Shopping — Nina Planck

Local Food

In NYC, my local farmers' market is at Union Square.

In Stockton, NJ, we like:

Manoff Market Gardens: fruit, flowers, pies & cider

Solebury Orchards: Fruit, Flowers & Cider

Tinicum CSA: Ecological Produce Farm Share

Canal House: Fine Seasonal Cooking

London Farmers' Market

Nina founded the first producer-only farmers' markets in London, England in 1999.

Local, seasonal produce, fine cheeses, sustainable meats, wild seafood and more. www.LFM.org.uk

Portland: Montavilla Farmers’ Market

Portland, you are blessed. At the Montavilla Farmers’ Market I found strawberries (Puget Crimson and Puget Summer) as good as the best variety I’ve ever tasted back East (Earliglow) — only darker, and bigger. I found English walnuts from Deck Family Farm — like no commercial walnut I’ve ever eaten, they were tannic without any bitterness. There were enormous, glossy, sweet, and strong-flavored Bing cherries from Baird Family Farm. Superior (large, dense) head lettuce from Denion Farms Simplicity Gardens, kombucha vinaigrettes and mustard from Symple Foods, and (news to me), well-marbled, white-striped spring Columbia River Chinook Salmon. I’ve never seen a wild salmon so fatty, to tender, so buttery. I ate it smoked, for lunch. Fisherman says most spring salmon goes to Japan. Let’s eat it here!

Fish & Seafood

The very best fish in NYC, where I live, comes from the Greenmarket. One of my favorite fishing families is PE & DD Seafood of Riverhead, NY. The scallops are so fresh, on a Saturday after coming home from market, I eat them raw, sliced thin with a little citrus juice and olive oil.

Vital Choice Alaskan salmon is wild. The state banned fish farming, so wild salmon and other fish are abundant in Alaska’s clean, cold waters. The best fish is “frozen at sea” and shipped vacuum-packed. I used to list several excellent purveyors of clean, wild fish, but in practice I always go back to Vital Choice for salmon and roe, spot prawns, halibut, and sable fish, a silky, cod-like fish I adore. So now it stands alone—on my shopping list, anyway. VitalChoice.com

Biodynamic Farms and Foods

Biodynamic farms apply certain composts and minerals; use on-farm nutrients, such as animal manure; and follow astronomical planting schedules, among other techniques. Biodynamics.com

Learn more about biodynamic farming at this Biodynamic Farming Guide for Beginners.