A farmers' market is a market where the farmers themselves bring produce to sell to the public This has the advantage that the public can find out 'from the horses mouth' exactly how the food is produced and where it comes from. This is a total contrast to food from the supermarkets, where you don't know who has produced it, what practices they have engaged in, or what dodgy chemicals have been added.

Real Food

Food from farmers' markets does not necessarily have all the attributes that FOE would like to see in food. It does not mean that it is organic, or guarantee that is free from harmful pesticides or is GM-free. However, it is far more liekly to have these attributes, not least because the farmers that care sufficienly about their customers to hack up to London every Saturday (or whenever) are the sort of people who are likely to care about the true quality of the food they produce.

Local Food

One thing you can be reasonably sure of is that the food is local. Farmers' markets only take food produced within a 50-mile radius. This means that you will get food grown in this country and not driven or, worse, flown thousands of miles.
Fact: To fly 1 km of vegetables in from Africa requires some 3kg of aircraft fuel. So if you buy fruit and veg that is flown in from abroad, you are contributing to global warming.

There are now half a dozen farmer's markets in West London:

• Ealing, Saturday am, Leeland Road, West Ealing
• Twickenham, Sat am, Holly Road car park, of Hollly Road, King Street
• Notting Hill, Sat am, car park behind Waterstones, Kensington Place
• Marylebone Sun am, Cramner St car park, W1
• Pimlico, Sat am, Orange Sq off Pimlico Road, SW1