Shreveport farmers market featured by Southern Living

The Shreveport Farmers Market has made it into print! The market is included in the new "Southern Living Farmers Market Cookbook," which is on sale in bookstores around the country.

Noma Fowler-Sandlin has managed the Shreveport Farmers Market for three years and has been a vendor for five years. She says the market is driven by a diverse group of people who keep handed-down methods and recipes alive and are finding new ways to bring them to the public.

"It's a great market and one that is growing every year. Our farmers and vendors really know what they're doing, and the shoppers recognize that," she says. The local market is a place where folks can shop, then sit down and enjoy a snack and catch up, she says.

The summer market is held on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to noon, and the fall market opens after the Red River Revel Arts Festival leaves and stays open until around Thanksgiving. What can shoppers expect from the 2010 Shreveport Farmers' Market?

The market offers produce, wine, beef and ready-to-eat foods that you can eat at the market or take home with your purchases. "It's not just the greens, but the hot sauce for the greens. It's a gourmet field day," Sandlin says. On Tuesdays shoppers are treated to home-grown music.

Until the market opens, shoppers can whet their appetites with recipes in the new Southern Living cookbook. "I think it's wonderful to be mentioned by any media publication, but especially one as well-associated as Southern Living," Sandlin says.

You can purchase the Farmers Market Cookbook at many major book stores for $29.95. For more information, see Shreveport Farmers Market and the Shreveport Farmers Market Facebook page.