Before I came to the U.S, I read about the San Francisco Bay Area in some travel magazines. There were articles about farmers' markets in all of the magazines. The pictures were great and the articles strongly recommended going there.
When I went to the farmers' market for the first time, I was really excited. There were many vendors which were selling vegetables, fruit, seasonal foods and beverages. Because of the full-of-life atmosphere, I bought a lot that time. After I came back home, I checked how much I paid. It was almost double compared to the prices at the supermarket. It was even more expensive than the average prices at an organic grocery. How was the taste? The taste was good but was nothing special.
What was shocking was that I found the exact same products, for example breads, honey, pasta, and olive oil at the organic grocery. What’s more, the price at the organic market was low!
I like the atmosphere of the farmers' markets, but I’m more likely to be cautious after that experience. I think many people have had the same experience. I recently read an article about a farmers' market in a Japanese community magazine. They said that farmers' markets do not always sell good quality and reasonably-priced products. In terms of content, it was a totally different article from the travel magazines which I read in Japan. It was written from the viewpoint of consumers in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I quote the definition of farmers' market from Wikipedia. “Farmers/producers sell directly to consumers, minimizing profit loss by circumventing the middleman”.
According to this definition, it seems that one of benefits of the farmers' market is high profit for farmers. Are the farmers’ markets farmer-friendly or consumer-friendly?
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