is available. today i went to the farmer's market at second avenue and tenth street . there are only about three or four farmer's there, but what they lack in quantity they make up in quality. peaches were out today. you haven't seen a peach until you have seen one at a farmer's market. when you you hold a farm fresh peach you understand the true meaning of fuzzy. peaches in farmer's markets have velvety fuzz . its amazing to behold. literally. and of course green market peaches are the sweetest and  most juicy around.
today i also bought q-ball zucchini  which is round zucchini. i bought dark green q-ball zucchini, but it was also available in yellow and light green. all yummy and fresh.
farmer's market blueberries are a big temptation. they are more expensive, but worthwhile because they are so sweet.
i rounded out my visit with buying sweet potato and broccoli. the broccoli at the farmer's markets vary in appearance throughout the seasons. i don't remember which season appears which way, but its cool just to notice that there is a difference.
last but not least i bought a few apples- a few winesap , one cameo and one red delicious. farmers market apples are so nice because they aren't coated with wax as supermarket apples often are.
in my opinion the best farmer's market in manhattan is the one in union square. its open mondays, wednesdays , fridays and saturdays. if you can't make there, it is still worthwhile to check out some of the smaller green markets around the city. all of  these markets support local farmers from new york and new jersey . they also have some of the BEST produce in the new york city area. better than whole foods and cheaper than whole foods.its the only place in the city where you can buy a tomato that the vendor picked off the fields that morning. how cool is that?
there are always free recipes at the farmer's market . sometimes the farmers put little recipes on the price signs in their booths. they will also tell you how to "pick  a good one" if you ask them. green markets often have many varieties of ordinary produce.
when i am at the farmer's market i feel as though i am transported to the country . i feel much closer to nature. it makes buying nutritious food a divine adventure.

veggie pride parade

i was in union square today which was the end of the line for the veggie pride parade. what is the veggie pride parade you ask? its a parade where everyone dresses up like vegetables or bloody people to celebrate their devotion to the vegan philosophy.

being a non-vegan , meat eating, vegetable lover i took pamphlets and magazines that had some nice pareve recipes.

over the loud speaker people were lecturing the small crowd of people about the evils of dairy and beef.

i missed the annual village halloween parade this year due to rainy weather, so it was fun to see the gruesome costumes today. it adds a whole new dimension to see people dressed as (literally) bloody nurses, doctors and corpses in day light.

some of the vegan propaganda stated that the difference between vegetarianism and veganism is that vegetarianism is a diet and veganism is a philosophy. due to the animal rights aspect of both isms i would say that both qualify as religions. veganism as the ultra-orthodox version . vegetarianism is the conservadox version.

beyond kosher....

often those who used to be frum ridicule the mitzvot because they feel they are so confining and archaic only to replace them with equally obscure rituals to replace them with. a campy old movie that demonstrates this issue is the imported bridegroom. the imported bridegroom is a movie about an american jewish family at the turn of the twentieth century. the father wants his daughter to marry a torah scholar who he imports from the old country. of course the daughter has no interest . she would prefer a doctor or a lawyer. eventually this bridegroom metamorphoses and pseudo- Americanizes. instead of remaining a talmudic scholar, he becomes a philosophy scholar.
some trade kashrut for veganism. they feel kashrut is archaic, so they trade it for the more limiting veganism. while vegetarians dont eat meat , and are often in to animal rights, a vegan takes it the extra mile and doesnt eat any animal or being by product. no eggs, dairy or honey (a bee-ing product). i lack the convictions of a vegatarian, but i can understand why they might not want to eat an animal. i dont understand the need to limit animal by products or the concept of insect abuse. vegans dont eat honey because they feel it harms bees??? this is beyond kashrut, and possibly an advertisement for kashrut. kashrut isnt as limiting.
of course , go tell a newly converted vegan this!! perhaps its the thrill of individualism that sparks these food fetishes more than idealism. after all , a major reason for kashrut is to keep us jews separate so our goiyeshe neighbors wont come for dinner that might lead them to marry our jewish daughters.

foodists

one day a few weeks ago i was doing my usual veggie shopping at the farmer's market in union square when i overheard a woman stating how glad she was that she was able to buy nightshade vegetables. when asked why she hadnt been able to purchase nightshade vegetables she replied that nightshade vegetables had been "out" when she had been living in l.a. oy vey. how someone could be so superficial to think of a vegetable as being "out" is beyond me . what could be "out" about an eggplant or a potato? what is this world coming to? littering , smoking cigarettes, noise pollution should be out , but a vegetable group?