1. Children need to see how utterly beautiful produce can be. They need to know that tomatoes are not only red but also green, yellow, orange and even striped. They need to know that there is such a thing as purple potatoes.

2. Children need to enjoy how funny looking produce can be, despite the perfect shapes they see in the supermarket. They need to know that peppers can have a weird, contorted shape. They need to know that not all eggplants are dark purple globes, that some of them are long, thin, and lavender. They need to see how two separate tomatoes occasionally merge and grow into one.

3. Children need to taste a variety of foods. They need to try three different types of honey and begin to understand that the flowers affect the taste of the honey They need to experience the difference between fresh and smoked mozzarella. I will never forget when my daughter was about 8 months old and we were tasting Chapel Hill Creamery cheese at the Carrboro market. She kept saying something over and over. Then I realized: She was saying, “Feta!”

4. Children need to know that people grow or make the food they eat. They need to hear the farmers talk about how they’re affected by the rain, insects and so on. They need to understand that the woman standing behind the cooler made that cheese (she did not buy it). And they need to realize that they too can make cheese. (Whole Foods carries rennet.)

5. Children need to understand that closer is better. Local food tastes better, has better nutrition (though you don’t need to emphasize this one! ), and is better for the environment (particularly if its grown using organic methods) than food that is grown far away and shipped. I actually saw a sign in a grocery store advertise that the particular produce item (I can’t remember now what it was) was “fresh from New Zealand.” I mean, really! How fresh can it possibly be compared to an apple or a piece of okra that was picked just hours earlier, put on a truck, and driven to market?!

Yes, I’m a farmers’ market devotee, and I think eating seasonally is important. My proudest moment was this past June when we went to visit my parents in Madison, Wisconsin. June is still spring up there, and the farmers’ market offerings were what we had seen here in March and April. There was not even a hint of a tomato let alone melons. Well, my mom had bought a cantaloupe at Whole Foods. When my three-year-old son pointed to it on the counter and said, “Is that in season?” I practically jumped for joy.

So check out a farmers’ market this month. You — and your kids — just might get hooked.

Nancy writes once a month about food for TriangleMom2Mom.com

Check out our other daily themes at TriangleMom2Mom:

MONDAY: Meet!
TUESDAY: Ask!
WEDNESDAY: Eat!
THURSDAY: Play!
FRIDAY: Out!

WEEKEND: Relax!