For a little taste of southern France in northern New England, the Burlington Farmers’ Market on Saturday is the ne plus ultra. Translation: fairly unbeatable.

Vendors crowd Burlington’s City Hall Park and spill onto Saint Paul Street, which is closed to traffic during the market, making the experience even friendlier for the throngs of shoppers, kids, and dogs weaving among the tents. And although I’m not exactly sure how you’d go about ranking farmers’ markets in the first place, any event that combines just-picked vegetables, dense artisanal bread, curried sweet potato hummus, and homemade toffee crunch within food-fighting distance of each other, plus trail mix spiced with dried crickets, has got to be a contender.

In the category of takeaway, it’s an ethnic smorgasbord, with Anatolian falafel wraps, Samosa Man, A Little Peruvian, and Pak-Afghan Foods. Plus strawberry-rhubarb pocket pies from The Farm Between and piping-hot grilled sausage from Doe’s Leap. It all goes quite nicely with Theo’s Maple Lemonade. Guilt-free nirvana—you’re supporting the local economy.

Between the views, the snacks, the fresh air blowing off Lake Champlain, and the fact that everyone here walks and bikes, you practically bump into the feel-good endorphins. While getting a literal taste of Vermont. And thankfully a picture’s not worth a thousand calories, so you can peruse these photos to your heart’s content. For more information, see www.burlingtonfarmersmarket.org.

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