Based on her travels to more than 100 of the nation's 3,000+ farmers' markets, Madison has sought to highlight and meld the great variety of produce available in different parts of the country in different seasons into interesting, flavorful recipes. The book is essentially organized seasonally, starting with spring, coursing through the year, and ending up with foods that are available year round and those that store well for long periods. There is also historical and anecdotal information on some of the markets and some of the farmers.

Even though Madison is perhaps best known for her vegetarian cookbooks, among them the seminal Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, a number of recipes in this collection include meat and fish — as do more and more farmers' markets.

This book is ideal for people with sophisticated palates, fairly good cooking skills, and a love of the freshest produce (everyone loves the freshest produce; it's the other two categories where some of us may slip through the cracks).