High levels of humidity weren't about to stop me, though. I had undertaken a grand mission: to hunt down fresh produce for the sake of delivering a low-impact meal (and completing a surprisingly interesting assignment).
According to my research, the Erin Mills Farmer's Market was the closest spot for locally-sourced products. We arrived shortly after it had opened, and noticed that only a few booths had been set up in the Daniels parking lot. Besides an information booth, the remainder of the booths sold vegan chocolate, baked goods, honey, and some commercial cooking equipment.
The search for usable dinner ingredients then continued after popping the feather-light paper bag into the trunk. Next on the list was the Mississauga Flea Market / Farmer's Market at Mavis and Dundas. Prior to this trip, I hadn't paid much attention to the yellow and black sign draped across the otherwise unassuming warehouse across from the Loblaws. The parking lot was eerily quiet, the interior was dim, and the stares of the other occupants of the building were intense and unnerving.
Sugar cane juice and mango smoothies were situated near the cashier, so we opted to try a small cup ($2) as we were on our way out with one piece of ginger. The surrounding customers were on the crude side: a petite, haggard-looking lady bumped into me twice, scanning my appearance the first time and greedily spying my handbag on the second. It was an unbelievably frightening sensation that I hope to never experience a second time.
Not only were there sufficient parking spots, the stalls carried a diverse selection of locally-grown and/or organic, fresh-off-the-farm produce. Ranging from juicy grape tomatoes to award-winning Canadian cheese to extremely fragrant cloves of fermented Black Garlic, our third stop offered the greatest number of required materials - and at the lowest price too!