Fresh Temptations

It’s okay. Really. Brenda Cosentino’s decadent Italian fig cookies are worth the guilt. So are Dolese’s stuffed artichokes, redolent of garlic and made with handed-down-recipe love. Here’s your chance to try Mauthe Dairy’s divine creole cream cheese or Meme’s veggie pancakes.

There’s more than prepared foods, of course, at the Covington Farmers Market. Real farmers truck their produce in for the twice-weekly markets in historic downtown Covington—Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturdays, 8 a.m. to noon. Chefs and food fans show up to score the freshest local fruits and vegetables. There are beautiful, plump blueberries and blackberries, grown just up the road. Sweet satsumas, heirloom tomatoes and regional favorite Creoles, too, vie for attention, depending on the season. Regulars greet the bread lady and farmer Nick. They sample salsa and cookies, sip fresh-brewed coffee or herbal tea. Sunlight filters through the trees and, usually, live musicians playing in the small gazebo provide a soundtrack to the scene.

The Covington market isn’t the only one on the Northshore. A few miles away, in Mandeville, the Mandeville Trailhead Community Market is also abuzz on Saturday mornings, showcasing area arts and crafts, handmade soaps and cute birdhouses and featuring local singer-songwriters on the pavilion stage. But farmers and a number of good cooks offer fresh produce, eggs and herbs and prepared foodstuffs, too, like pepper jelly, beef jerky, boudin and fresh-roasted coffee.

Beginning at 10 a.m. on the first and third Sundays of the month, stroll and get to know the makers at the Madisonville Market at the Riverside Park South on Water Street. Local musicians harmonize while shoppers score hot foods, desserts and fresh organic produce to take home. Craftsmen and artists showcase homemade toys and games and arts in all mediums.

Over in Slidell, Camellia City Market sets up on Saturday mornings in Olde Towne, spreading the love with local produce, arts and crafts, prepared foods and live music. Pretty little eggplants and yellow squash have that just-picked sheen; bundles of turnips, collard and mustard greens have crisp leaves and smell of the earth.

The Abita Springs Art & Farmers Market tempts on Sundays from 11 to 3 p.m. Located adjacent to the Tammany Trace at the Abita Trailhead, the market offers shoppers all kinds of locally sourced goods, including pastured poultry, wild-caught seafood, honey, prepared foods, fresh produce and baked goods, as well as plants, personal care products and works by artisans and crafters. Enjoy live music from the Trailhead Museum stage.

Quaint, quiet Folsom also has a market at The Giddy Up, a popular gathering place, art gallery and coffee shop.

The air is festive at all the markets. And why not? Celebrating great food and nature’s bounty is a way of celebrating life and Louisiana culture, too.