Our annual Spring Breakfast
by the Bay ~ June 6

Delight in spring's abundance and the people who bring it to us each week as you dine on breakfast prepared by Hayes Street Grill and CUESA's market chef. Farmers and food artisans will be at the table to share stories about the food they grow and make.  By joining us, you help keep our cooking programs free, our farm tours affordable, and expand our reach in promoting a sustainable food system. Learn more >

A mouth-watering Movable Feast ~ May 5

Tickets are still available for this months' installment of CUESA's Movable Feast dinner series. Join us at Picco in Marin with chef Bruce Hill, Greg Dunmore of Ame, and rancher David Evans of Marin Sun Farms. The menu will include: chilled English pea soup with bone marrow crouton; lamb kibbe with zatar flatbread; grilled beef tongue with asparagus; roasted chicken breast, braised chicken leg, egg yolk ravioli, and dandelion greens in a parmesan broth; mesquite grilled bavette steak with black trumpet mushrooms, potatoes, and wild ramp puree; and strawberries in a larded pastry crust with caramel ice cream (Yum!). Buy tickets here >

Hands-on artisanal cocktail class ~ May 16

Learn to make 2 spring drinks with acclaimed bartender and author Scott Beattie, and hear about small batch distilling from Lou Bustamante of St. George Spirits and Hangar One Vodka. Scott will personally instruct each guest on techniques including side recipes, garnishes, foams, rim sugars and salts. Drinks will feature Hangar One vodka and fresh, seasonal fruit from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Scott's book, Artisanal Cocktails: Drinks Inspired by the Seasons from the Bar at Cyrus, will also be available for sale. Buy tickets >

Saturday, May 2 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Sascha Weiss, The Plant Café Organic

11:45 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Steve Scarabosio, Scoma's Restaurant

Tuesday, April 28 ~ Food Wise Booth

12:00 - 1:00 pm - Sarah Henkin, CUESA's market chef, will be giving out recipe cards and samples of a simple meal made with market ingredients. She'll also be available to offer advice on all your seasonal meal planning.

Saturday, May 9 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Leif Hedendal, Local Chef

11:45 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration and book signing
Dr. Preston Maring and Jessie Price, authors of Eating Well in Season: The Farmers' Market Cookbook

All programs take place in CUESA's Dacor teaching kitchen, in front of the Ferry Building on the north side.

Shogun Fish Company’s Larry Miyamura is making do. Until two years ago, he caught local Chinook or King salmon and sold it exclusively at Ferry Plaza. Now, with the California salmon season canceled for the second year in a row, he's stopped fishing and finds that the re-sale part of his job has gotten a quite a bit more complicated. 

This season, Shogun will have a few local offerings such as sardines, sand dabs, halibut, calamari and black cod, and some hand-selected items from outside the area, like scallops from Massachusetts and wild American shrimp from Louisiana. Miyamura is committed to offering sustainable seafood choices, so he stays up-to-date with the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch List, even when it means changing plans mid-stream. One type of yellowtail he was planning to sell this season, for instance, just moved to the red list of products to avoid. “It’s always changing and requires constant vigilance,” he says. But the work pays off and makes Miyamura much more of a resource than your average fish vendor.   

Salmon used to make up the lion's share of the local fishing industry this time of year; now local fishermen are, by and large, out of a job. According to the California Department of Fish and Game, last year's salmon season closure resulted in a loss of $255 million and 2,263 jobs. This year, the federal government has created a $53 million disaster fund for fishermen in California and Oregon.

One sign of the times is the underutilized fish receiving station at Scoma's the iconic Fisherman’s Warf restaurant. The restaurant owns its own boat and had a fisherman on staff for several years. The receiving station connected the restaurant to the water and had windows that allowed the public to watch fresh fish arrive every morning. Now, the space serves as a storage facility.

Steve Scarabosio, Scoma’s executive chef, says he still serves some local fish, but the list has diminished.  “The local rock cod, petrale sole and sand dabs are great, but we really miss the King salmon. I think it’s the best in the world,” he says.

As for what’s ahead for salmon fishermen, Larry Miyamura isn’t very optimistic. “The average age of the guys in the fleet is 58. A lot of them are worried that even if they can get back out in the water, there won’t be a market for local salmon anymore. People will have forgotten we exist.”

Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA) is more optimistic. He believes 2010 could see some change for the positive, but explains that there’s a delay at work.

The Chinook salmon's life cycle lasts around 3-4 years. They swim through the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and out to the ocean (usually north) as juveniles, then return 3 years later as full-grown adults ready to spawn. So this year’s salmon season is inherently linked with the conditions the juveniles faced three years ago. In 2005 and 2006 a record number of gallons of water was taken out of the Delta (and shipped south to be used for agriculture). During those years, the water quality was especially poor. “In recent years, only about 8% of the baby salmon have survived to get to the ocean at all,” says Spain.

In 2007 a federal court mandated that more water be left in the delta. And, according to Spain, the survival rates are improving accordingly. "We expect that there will be an upsurge of salmon next year,” he says.

In the meantime, Spain says the good news is that the river that produces the most salmon — the Columbia — has seen an improvement in the stocks. He believes the fisheries in Washington and Alaska are still a good choice for consumers looking for sustainable salmon. Larry Miyamura of Shogun Fish Company agrees. He will be offering Alaskan salmon caught by a small-scale husband-and-wife team from Juneau beginning tomorrow.

Read more:

U.S. to Ban Commercial Salmon Season >

This is the most up-to-date information about which sellers will be attending the market as of Friday. If there are no changes to a seller's status, they will not be listed. You'll find a list of which farmers regularly attend each market here. Please understand that there are often last-minute changes—it's the nature of farming!

Saturday, May 2

In: Apple Farm, Happy Quail Farm, Shogun Seafood Company
Out: Critical Edge, Juniper Ridge, Mountain Ranch Organics, Viccolo Pizza

Tuesday, May 5

no changes

Returning and plentiful this month (weather willing):
Fresh shallots, summer squash, squash blossoms, Cippolini onions, cherries, blueberries, apricots, raspberries, basil, heirloom roses, sardines, English peas, Sugar Snap peas, snow peas, strawberries, Stockton red onions, baby root vegetables, lettuces, celery, fresh herbs, fava beans, fennel, artichokes, rapini, pastured eggs, cardoons, spring onions, goat cheese

Winding down/limited supply:
Asparagus, potatoes, citrus, braising greens, nettles, Japanese maples, pastured chicken (will become plentiful in early June)

Value Added and Vendor items not to be missed:
Sauerkraut from Happy Girl Kitchen, smoked sweet onions from Tierra Vegetables, garlic quark from Spring Hill Cheese

Farms/Vendors that may be returning this month (weather willing):
Shogun Fish Co., Triple Delight Blueberries, Paoletti Farms, Kashiwase Farms

Featured Recipes for May:
Creamy Artichoke Soup from Sarah Henkin, CUESA's market chef (April 2009)

Fava Beans & Strawberry Salad with Pecorino from Chris Cosentino, Incanto Restaurant and Bar

Capellini with Julienned Zucchini & Yellow Squash from Ben deVries, Luella Restaurant

Cocktail ~ Blue Bonnet from Joel Baker, Bourbon and Branch (May 14, 2008)