North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

On May 21, 2011, at 8:53 PM, Stephen Sadler wrote:

> 
> At our local farmers' markets, people can taste samples of nearly anything -
> I've never seen a request turned down. . . 
> What are the manners and sensitivities one might consider? How do you
> shoppers and sellers of produce feel about tasting and walking away? 
<snip>

Speaking as a customer, and not a seller:
I don't ask to taste anything unless I plan to purchase _something_ from that 
vendor.  It might be something other than what I tasted, and it might be less 
than I had hoped to buy.  But I, too, feel awkward about tasting a vendor's 
wares and walking away.  For what it's worth, I feel no such compunction in 
the supermarket, where I often try the free samples and almost never buy the 
wares being pushed.  I guess I am buying stuff from the store, although the 
free samples are often supplied by an outside vendor and not the store.

As you said, the vendors at a farmers' market usually know what's good.  I 
have had excellent success simply asking them.  "What is your best strawberry 
today?  When will you have the best peaches?"  That doesn't help you pick 
among vendors, but it does help you pick within a vendor's wares.  I look for 
vendors who refrigerate their produce (in the truck).  They often handle it 
better in other ways.  If I find a vendor I like, I tend to become a repeat 
customer of _that_ vendor.  I've had pretty good luck with farmers' markets.

Ginda