Strolling aisles of locally grown produce on Thursday, Valma Callahan picked up some white nectarines, lemon cucumbers, grapes and tomatoes. It was just like any other trip to a farmer’s market – except this one’s at Kaiser Permanente’s Roseville medical center.

“It has so much more flavor than what you get in a grocery store,” said Callahan, who discovered the market as a patient but intends to come back even when she doesn’t have an appointment.

The weekly Kaiser farmer’s market is one of 37 that operate annually at many Kaiser facilities throughout the country, said Susan Countryman, a Kaiser worksite wellness manager. Begun in 2002 at the HMO’s Oakland campus, the markets are designed to increase consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by staff and patients. But they’re also open to non-Kaiser member as well, Countryman said.

“It’s clear to me that what people eat is the most important thing to their health,” said Dr. Preston Maring, the Oakland physician who started the program and has been called “Dr. Broccoli.” “We thought, ‘Let’s bring a farmer’s market to where people congregate already.’”

He said the farmers markets aren’t intended to be a consumer’s primary source of fresh fruits and vegetables, but rather to get them thinking about integrating more into their diet on a daily basis. Only 23.1 percent of Americans eat five or more servings a day, federal health statistics show.

“We’ve got survey data that shows that 71 percent of repeat shoppers at our market say because of a farmer’s market at their hospital they’re eating more of it,” he said.

Kaiser staffer Joy Grande agreed. She was chowing down on kettle corn on Thursday, but says it’s usually the healthier options that she takes back to her desk for snacking.

“It’s great. I see people walking around on break, and they’re all eating fruits and veggies,” Grande said.

Market manager Bob Hicks said shoppers at the event, which started in 2006, are strong despite the recession.

On some products, “You can get better deals than going to the store,” he said. “Plus, our stuff isn’t sitting in a truck for two days.”

Asked what keeps them coming, most shoppers browsing the 11 vendors selling everything from soap to squash agreed – the freshness.

“It’s a little more expensive, but I think it’s fresher” than the supermarkets, said Elizabeth Fenech, who was purchasing tomatoes, lemon cucumbers and nectarines.

Mary Pierce of Pierce Family Farms in Loomis can back that up. She was offering heirloom red and yellow tomatoes and garlic at the market, which she’s been coming to for two years.

“I only pick the day before the markets, and I don’t let them sit,” she said.

Jackie Piers of Roseville is a Kaiser member who returns nearly every week.

“Any time we get near a farmers’ market, we go for the veggies,” she said.

Know and Go:

Thursdays through Thanksgiving: Kaiser Roseville, 1600 Eureka Road, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Kaiser’s farmer’s market is just one of several in the Roseville and Granite Bay area. Here’s a look at where else to go to bag some fresh produce:

* Tuesdays year round: Fountains at Roseville, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

* Thursdays through August 27: Downtown Lincoln at F Street, 5-8 p.m.

* Sundays through August 30: Historic Old Town Roseville, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

* Sundays through December 20: Granite Bay’s Quarry Ponds Town Center, 5550 Douglas Blvd., 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.