Spring Breakfast ~ Tomorrow

We still have a few spots left at the 8:30 am seating of our Spring Breakfast fundraiser.

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 preserved foods, seasonal fruit pies, and best picnic lunch. Read the rules or download the contest application form here. Organizations are also invited to set up tables and exhibits. Learn more. Keep up with Urban Eats on Facebook.

Dine Out for the Gulf Coast ~ June 10-12

The following restaurants will be donating a portion of their proceeds to the communities affected by the Gulf Coast oil spill: Delfina, Hog Island Oyster Bar, Bottega, Maverick, Incanto, Front Porch, RN74, The Slanted Door, Heaven's Dog, Bi-Rite Market, Ozumo, Nombe, Boulette’s Larder, Wexler’s, Contigo and Bix, Chez Panisse, Tra Vigne, Bottega, and The Pasta Shop. Contact the participating restaurants for details.

Congratulations, Cowgirls

Earlier this week Sue Conley and Peggy Smith of Cowgirl Creamery were awarded 'Small Business of the Year' award. Read more.

Shopping with Chefs

Over at 7x7 Magazine, CUESA Market Manager Lulu Meyer writes about shopping with some of the chefs who frequent the market. This week, she tours around with Chris Cosentino of Incanto and Boccalone. Read her post.

Going to Seed ~ June 4th

Why should I buy organic seeds? What does heirloom mean? Seeds Trust owner Bill McDorman will answer these questions and more at the Ecology Center in Berkeley. McDorman has been inspiring and teaching gardeners to save seeds for over 30 years. Learn more.

 

Agriculture: Does it Belong in Urban Areas? ~ June 8

Does growing volumes of food in urban areas makes sense, and if so, how? This is the first in a series of debates at Hub SoMa regarding controversial topics in food and farming. Learn more.

Cooking with Fire ~ June 12

Peralta Hacienda Historical Park will host its annual multicultural campfire cookout, including food from both Ohlone and Mien traditions. Learn more.

Veggie Valet Changes for June 12

Due to the Giants Race on June 12, the Embarcadero roadway in front of the Ferry Building will be closed to traffic from 8 am until 10:30 am. Items may be left at Veggie Valet, but curbside pickup will not be available until 10:30 am on this day. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Saturday, May 29 ~ No Market to Table Program

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

 

Tuesday, June 1 ~ 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, June 5 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration and book signing
Ani Phyo, author of Ani's Raw Food Essentials

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

In her new book Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat, Temra Costa articulates what many of us have long suspected: that women are the driving force behind sustainable food. As Costa writes in the book's introduction, women are "becoming the fastest growing number of diversified farmers in the country, controlling the majority of household spending, dominating nonprofits dedicated to shifting the balance from conventional to sustainable foods, and creating menus and businesses that reflect their socio-environmental values." To celebrate this renaissance, she profiled over 30 women from around the country. The book highlights some well known pioneers such as Growing Power's Ericka Allen, chef and cookbook author Deborah Madison, and urban farmer Novella Carpenter, but also introduces readers to lesser-known heroines of the movement like Glenda Humiston, an outspoken advocate for water conservation in California and a former undersecretary at the USDA. Costa spoke with CUESA recently about the book, women's roles, and their reluctance to take the stage.

CUESA: Why did you want to focus on women?

Temra Costa: Why not women? Women rarely get the acknowledgement they deserve. When I talked to a lot of the women in the book, they’d start off by saying: “Oh it’s not about me, it’s about the whole movement” or “it’s about the importance of the issue.” Women are just less likely to elbow their way up to the front of the stage and say, “I’m owning this!” And now, of course, I find myself doing the exact same thing when I talk about the book; I say, “It’s not about me, it’s about these great women!”

CUESA: What was your experience putting together this book?

The process was really eye-opening. Originally the book had 12 chapters and covered all the geographic regions of the US, but my contract was only for one year and I was working full-time for Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), so I had to scale back. I also originally wanted to find women who represented each of the different issues of sustainable food and farming — there was one entire chapter on water, for instance — and I had a hard time finding people to fill all the gaps. Since publication, I’ve been adding a new “Farmer Jane” to the website every two weeks, which I love doing. People write to me and say, "Why isn’t there anyone from Colorado?” and I can say, “great, send me their names!”

Some see feminism and slow/sustainable food production as at odds with one another. Are the women in your book femivores?

There is a conflict between the feminist perspective and the re-localization of food because ultimately it means that you’re going to need to spend more time growing and processing food again. So there is a conundrum. But what Shannon Hayes says really well in her book Radical Homemakers is that men and women should be (and are) both doing this. When we left the home to work, it was to pay for goods that we could no longer make ourselves. I feel like men and women can both go back to taking more time and more care with their food. But women are still paid less than men (around 75 cents on the dollar), and if only one partner is going to work outside the home, you have to choose the who has the most earning power. So the truth is that, more often than not, women are going to be doing the food-related work.

You’ve worked in this area and you share a lot of the perspectives with the folks in this book. What shifted about your perspective while you were writing it?

I have been becoming more aware of the importance of labor issues on farms. After leaving CAFF I also farmed through the WOOF program for a little while in Europe. I felt just a smidge of what it must be like to be a farm worker who’s exploited when I was treated poorly on several farms – and by farmers who were biodynamic, super groovy, and had won awards. So that brought it home.

Learning Mily Treviño-Sauceda’s story really shocked me. [Treviño-Sauceda is the co-founder of Líderes Campesinas, an organization that builds leadership among farm worker women]. She told stories of working as a migrant worker alongside her parents as early as age eight. And that kind of thing still happens in this country! But it’s such a deep issue because our farmers are pitted against China, South America, Africa, all these countries with lower environmental and labor standards. But people come here to look for work — and families bring their kids to work with them. It just made me more aware of how complex the issue is in a new way.

Temra Costa will be appearing at the Ferry Building along with Sarajane Snyder from Green Gulch Farm and Il Cane Rosso’s Chef Lauren Kiino for the next CUESA/Kitchen Table Talks collaborative event. They will delve into a discussion of women's work that will touch on the joy of being in the dirt and the ways women juggle food, home, family, and community. Slow Food SF president Dava Guthmiller will moderate. Learn more and RSVP.

Photo credits, from top: Temra Costa, photographed by Bart Nagel; Elizabeth Henderson, courtesy of the Farmer Jane website; and Mily Treviño-Sauceda photographed by Misha Erwitt.

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 29

Returning: The Apple Farm, Paoletti Farm, Tory Farms
Out: Critical Edge Knife Sharpening, La Cocina

Tuesday, June 1

Returning: Bella Viva Orchards, Blossom Bluff Orchards, Shelly's Garden
Out: Critical Edge Knife Sharpening

Thursday, June 5

Returning: Achadinha Cheese Company, Lagier Ranches

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)