When I first moved to Mazatlán, I went shopping the way I always had in the United States. I bought everything I needed for the week, filled the refrigerator, and assumed it would all still be there when I was ready to cook it.

But by the next day, things had already started to rot.

Even the celery. I don’t think I had ever seen celery rot in a refrigerator in the US. I had to relearn how to shop and how to cook.

Sinaloa, where I live, is an agricultural state, and much of the produce at the market has traveled just a few miles from the farm. It is picked when it is ripe, which means it tastes incredible, but it also means you have to use it quickly.

That’s why I go to the market almost every day.

When you ask for an avocado, there are only 2 options, today or tomorrow. The vendor asks when you are going to use it and then hands you either, the one for today which is soft like room-temperature butter. Or, the one for tomorrow which is ever-so-slightly firmer.

Most mornings, I head to the market for something specific, and very often that thing is fruit. I eat yogurt and fresh fruit for breakfast every day, and I absolutely adore it. Mangoes, papaya, pineapple, coconuts. Peaches and plums when they are in season. Blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries too. A lot of people don’t realize how many berries are grown in Mexico. Many of the berries in American grocery stores during the winter are grown deep in central Mexico, and they are amazing.

The market most days tells me what I should cook and eat.

If I see a really ripe pineapple, I start thinking about what I can make with it that day. Pineapple and guajillo chiles are one of my favorite combinations: sweet, earthy, and a little spicy. I’ll usually add chicken or shrimp and turn it into a quick, incredibly satisfying guiso.

That is how I shop now. I go to the market looking for one thing, but also look for has just arrived, what is perfectly ripe, and what needs to be cooked that afternoon. And that’s usually dinner.