On the Boil

This week our local produce market had these gorgeous and completely out-of-season borlotti beans in the pod for a very reasonable price. Of course I bought them and we ate them with fried sliced garlic and olive oil, and they were delicious.

We frequent this market because they consistently have delicious, fresh, cheap produce, but most of it isn't organic, and we choose to ignore the fact that much of it comes from distant lands. Thus, an aspiring locavore's dilemma: Support the small business owner even though they don't share our ethics, or spend a fortune at big-box Whole Foods? This is something of a false choice, though, since the third, most reasonable (and most unamerican) option would be not to buy fancy beans at all, subsisting on the root vegetables we get from the farm and splurging on a few organic greens. Dammit, this is so difficult during the winter! How will we survive until spring?