I hope you all had very restful, relaxing and rejuvenating Fourth of July weekends! Mine was spent in Madison, Wisconsin where I went to college and it was utterly perfect. One of my favorite parts about Madison is that it’s not just a college town. After spending four years at the university and countless other visits, I still discover new things with ever visit. Last summer, I dubbed my visit to Madison as our “Unofficial Taste of Madison” because when R and I thought of what to do in our favorite Wisconsin city, it mostly revolved around food. This trip was no different.

We had so many amazing meals and I can’t wait to share them all with you! But first, I thought it’d be nice to kick off the week with some beautiful pictures of beautiful food straight from the Madison Farmer’s Market. If you’re not familiar with the layout of the city, the grand capitol building sits at the top of a small hill surrounded by greenery and flowers, which is surrounded by a one-way street that wraps itself around the building in square. And it is in this square that the glorious farmer’s market resides. Here’s just one side:

Farmers, artists, lobbyists and regular town crazies border the capitol square every Saturday morning from April to November, blooming with fresh produce, meats, flowers and even some ostrich jerky. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “Madison doesn’t sound so great. This is like every farmer’s market I’ve ever been to… except for the ostrich jerky…” But wait. There’s more. CHEESE! Where else but Wisconsin can you get the freshest “squeaky” cheese curds, the tastiest cheese spreads and the most amazing samples of all types of cheese?! There’s no question, the cheese stands set this farmer’s market apart from all others.

Three flavors of “squeaky” cheese curds.

In fact, when R and I first moved to Chicago, we went to a farmer’s market near my apartment. Having only experienced the Madison market, R wandered from stand to stand in complete confusion wondering where all the cheese was!

Hot, fried cheese samples (left) and different types of cheese spreads (right).

But in all fairness, I understand that it’s not all about the cheese. Here are some pictures of the other beautiful foods we saw as R and I shuffled past the stands with the rest of the crowd. Unfortunately, we had no way to store perishable items, so I was forced to “ooo” and “ahh” without purchasing much of anything (except for some Rhubarb Jam and Black Popcorn).

Also, a note: I’m still learning the art of food photography and these pictures turned out beautifully. I see this as a testament to the food since my photography skills leave much to be desired. Pure loveliness at its simplest.

Find a farmer’s market near you!

And last, but not least… some recipes….

Farmer’s Market Restaurant Carrot Souffle

Farmer’s Market Vegetable Chowder

Farmer’s Market Veggie Wrapwich

UPDATE: I just found this unique roundup for farmer’s markets called To Market, to market at A scientist in the kitchen. Read about my Madison farmer’s market experience and other bloggers’ from around the country!

Tags: farmer's market, madison, madison farmer's market, wisconsin

Posted by Maxine, 2:10 PM

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 2:10 pm and is filed under farmer's market. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.