Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Yes, springing up like daffodils is a fair assessment.

The Hamptons have 4 now, including West Hampton, Sag Harbor, East Hampton and a new one due to launch in Montauk this season.

The North Fork has one in Riverhead and one in Greenport.

(See http://www.edibleeastend.com/content/index.php/find-a-copy/find-a-copy.htm#Efarmersmarkets.)

Here's a listing for markets in Nassau County (http://www.nyfarmersmarket.com/regionmetronassau.htm) and another for Suffolk County (http://www.nyfarmersmarket.com/regionmetrosuffolk.htm).

Happy shopping.

Hey Kieran, Thanks for the update on Iacono. We did do a piece on Miloski's a few years back. (Here's a link to the story from our pre-html days: http://www.edibleeastend.com/pages/articles/winter2006/pdf/roadsideDiaries.pdf.)
They have turkeys, raised outside, that many folks on the North Fork rave about. They also have a very diverse selection of obscure game, from alligator to bison.
Let me know how the bird tastes.
Brian

Ben's also has some very tasty veggie chili (with surprisingly meat-like chunks of texturized vegetable protein) and the related addictive chili fries that seem to taste best at 2 in the morning. Both these dishes are popular among DC's non-meat-eating populations--black, white and otherwise.

One of the nice things about the local food movement is that different people can interpret it in different ways--some people can plant their own gardens; others might just favor American apples over New Zealand apples. This makes the term local more powerful because more people can get behind it. And in some ways, it makes the word less susceptible to coopting in the way that organic has been.

The Observer story (and the February 25, 2008, New Yorker story on carbon footprints, "Big Foot," by Michael Specter) make clear that what we eat, like other daily decisions, "is almost never easy." But that doesn't have to send us into a state of gastro-paralysis. And while the variety of international shipping technologies, agroecological conditions, and farming practices around the globe conspire against simple answers, there are some rules of thumb that the carbon-conscious eater can live by.

A meat-rich diet generates more carbon than a diet with moderate amounts of meat. Highly-processed foods--whether canned, frozen, or fried--use more energy than raw items. Organic production of everything from apples to milk to wheat generates less carbon than chemical-based production, largely because the organic farmer's fertilization strategy doesn't depend on petroleum based agrochemicals and can actually add to the soil's store of carbon. And, in general, buying food grown closer to where you live will save fuel used in shipping.

Yes, a diligent research can find exceptions, like the New Zealand lamb raised on year-round pasture that is less fuel intensive than local lamb that might have to be given feed in the winter. But even if an 18-wheeler shuttling California asparagus to New York City is more energy efficient than a battery of beat up farmers market trucks bringing green spears to Union Square, New Yorkers who forsake out-of-season produce entirely render the long-distance advantage moot.

All good points, bisbee, and I didn't mean to pry or be self-righteous. Eating is about the company, of course, and the context and respecting the traditions, flavors, habits of others, especially when it comes to family holidays, which can already be stressful despite the presence of good food.
And I'm also glad to know how widely spread seriouseaters are geographically. In my town's supermarket, the California asparagus is pretty mediocre looking right now, so I suppose I was being a little self-centered. Sorry.

Thanks for the comments all. I wonder why Escoffier made such a big deal about how difficult and expensive the technique is. Maybe a sentiment that got lost in translation. Or perhaps he considered it difficult to do really well, and he considering it expensive when using really good cuts of meat.

Thanks for these comments, everyone.
There's no doubt that being a more deliberate food shopper, cook and eater are profound political acts. The farm bill only comes up every five years, and we get to choose a new President every four years. But we eat a few times a day.
And when more and more eaters and farmers and food businesses detach from the anonymous food chain, the "agri-industrial complex" is left with fewer customers. The smart companies are already adjusting. Sysco, the largest food distributor in the country, is slowly retooling its warehouses and delivery vehicles and staff to not just service cross-country orders, but also to get local food to local customers. If they don't make this change, then their competitors will.