Spring Breakfast ~ May 29

Breakfast with your favorite farmer and food artisan at CUESA’s annual fundraiser. Our kitchen will be transformed into a bountiful, beautiful setting for a relaxed meal right in the center of the market.

What's for Breakfast:
• Farm-fresh scrambled eggs with fava beans, green garlic, and peas or wild mushrooms from Hayes Street Grill
• Roasted potatoes with fresh herbs
• Market lettuce, shaved radish, and chive blossom salad
• Blueberry pancakes
• Fresh strawberries, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries with crème fraîche, yogurt, and honey
• Breakfast pastries and bread
• Artisan cheeses, handmade jams
• Coffee, tea, and juice

It's one of the most delicious ways to support CUESA's education programs. Buy tickets.

Celebrate Urban Eats at the County Fair ~ June 20

Do you make the best jam in the city? Do you grow the sweetest carrots? At this year's Giants County Fair, CUESA is hosting a special tent celebrating homegrown and homemade food. San Francisco residents are invited to enter an array of contests, including: best garden basket, honey, and eggs, as well as best preserved and baked foods. Read the rules or download the contest application form here. Related organizations are also invited to participate. Learn more. Keep up with Urban Eats on Facebook.

Women Changing the Way We Eat ~
June 9

Next Course Veggie Fiesta ~ Tomorrow

Next Course, a community food and nutrition initiative is hosting a veggie fiesta at the third annual 18th Street Community Day in the Mission. Students from Mission High School will showcase their Top 10 vegetable cooking techniques and includes free samples, vegetable-themed games, and a free Top 10 organic tote bag. The event will take place on 18th Street, between Dolores and Guerrero Streets from 10:00am to 3:00pm, and is a fundraiser for Next Course's Eat UR Veggies food education and youth leadership activities at the school. Learn more.

Janet Fletcher Reads ~ Tomorrow

Sur La Table in the Ferry Building is hosting a book signing for Janet Fletcher, author of Eating Local: The Cookbook Inspired by America's Farmers. The book helps you make the most of the fresh ingredients from your CSA box or farmers market and celebrates food grown locally. The reading is at noon; we recommend you get there early to secure a spot.

Marion Nestle in Point Reyes ~ May 23

Marin Organic and Point Reyes Books present Marion Nestle in conversation with Helge Hellberg, executive director of Marin Organic. Nestle, author of Food Politics, What to Eat? and Feed Your Pet Right, is one of the most respected nutritionists in America today. Admission to the talk is free. Tickets are also available for an intimate dinner with Nestle catered by Osteria Stellina following the talk. Learn more.

Saturday, May 22 ~ Market to Table

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

11:45 am - Seasonal Cooking Demonstration
Yigit Pura, Taste Catering

Tuesday, May 25 ~ Food Wise Booth

12:30 - 1:30 pm - Sarah Henkin, CUESA's market chef, will give out recipe cards and samples of a simple meal made with market ingredients. She'll also be on hand to offer advice for all your seasonal meal planning.

Saturday, May 29 ~ No Market to Table Program

We'll be hosting the Spring Breakfast fundraiser in our kitchen!

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

By Becky Tsang

On a particularly nice spring morning, Amandeep Jawa rode to the farmers market with a friend on a tandem bike. They were picking up, among other things, a ten-pound bag of oranges. His bike is equipped with two panniers on the rear wheel and a detachable bike basket that he pops off to carry while he’s shopping. A regular at the Saturday market, he admits he began biking when he met "a really cute girl who biked a lot.” Now, he says, “it’s the best way to come down on a Saturday.”

Namu’s chef Dennis Lee can also often be spotted at the market with his bike helmet in his hands, and a crew of friends and co-workers by his side.  “I got sick of driving, getting parking tickets, paying for rising gas prices,” he says. “When I ride I get exercise and fresh air, two things that you don’t get much of as a chef.”

To meet Namu’s produce needs, Namu staffers bike down to the Ferry Plaza in spring, summer, and fall. “It’s fun riding deep with a gang of people,” says Lee.  “Plus, we can carry more things that way.” 
While riding a bike to the market feels good and saves parking dollars, riders like Lee and Jawa have long been faced with a challenge. Finding a parking space at one of the three small bike racks the Ferry Building isn’t easy. The good news is, starting tomorrow, the San Francisco Bike Coalition (SFBC) will be providing free bike valet parking at the Saturday market.

The SFBC provides bike valet services  — meaning at least one paid bike manager onsite — at numerous public events around the city, from Giants games to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass to the Folsom Street Fair.  The Saturday market is the first farmers market to get such a service, but if it goes well, SFBC’s Jodie Medeiros says, it could result in similar services on other days and at other farmers markets around the city.

“It’s a way for us to ensure that people who are doing 'the great green good' for San Francisco transportation can come to the farmers market, feel great about their purchase, and be very confident that their bike will be there when they’re done shopping,” says Medeiros.

Bike transportation in San Francisco has exploded in recent years. For instance, MUNI reports that between 2006-2009 bike ridership went up 61.4%. But not all bike enthusiasts are comfortable braving the city’s hills with a week’s worth of groceries. Graded bike maps from the SFBC lay out the least sweat-inducing way to get to and from the market, and panniers (baskets or bags to hang from your bike), racks, and trailers are easy (and temporary) additions that will turn your bike into an efficient pack mule. New to biking in the city? Check out SFBC’s free urban cycling workshops to learn about bike traffic laws, tips and tricks to watch out for cars, and how to fix that inevitable flat.

Bike valet parking will take place form 8 am-2 pm all year long and will be located directly in front of the Ferry Building, in the Embarcadero median island. Riders will receive a tag to retrieve their bikes, but are advised to bring a lock as an extra precaution. 

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 22

Returning: Peach Farm, Triple Delight Blueberries
Out: Apple Farm, Critical Edge Knife Sharpening, Juniper Ridge

Tuesday, May 25

Returning: Frog Hollow Farms, Triple Delight Blueberries
Out: Critical Edge Knife Sharpening

Thursday, May 29

Returning: Triple Delight Blueberries

Plentiful /returning this month (weather willing): Stockton red onions, cherries, summer squash, squash blossoms, Cippolini onions, blueberries, apricots, raspberries, basil, heirloom roses, sardines, English peas, sugar snap peas, snow peas, strawberries, 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, green garlic

Farms/Vendors returning this month (weather willing): County Line Harvest, Shogun Fish Company, Triple Delight Blueberries, Paoletti Farms, Kashiwase Farm

Farmer and Vendor items not to be missed:
Goat Jaak cheese from Achadinha Cheese Company, smoked paprika from Happy Quail Farms, and chicken beer sausages from 4505 Meats

Featured Recipes for May:

Bordeaux Spinach, Fava Bean, and Basil Salad with Egg Yolk Vinaigrette and Roasted Garlic Crouton from Sarah Henkin, CUESA's Market Chef (May 26, 2009)

Chilled English Pea Soup from local chef Leif Hedendal

Spring Cassoulet with Rancho Gordo Beans from Dominique Crenn of Luce at the InterContinental San Francisco (April 3, 2010)

Cherry Limeade from Gabriel Cole, formerly of Google Cafe (May 31, 2008)