Save the date: CUESA's sixth annual Sunday Supper ~ October 5

Over fifty of the Bay Area’s best chefs, a dozen regional wineries, two local distilleries, and sustainable farmers from across the state will come together in the historic Ferry Building for one memorable night. We hope you will join us for our most anticipated fundraising event of the year, an hors d'oeuvre reception and four-course meal highlighting the abundance of delicious produce offered in our markets. This year's expanded reception will include 20 hors d'oeuvres stations, a wider variety of cocktails created by local distilleries, a sparking tea and more. The chef line-up is set!
See the list and learn more about the event here >
Buy tickets here >

Locavore Lunch ~ Wednesday, August 6

Hands on Gourmet, Commonwealth Club and CUESA are teaming up to host Locavore Lunch: A Hands-On Cooking (and Eating) Experience in our kitchen this Wednesday. Join us for an afternoon of learning, cooking and delicious food! After a discussion on seasonal foods and California agriculture, you will cook a delectable lunch alongside professional chefs. The lunch will start with a cheese course and will be followed by a multi-course menu including hand-pulled mozzarella stuffed with tomatoes, roasted peppers and basil; summer bean salad with pancetta, frisee, toasted pecans and soft-boiled egg; and seasonal berry croustade (tart) with almond frangipane and candied lemon zest.
Learn more or buy tickets here >

Seasonal cooking classes extended through September

By popular demand, CUESA and Parties that Cook are extending our series of evening cooking classes to include two additional nights in September. Tickets are also still available for some of the August classes. Click here to register and see the menus for all remaining classes.

Waste Wise tip of the week #11

Forgot your reusable coffee cup? If you use a to-go cup, separate the parts when you're done with it. The cup goes in the compost and the lid and java jacket are recyclable!

Waste Wise volunteers are needed every Tuesday and Saturday at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. E-mail ashleigh@cuesa.org for details.

Saturday, August 2 ~ Tomato Festival

10:00 am - 1:00 pm - Nutritional information and tasting booth
Taste a diverse array of tomatoes from the market. Each farmer has selected a favorite variety. Stop by our culinary information station for nutrition information, recipes, and a fun tomato quiz. Location: south driveway, near Eatwell Farm.

10:30 am - Meet the farmer
Karen Lucero of Lucero Organic Farms interviewed by CUESA volunteer Earl Shaddix

11:00 am - Tomato-centric cooking demonstration
Joyce Goldstein, author of Mediterranean Fresh and other cookbooks

Tuesday, August 5 ~ Easy Market Meals

12:00, 12:30 and 1:00 pm - Seasonal cooking demonstrations
Georgeanne Brennan, author of A Pig in Provence

Saturday, August 9 ~ Market to Table

10:30 am - Meet the farmer
Louis Iacopi, Iacopi Farm

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration

10:00 am - 1:00 pm - Culinary information station
A rainbow of flavors: Colorful foods and their nutritional value
Location: south driveway

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

It’s 11 am on a weekday morning and Bill Mohler is manning the Slow Food Nation Victory Garden. The volunteer spends several mornings a week here, as a kind of tour guide for visitors and curious passers-by who wander in and take snapshots of everything from squash vines to mustard greens in the raised, round garden beds. The seniors who exercise on the nearby lawn have already made their daily rounds through the garden, commenting on the vegetables' progress. Regulars and first-timers alike have plenty of advice to offer.

“Everyone has an opinion about the tomatoes,” Mohler says, as he recounts what he’s heard from locals. Some say stop watering them, others say don’t bother growing them at all here in the cool summer weather of the San Francisco Civic Center. Many are surprised to see the green fruit starting to swell.

Either way, the garden has people talking―even those who wouldn’t normally spend much time discussing the source of their food. According to Blair Randall, of Garden of the Environment, one of the project’s essential goals is to create "a platform upon which to have a conversation about local urban agriculture," starting with the most local food possible and moving outward.

Garden for the Environment runs the Victory Gardens 2008+ program, a pilot project funded by the City of San Francisco to support the transition of yards, window boxes, rooftops, and unused land into organic food production areas. Garden for the Environment played a significant role in the collaborative efforts to plan and execute the garden, which was built by 150 volunteers during the first 10 days of July and was planned to coincide with Slow Food Nation, a gathering to unite the growing sustainable food movement.

In addition to starting conversations and inspiring potential backyard food-growers, the most high-profile urban garden in San Francisco’s recent history will also generate an estimated 1300 pounds of food this summer. As many as 75 heirloom vegetable varieties belonging to Slow Food’s Ark of Taste list will be donated to the San Francisco Food Bank.

Bill Mohler has already dropped off several bags of greens at the food bank. “We’re not talking tons of produce, but we know where it grew and how, which feels really good to me,” he says.

According to Randall, the USDA estimates that the average person eats around 2 pounds of fruit and vegetables a day. There’s nowhere near enough space to grow that much food in the city, so he believes it’s crucial that the lessons learned in urban gardens have an impact on people’s broader appreciation of local and sustainably-produced food.

“When you start growing some of your own food, you gain so much more respect for how difficult it is to grow on a large scale,” Randall says.

Mohler has experienced this expanded awareness firsthand. “I’ve always appreciated farmer’s markets and I love getting the food to my table, but I had no idea what it took to get it to that market," he says.

Change on the kind of scale Randall and the others behind the Victory Garden are planning never happens quickly, but the foundation is crucial. “People have asked, ‘Is it a token garden?’," says Randall. "It’s no more a token than the first match it takes to light a fire.”

Related: Watch a video about a national campaign to plant a victory garden in front of the White House >

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, August 2

In/returning: Apple Farm, Hidden Star Orchards
Out: Brooks and Daughters
Out for the Season: Hunter Orchards

Tuesday, August 4

In/returning: Hidden Star Orchards

Returning and plentiful this month (weather willing): apples, summer squash, Valencia oranges, nectarines, peaches, pluots, radishes, basil, sunflowers, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, tomatillos, grapes, zinnias, duck, pullet eggs, cucumbers, eggplant, mint, nopales, wild pig, peppers, pears, fresh garbanzo beans, squash blossoms, smoked fish, wheat, baby corn, onions, lettuces, okra, figs, grass-fed beef, plums, tomatoes, melons, dahlias, new potatoes, peanuts, wax beans, shelling beans, and Romano beans

Winding down/limited supply: apricots, fresh lavender, fava beans, peas

Farms that may be returning in this month (weather willing): Woodleaf Farms (please note that due to extreme weather last Spring they don't have stone fruit to sell this year but will bring us some of their wonderful vegetables), Payne Family Farm

Seasonal vendor items not to be missed: Heirloom tomato juice from Happy Girl Kitchen, Burbank plum and Meyer lemon conserve from June Taylor, summer squash and corn ravioli from The Pasta Shop, Porchetta sandwiches from Roli Roti

Recipes for August

Savory Crepes with Chevre, Shiitake Mushrooms and Smoked Trout from Chef Samantha Smith

Red Pepper Bisque from cookbook author Linda Carucci

Italian Bread Salad with Tomatoes and Basil from cookbook author Joanne Weir

Stone Fruit Bruschetta with Crème Fraîche Ice Cream from Elise Fineberg, Taste Catering

Yerba Buena Gimlet from Reza Esmaili, Conduit (May 14, 2008)