For almost 20 years, I've sold tomatoes, basil, lettuce, kale and other vegetables at the Takoma Park Farmers Market on Sundays during the summer season. It's one of several markets my wife helped start at the dawn of the farmers market movement.
Last month, I spent a day selling for the first time at another market in Takoma Park, Maryland — the Crossroads Farmers Market, open on Wednesdays. Though Crossroads is just two miles from the Sunday market, the customers couldn't be more different. Crossroads is in the poorest of Takoma Park's four neighborhoods and also serves Langley Park and other low-income areas nearby.
Here, people speak mostly Spanish. Customers can find kabocha squash, chipilin and other staples of Central American kitchens, as well as pupusas, tostadas and other prepared foods. I saw fewer white faces at Crossroads. I heard fewer questions about whether produce was sprayed with chemicals and many more about how much everything cost.