Beverly Hills farmer's market

My dad, sister and I went to the Beverly Hills farmer's market this morning in search of kettle corn and produce. Normally we'd go to the Mar Vista or West L.A. markets on Sunday, but we were on our way back from breakfast at Milk, a fabulous ice cream shop/bakery that also has tasty, oversized sandwiches and salads.

Normally at a farmer's market the preponderance of goods sold are fruits and vegetables, with related cheeses, milk and breads also for sale. But half of the Beverly Hills stalls were related to health and beauty and had nothing to do with food. There were booths with information on how to have your hair naturally colored, teeth whitened or straightened and other beauty/health enhancing services.

When we finally got to the produce we were confronted by strawberries costing $23 for six cartons, $2 avocados and $4 artichokes. There was one intimidating booth that didn't even have prices. My sister and I concluded they'd followed the lead of the nearby Rodeo Drive shops, where if you have to ask . . . But if we had asked they probably would have discreetly directed us to the West L.A. farmer's market, we decided.

My dad got a massive bag of kettle corn (reasonably priced at $6) but we skipped the extravagantly-priced produced. As we were leaving, we walked by people learning more about alternative health options and other services to lose weight and look younger. But the tanning booth was full service: There was a man standing with his shirt off getting a spray tan in full view. I've never been tempted to visit a tanning salon and even if I were I'm not sure I would have chosen an open air booth exposed to gawkers like me to get a fake tan. But perhaps the it was cheaper because of the low overhead. The tan actually looked pretty authentic.

We ended up at the West L.A. farmer's market on Santa Monica Blvd., where the price points are more to our liking: three baskets of strawberries for $5 and three bunches of beets for $4.