At Salon today, Riddhi Shah probes the dark side of the boom in U.S, farmers' markets. Sure, weekly food fests like the Wednesday Castro market are a boon for city folk, but how much do we really know about the communities where our farmer buddies harvest? By hauling prime produce to the glut of urban markets, are farmers neglecting the regional food system, causing residents of farm country to be deprived of the very food we stuff into our market baskets? In "The Dark Side of the Farmers' Market Boom," Shah interviews Linda Aleci, a historian and researcher who thinks there needs to be more coordinated planning of regional systems, so food is distributed more fairly. Aleci:
There is a growing discussion as to whether we should be developing local or regional food systems.... I don't think we should automatically be skipping over the local for the regional. Instead, we need to see how both the systems can mesh together.
Meanwhile, in Seattle magazine, Rebekah Denn wonders how many markets are too many for any city to support.
Just about a month into its life and the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen is expanding to weekend service. It will be open from noon to four this Saturday, and will also be open on Sundays in the near future. Proprietors Heidi Gibson and Nate Pollak told SFoodie that they're buying additional kitchen equipment to expedite orders more quickly and to continue to cut down on the time spent in line. Its South Park location and relative absence of anything else like it in the area has made it a popular destination for area workers. The restaurant was a recent stop on Tillamook's "Loaf Love Tour." The company's bright orange miniature vans will be cruising Bay Area grocery stores for the next few weeks, handing out cheesy schwag like coupons for a free pound of cheese and various loafy pieces of flair.
American Grilled Cheese Kitchen 2 South Park (at Second St.), 243-0107.
The Xocolate Bar 1709 Solano Ave (at Tulare), Berkeley, (510) 525-9626.
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In the past two years, San Francisco farmers' markets have sprouted as thick as fennel in a chain-link lot. The year-old Castro market, which runs from April through October, is one of the best of the city's new crop.
Last Wednesday there were 26 vendors ― just about the peak-season max ― on the block-long stretch of Noe. They included more than a few prime Bay Area vendors: Frog Hollow, Prather Ranch, Far West Funghi, Happy Boy, and a brand-new vendor, Pescadero's Fifth Crow Farm, which sells eggs and grains.Enormous strollers clogged Noe at last Wednesday's market. Guys still moist from the gym picked over shiny mounds of cherries, while the mass of he-on-he and she-on-she couples, moms, and toddlers blended into the sidewalk scene in front of Café Flore.
Elizabeth Howe, regional market manager for Pacific Coast Farmers' Markets, says Castro shoppers are among the city's most enthusiastic.
Rabins: The running joke seems to be that we should move it to the Cow Palace. Its definitely something we think about not the Cow Palace ― when I see the hour and half wait to get in, get angry emails from customers (actually just got my first one a couple days ago), and patiently explain to vendors for the 20th time that in fact we can't let anyone else in at the moment, lest we all die fiery deaths as martyrs for the local food movement (translation: we've reached fire code capacity).
The question is financial as much as it is about crowd control.
Leave those clunky, homemade THC brownies to languish in the freezer. The Bay Area is at the forefront of an artisan edible marijuana movement sprouting both above ― and below ― the law. Taking your medicine can now be a gourmet experience, with tasty drinks that, unlike those college brownies that'd leave you paralyzed on the sofa for 12 hours, minimize dosage guesswork. Take these five legal beverages, all purchased at various local dispensaries, notable for their deliciousness as much as for their dosage. Kick back in the La-Z-Boy, pour yourself a cold one, and please: Use a coaster.
1. Kushtown Pineapple Soda is reminiscent of a bottle of Mexican Jarritos tropical pop, only with more, well ― pop.
Congratulations to SFoodie reader Nofoodie for correctly pointing out that last week's Mystery Spot burger is served at Namu.
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"And what a maiden voyage!" he exclaimed, a bright smile lighting up his face.
A 2008 entry on the Weird Fish blog shows the bones of a type of taco bike. But it wasn't until Holt met Santa Rosa-based artist/engineer Todd Barricklow last year at the Great Handcar Regatta that the idea would be fully realized. Exceeded, even.
We read via Tablehopper that Bite Club Eats has a diagrammed breakdown and all the specs of Barricklow's creation, which includes a hand-washing station with hot water, divided griddle to keep seafood away from vegan items while cooking, a slot for hands-free collection of money, and a cute dining area with a condiment station of Weird Fish's "suspicious sauces."
