I love farmer's markets. The produce is fresh, the variety is great, the experience is pleasant. But it is often not particularly economical compared to shopping at the grocery store, which also has access to all these in-season foods. FM foods are usually priced in even or half dollars. So a bunch of cilantro is $1 at FM and $.89 at the grocer's. Some items are real bargains, but overall I think it usually costs me more to shop at FM. That won't stop me, of course. I love the experience!

I had to look up fava beans -- I've probably had them soup but I've never cooked them. Is it a regional food?

It would be good to look at these also through the lens of healthily produced foods. for example, strawberries are near the top of the list of foods most heavily sprayed with multiple pesticides, something best avoided by seniors and everyone else. For a list of the "cleanest" and "dirtiest" foods-those least and most sprayed, see http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list.php