Your trendy farmers markets

Farmers Markets clearly seem to be increasing in trendiness. Of course they have dramatically increased in numbers over the past few decades -- Chicago now has 3 downtown during the week and at least one if almost every major neighborhood. Those who can't make the markets can still hit up stores like Chicago's Downtown Farmstand or the Green Grocer. But what really strikes me as proving how trendy these markets have become is how restaurants have latched on to local, seasonal and family farming. Last night, for instance, I ate at Chaise Lounge in the Bucktown neighborhood. Their ingredients are almost exclusively sourced from local producers, including as much as possible from the Green City Market. Unfortunately, their servers and chefs working that night did not know whether their meat was pastured -- which further leads me to the "trendy" part -- it all sounds good but the people there don't really know what it really means. A number of restaurants have really gotten into this, but the lack of knowledge by anyone other then the chef may mean that the patrons don't really cares about the details. Of course part of what drove farmers markets has always been the chef as customer. High end chefs thought the freshest, best tasting food came straight from local farms and used that to meet their high standards. But you were never told that a tomatoe at Charlie Trotters came from a local family farm. Now you have more and more restaurants that advertise the source of their ingredients. I think this is great -- I just wish customers and restaurant personnel were more concerned and aware of what it all meant. Sure it's great that your pork comes from such and such farm in Wisconsin, but what does that really mean (other than that it doesn't come from China)?