Y&H had a hard time extracting himself from the office by the start of the FreshFarms Market by the White House yesterday, so I missed all the politico-celebrity speech-making. Fortunately, there were only, say, a thousand other journalist covering that angle. So I focused on, you know, the food. It’s a farmers market after all, even if it’s one as much about symbolism as produce.

Check out Y&H’s photos after the jump.

Vidalia chef R.J. Cooper stopped by the market to pick up what he called “red rattlesnake” beans. He was thinking about making a succotash out of them.

At the market, Spring Valley Farms was calling Cooper’s produce by another name: “bird egg beans.”

The tomatoes were still looking and smelling so good that Y&H picked up a bag of them for home.

This intergenerational team from Cedarbrook Farm was grilling up some fine sweet Italian sausages.

Brussel sprouts so fresh and green that even a hater could love ’em.

Rain served as nature’s own mist sprayer for the inaugural White House market.

These giant loaves of pane Pugliese from Quail Creek Farms were so gorgeous I thought about buying one — before I realized how much of the loaf would likely go to waste.

Y&H should have known he’d love spicy food one day. I used to eat radishes straight from the garden as a kid.

Some great looking organic garlic from Blueberry Hill Vegetables.

Mmmm, corn on the cob.

Interviews were as much a part of the White House farmers market as vegetables. Y&H spoke with Bernadine Prince (above), with FreshFarm Markets, who said about 2,000 people visited the inaugural White House market yesterday, which is a promising start (though way behind the 6,000 folks who visit the Dupont Circle market on a good day). The FreshFarm Market by the White House is still in its exploratory stage, but Prince thinks there are enough federal workers in the area — 3,000 by her best guess — to keep the market going into the future.