5 Chefs Tips for Navigating the Farmers Market

Many farmers markets run year-round, but the warmer months bring irresistible produce and better temps for enjoying everything these community hubs have to offer. And no one understands the appeal of peak-season farmers markets more than ingredient-focused chefs. To help you make the most of the 2025 season, we chatted with a few chefs from around the country on everything from the best arrival times to smart buying strategies. 

Grab your cash and a few more totes than you think you need, and let’s get to the market.

Consider pre-ordering 

Building on a practice that became commonplace at many markets during the pandemic, some vendors allow customers to pre-order larger quantities of product ahead of time for pickup. The best way to figure out which ones do is to talk to vendors or check their websites.

Not only do you get your choice of produce, but it will give you more time to linger, says 2021 F&W Best New Chef Gaby Maeda, head chef at Friends and Family in Oakland. She has been a regular customer of San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza Farmers Market at the Ferry Building for over 10 years.

Because she pre-orders what she needs for the restaurant, she prefers shopping at the market a little later in the morning.

“Being in the kitchen, every second counts. Outside of it, I want to be able to find that balance,” Maeda says. “This place is supposed to rejuvenate you, not deplete you.”

Taking a less hurried approach can have monetary benefits, too. While Maeda’s shopping for what she might need this week, she is also mentally starting next week’s list based on the inspiration she finds.

“Of course, there’s always going to be first-of-the-season things you might miss out on by arriving later, but when I go to the market, I want to see the product before I commit to buying,” she says. “I’m not in a rush to put a dish on the menu that will feel rushed. I like to sit with it and be really intentional.”

2022 F&W Best New Chef Rob Rubba, chef-owner of Oyster Oyster in Washington, D.C., also pre-orders for the restaurant. He prefers heading to the market mid-morning for the liveliness, especially if his kids are with him.

“I like the energy of it,” he says. “I like the farmers and booths to be set up and people already shopping around and picking things. There’s a sense of community, running into folks I know.” 

But it helps to be first in line 

D’Andre Carter, chef and co-founder of Soul & Smoke in Chicago, prefers shopping at the market earlier to get the first pick of the product.

“By noon it’s in full-throttle mode, and man, it’s hard to get to ingredients, hard to have a conversation with everyone trying to get their transactions through,” he says.

Carter also notes that arriving early means he can chat up the farmers before it gets too busy.  Soul & Smoke got its start at farmers markets, he says, and he would walk around once the booth was set up, but before the rush.

“That’s how I got to know the farmers,” he says, “walking around like: ‘Tell me about these peaches. Tell me about those apples.’ They always give me a heads-up and tips like the white strawberries are only gonna be here a couple more weeks.”

If you’re keen to jump on spring’s first skinny asparagus stalks, you may even beat out the chefs, who are often purchasing for consistency and volume.

Do your research 

Because chefs cook for a living, it’s easy for them to swap in, say, purple-top queen turnips for kohlrabi if that’s all that’s available. For the rest of us, a little research on what’s generally in season (and what category it falls under, like tubers, alliums, stone fruits, or cruciferous veggies) might help us in a pinch if we can’t get everything on our list. 

“I do a lot of research on dishes and produce too,” Carter says. If, for instance, he’s planning to make an apple and celery root purée, he will “look at what’s really in season that I could combine instead.” That might be rutabaga, potatoes, or parsnips. 

Rubba adds that it helps to practice a little courage. Why stick with the recipe-prescribed butternut squash when you could try kogi nut or honey roaster? “It’s going to be a similar enough profile that you’ll be able to relate to. Maybe it has a little more water content or this one’s skin is a little thicker when you peel it. Overall, you will be able to achieve what you want and it will be much more interesting.”

When in doubt, it never hurts to ask a farmer or vendor your question. You might just unearth your new favorite green, or learn that green garlic roots are in fact edible — and taste like a scallion chip when tempura-fried. “I never would have learned that if I hadn’t shown interest in the product, just examining and touching those plump, succulent roots,” Maeda says. 

Maeda’s favorite question to ask these days? “What’s the best way to prepare this ingredient that will honor its integrity?”

Compare, compare, compare

Maeda builds in as much market time as possible so she can taste samples, which most often comprise leafy greens and fruits like citrus, apples, and berries. Sometimes, she’ll make a goal out of trying as many different mandarin oranges as she can find. 

“They all come from different parts of the state,” she says. “It’s no different from wines. All have different kinds of flavor or something unique about them because of their own terroir. It’s fun to think about it like that.”

For items that aren’t as easy to sample at the market, like sweet potatoes, Rubba likes to buy from a few different farms. “If I need six of something, I might buy three from this farm and three from that farm and do a little comparison — as long as you can keep them separated in your bag,” he says. “You can really tell, and it’s so much fun to do this, especially at this time of year when things are just coming out of the ground.”

Or go one nerdy step further and buy several types of a single item like multicolored potatoes with different compositions (starchy, waxy, and creamy) or bitter greens (mizuna, endive, dandelion, and mustard). Note how the eating experience differs when you prepare them all the same way. 

Displays speak volumes

How can you tell which farms offer the highest-quality product without sampling it? Beyond the vibrancy of the produce, Rubba looks for indicators that the growers have a genuine appreciation for earthly delights — like diversity of product or dedication to doing a few things really well. 

“‘Do you really love vegetables?’ is what I’m trying to figure out,” he says. “I want to see vendors growing a lot of interesting varietals because they got excited by the seed catalog. If there’s diversity, it shows they probably care about their soil as well. Or maybe you notice they’re growing a crazy variety of tomatoes and herbs, which tells you they’re focused on what they do. I want to buy from someone who actually eats the product.”

The display and how it’s curated speaks volumes, too. Vendors might showcase a limited number of greens because they’re keeping the rest fresh in the truck. They may wash, dry, and pre-pack baby greens, neatly bundle roots on their bright-green stems, and leave potatoes packed in dirt so they keep longer. “If they’re taking the time with those things, I think that shows that they’re really involved and that there’s thought behind it,” he says. “You want to see vibrancy and things taken care of.”

Don’t just come for produce

Restaurants have symbiotic relationships with market vendors — and not just those hawking the freshest produce. 

“That’s another thing about the market. You know you can get the freshest whatever you’re gonna get, which also includes meats, proteins, cheese, snacks, and coffee,” says Carter. “I want people to know that they can get a meal to feed their whole family at the market. It all comes from small businesses that showcase their region and their neighborhood.”

To that end, it helps to bring a huge, insulated bag. “I always bring my Yeti bag, which is nice and durable,” Carter says. “If I don’t bring that, I'm taking two or three trips to the car.”