Inspired by the market

One of the reasons that I like shopping at the farmers' market is being inspired by what I see and what looks good. On a recent trip to the Mountain View farmers' market, I saw all the heirloom tomatoes and was inspired to make...

A heirloom tomato (Happy Boy Farms), roasted beet (Nunez Farm), basil (Happy Boy Farms), goat cheese salad with olive oil from Soul Food Farm for dinner on Sunday and...

A heirloom tomato (Happy Boy Farms) soup with roasted corn (G&S Farm) and fresh basil (Happy Boy Farms) for dinner on Monday. Yum.

Pastured Pork Share

So excited to participate in my first "pork share"! I found this opportunity through the local chapter of Slow Food USA. The basic concept is that a group of people come together to buy a whole pig direct from a farm, then it's arranged for the pig to be butchered, and each person who buys a share gets a bunch of fresh pork direct from the farm.

We bought our pig from Fogline Farm, a farm near Santa Cruz that prides itself on its sustainability. They sell veggies through a CSA, and eggs, chickens, hogs and jams direct to consumers and through farmers' markets (around Santa Cruz / Monterey). I've had a chance to visit the farm and chat w/ the farmers - Johnny, Caleb, Jeff . It's inspiring to see these young, passionate guys dedicate their work lives to growing such good, delicious, healthy food.

I purchased 12 lbs of pork for $100 - the shares I got consisted mostly of pork chops and pork belly, with a couple lbs of stew meat and a large shank. Given the quality and cuts of the meat, my instinct is that it's a pretty decent price for local, pastured pork. And regardless of the price, it feels really great to support a local, small-scale, sustainable farm. Given the lack of good options near me to purchase local, pastured pork, I might make this a regular thing.

Another Monday Dinner

Three mushroom soup with portabello, brown buttons, shiitake mushrooms from Far West Fungi in Moss Landing (sold at the Mountain View and Palo Alto farmers' market)

Spicy grilled cheese sandwich with pepper jack from Spring Hill Cheese in Petaluma (sold at the Palo Alto farmers' market)

Summertime Monday Dinner

Sweet white corn and heirloom tomato risotto with white corn from G&S Farm in Brentwood (Mountain View and Palo Alto farmers' markets), tomatoes from Baia Nicchia in Sunol (Menlo Park farmers' market), shallots from Borba Farms in Aromas (MV farmers' market) and olive oil from Soul Food Farm in Vacaville

Side of zucchini and yellow summer squash from Happy Boy Farms in Watsonville (Mountain View farmers' market)

Walking The Market

I love walking the Mountain View farmers' market on Sunday mornings and figuring out what I cook for dinner during the week. Especially during the summer, there is such an abundance of delicious produce to choose from where a meal builds itself. This past Sunday, one meal came together when I had the idea to do a skirt steak salad - and I quickly added corn, peaches and red peppers - accompanied by a tortilla espanola (Spanish omelette).

Tortilla espanola with russet potatoes from Zuckerman Farm, yellow onions from Swank Farms in Hollister, eggs and olive oil from Soul Food Farm in Vacaville

Build your own salad:

Salad mix from Happy Boy Farms in Watsonville

Sweet white corn from G&S Farms in Brentwood

Cilantro from Nunez Organic Farm in Watsonville

Red peppers from Borba Farm in Aromas

Grilled skirt steak from Pampero Ranch in Sunol

White peach from Kashiwase Farm in Winton

Miso salad dressing from Nago Foods

Pietro and Local Seafood

As I have gradually moved my food purchases to local, sustainable and direct from the grower/producer when possible, I have been pleasantly surprised to find purveyors of beef, chicken, pork and... fish. Although it's a bit of a drag to not walk into a store and get fresh seafood any day of the week, a little planning ahead in getting to the Sunnyvale or Palo Alto farmers' market on Saturday morning provides the opportunity to buy fresh, locally caught seafood from H&H Fresh Fish and Pietro of FV Anne B.

Dinner: miso black cod from Pietro on a bed of mei quin (like bok choy) from High Ground Organics, with a side of corn (Happy Boy Farms) and shiitake mushrooms (Far West Fungi)

Monday Dinners

You know, it's easy to prepare meals on Mondays with local, sustainable food - because I have typically just gone to the Mountain View farmers' market on Sunday morning.

Here was tonight's dinner:

Mixed green salad from Fat Cabbage Farm in Pescadero, with cherry tomatoes from Rhodes Family Farm

Grilled rib-eye steak from Pampero Ranch in Sunol

Steamed broccoli from Nunez Organic Farm in Watsonville

Roasted Bintje potatoes from Thomas Farm in Watonsville

New Routine

I recently realized that I have settled into a whole new routine about the food that we eat in our household. Over the years, as I have assimilated more and more information about how food is produced, the choices that we collectively make as consumers, the options that we have to eat fresh and healthy food, I have taken incremental steps to change my routine.

It started with information that lead to buying less of food produced and/or sold in ways that were less in line with my values (industrial agriculture and large retail chains with no regard for environmental sustainability) - this just meant buying less "bad" stuff than actually doing anything positive, a first step. I took note of the times that I avoided that purchase or a trip to that store.

And I eventually switched to proactively seeking out food produced and sold in ways that are line with my values (supporting local businesses and local economies, producers who care about environmental sustainability) - this was refreshing and more motivating to think about the positive (vs. just avoiding the negative). My trips to the farmers' market were inspiring when I made the effort (which was not all the time) - and I celebrated when I could point to parts of meals with inspiring food.

And this evolved into developing connections and relationships with the people who grow the good food that I buy - which has been transformative. I have realized that not only do I look forward to my weekly trip to the Mountain View farmers' market as one of the best, most inspiring times of the week - it's part of an interdependent relationship where the growers rely on me to buy the delicious, healthy, sustainable food that they are working so hard to produce. My irregular, whimsical inspirations grew into a meaningful relationship.

And now it's just routine, just a part of my life. Sunday mornings are farmers' market days. I don't decide whether or not I'm going to go - I just do. I don't decide whether IF I'm going to buy anything from the farmers I've come to know and trust - it's just a matter of deciding WHAT I'm going to buy to cook that given week. And I don't even really notice anymore where the food is coming from in the large majority of the meals we cook at home - because it's become so routine that the food comes from local farms that I know and love.

It may have taken me a while to get here, and I am by no means a purist when it comes to local, organic and sustainable food, but to get to this point has been quite a journey well worthwhile.

Grazing Local on Vacation

After years of learning about where my food comes from and trying to change my habits and routine as it relates to food while at home, I'm starting to want to know where my food comes from (and shop at farmers' markets, visit farms, etc.) while we're on vacation too. Especially since we travel so much in California (and we often stay in houses with a kitchen), there is no reason we can't often find a farmers' market or a farm nearby.

During a recent weekend in Pismo Beach, I made a point of checking out the lively Thurs night San Luis Obispo farmers' market, the Arroyo Grande Meat Company and Village Butcher Shop, and Avila Valley Barn. At the SLO farmers' market, we stopped by several stands to buy peaches, raspberries, watermelon and eggs (chicken and duck). At the local butcher, we took home some delicious sausage And in the u-pick orchards at Avila Valley Barn, we picked some delicious white peaches.

Summertime Salsa

Heirloom tomatoes from Rhodes Family Farm in Visalia, spring onions from Fat Cabbage Farm in Pescadero, sweet white corn from G&S Farms in Brentwood, white peaches from Kashiwase Farms in Winton

Farm-to-Table Dinner

I feel very lucky that my work recently has lead me to visit with small, sustainable farms that produce delicious food. This past week, I was able walk the fields with Fred at Baia Nicchia and Shawn at Terra Bella Family Farm. Baia Nicchia is at the Sunol Ag Park and sells heirloom tomatoes, peppers and other veggies like baby radishes to high end restaurants such as Oliveto. Terra Bella Family Farm in Pleasanton sells through farmers' markets and a successful CSA in the East Bay.

After picking up produce at these farms, I was excited to prepare dinner that night using some of these freshly harvested ingredients including the "micro-green" radishes, yellow squash, and heirloom tomatoes (to go along with ravioli from Santa Cruz Pasta Factory).

I can't say definitively that the food really tasted better because it was harvested that morning, but I can say that it tasted pretty darn good. And perhaps more importantly, I felt more connected to the food after spending some time with Fred and Shawn, learning about and seeing the food they grow.

Summertime Dinner

Summertime dinner from the Mountain View farmers' market:

Meatballs: ground pork from Full of Life Farm, ground beef from Pampero Ranch

Asparagus from Bounty of the Valley Farm

Roasted Bintje potatoes from Thomas Farm

Brunch at 18 Reasons

18 Reasons is a non-profit in the Mission District of San Francisco that is connected to the legendary Bi-Rite Market and that has a great mission:

18 Reasons brings people together to deepen our relationship to food and each other. Through an innovative community center and thought provoking, fun programming, we inspire action and foster collaboration toward creating a just and sustainable food system.

How cool is that?

We recently took our friends to brunch at 18 Reasons with produce mostly harvested from Bi-Rite Farms in Sonoma. We were celebrating our good friend's birthday - and it was nice to be able to celebrate her birthday with delicious, sustainably grown food while introducing her to 18 Reasons and the inspiring work that they do.

Scream Sorbet

I love visiting the farmers' market and being able to know where my food comes from when I cook dinner. It's good to chat with the friendly folks at Happy Boy Farms when I'm picking up squash or tomatoes, and even better when I'm enjoying lettuce from Fat Cabbage Farm or eggs from Surfside Chickens because I've visited those farms. What I have not expected as much (but I'm starting to get used to) is buying processed or prepared food and knowing where my food comes from. Kudos to producers like Scream Sorbet, who are taking the extra step to source locally and seasonally and provide transparency in where their ingredients come from - like this delicious Strawberry Lemon sorbet with Seascape strawberries from Rodriguez Ranch and lemon juice from Sun Rise Farm.

A New Family Tradition: Cherry Picking in Brentwood

Just an hour outside of San Francisco lies an abundance of small family farms in Brentwood that produce some of the most delicious summer fruits and vegetables available in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, many of these farms open up their orchards to families every summer for u-pick cherries, peaches and more. A non-profit called Harvest Time maintains an impressive website for agri-tourism in Brentwood, including a great farm trail map of over 40 growers in the area.

We took our 3 year old daughter, Kaiya, on her first ever trip cherry picking at Seko Farms and peach picking at Wolfe Ranch and she had a blast! I had never been to a cherry or peach tree orchard before and it was a refreshing and inspiring experience to see the orchards and share this experience as a family - I hope to make this a new, annual family tradition.

Typical Spring Dinner

Potato leek soup: Yukon gold potatoes from Full Belly Farm, leeks from Fat Cabbage Farm, onions from Swank Farm

Spinach salad: spinach from Happy Boy Farms, raspberries from Rodriguez Farms, goat cheese

Bread & olive oil: baguette from Acme, olive oil from Soul Food Farm

Tale of Two Markets

I had not realized how far I have come in wanting to know and appreciating how much I know about where my food comes from until today in two unintentionally divergent food buying experiences while visiting family in LA.

8:30am: Morning trip to Whole Foods to pick up a few things for breakfast.

While trying to find some fresh fruit to go along with our bacon, eggs and potatoes, I walked up and down the produce aisle fully expecting to find something that looked delicious while also local and preferably organic. With apples and citrus still going strong (at least in California), and early berries starting to come in, I figured I'd have my pick.

Instead, I passed organic Washington apples, conventional citrus from California, and berries from Costa Rica. The only thing that I could find that was truly local and organic - strawberries from a vendor 75 miles away in Ventura County - had quite a bit of bruised fruit and a couple packs that were moldy. Ugh. Really? No organic apples or oranges from local farms in California when they are so plentiful at local farmers' markets? Or a better selection of organic berries from one of the dozens of strawberry farms within 100 miles?

I regularly shop at Whole Foods, and although not perfect, I appreciate their commitment or leaning towards environmental sustainability. But wow, what a disappointment.

10:30am: Unplanned trip to the Calabasas farmers' market that we had never been to

Walking the aisles of freshly picked navel oranges, fuji apples, and organic strawberries, I was like a kid in a candy store. Especially after the disappointing Whole Foods trip earlier in the morning, it was so refreshing to have my pick of fresh, delicious, sustainable fruit. Kaiya and I could sample fruit from a variety of vendors from Ventura, Fresno, Bakersfield and elsewhere. And I was delighted to talk to each of these new vendors that I had never met before and learn more about where they were coming from, what they grew on their farm and how it was grown.

I know this is what I do every Sunday at the Mountain View farmers' market, but it was eye-opening to be able to do this somewhere else and on vacation, and to have the experience juxtaposed with shopping at a store that I still respect and value for its commitment to good food.

Shopping at the farmers' market 1, buying food anywhere else 0.

Relationships, Not Transactions

It clicked when I was talking to my favorite pastured pork vendor a few months ago - I have a relationship with the food that I eat, and every day, I make choices about how distant or close this relationship is.

For most of my life, I treated my purchase of food as just a simple financial transaction. I would take my hard-earned dollars, and exchange them for food. This was basic commerce between me and the supermarket - in some ways our interests were aligned (our mutual objectives were met if I spent my money and received desired food in return), and in some ways our interests diverged (I wanted to capture the biggest bang for my buck, and therefore I might shop around or only buy things on sale). I didn't care about the well-being of the supermarket, and or where the heck the broccoli / apples / whatever foodstuff was grown or produced. If the broccoli looked fresh and the right price, I would buy it. And if it wasn't, I might try somewhere down the street. It was just business.

My perspective started to change when I started shopping regularly at the Mountain View farmers' market several years ago. I started to see the same people every week - Paul from Super Sweet hawking stone fruit in the summer and citrus in the winter, and the hipsters from Happy Boy Farm with their funny and informative labels on winter squash and summer melons spurring me to buy things I had never even heard of before. I would ask Jim from Pampero Ranch about grass-fed beef and different cuts of meat, and we might swap stories about our young toddlers. Paul from Hain Ranch would tell me about why everyone should learn to butcher a chicken, and then get into the history of his 4th generation farm and how his son might come back to the land after working in high-tech in LA. I would always be sad at the end of summer when my friends at Kashiwase Farms would bring the last of their organic peaches, nectarines and plums for the season. I would be grateful when Sylvia from Prevedelli Farms would save me some of my favorite organic warren pears when I got to the market late. And I eventually made it out to TLC Ranch near Watsonville, so my daughter Kaiya could run around with the pasture-raised piglets and walk among the free-range chickens.

When I could talk to Rebecca or Paul or Jim, it was easy to see and be more conscious of the fact that someone was actually growing the food that I was buying. Someone plants the seeds, cares for the orchards, and raises the animals with care. And in the case of the farmers' market, someone gets up way before dawn on Sunday mornings, rain or shine, to drive a couple hours and bring me the apples/carrots/pork chops that I eat every week. This isn't just a simple transaction of money and food, it's a relationship with people based on trust, respect, shared values and mutual dependence. I trust and rely on these hard-working farmers to provide me with the healthy, delicious, sustainable food that our family consumes every week, and they rely on me and other loyal customers to come back every week to buy the food they produce.

And this is what dawned on me - I have always had a relationship with the food that I eat, and the people who grow it. When I was shopping at Safeway, this relationship was like with a stranger I passed on the street that I didn't notice or pay attention to - anonymous, distant, non-existent. I didn't give a second thought to who or what was on the other end of this transaction - the farmer who produced the food, how or where the food was grown, whether it was someone that shared my values or that I could trust to grow the food that would feed my children. Whereas at the farmers' market, this relationship feels like that of a good friend or neighbor - full, deep, gratifying. I can look people in the eye, ask questions, have them know my name and my family, visit their farm, and have an actual relationship.

And this is what hit me the hardest - just like any relationship, there is a trust and expectation (in a good way) that we will each do our part to care for each other and hold up our end of the bargain. And when I have this relationship with the food that I eat (and the people who grow it), going to the market is not just “shopping” – it’s about seeing old friends, being neighborly and taking care of important people in my life. It matters if I decide to walk over to the market on Sunday morning – and it has an impact if I decide I’m a no-show because I’m too lazy or because it’s too cold or rainy. I wouldn’t bail on a friend that’s counting on me – and now I realize that I have a relationship with the food I eat, I’m going to treat it with the respect that it deserves.

Chow Food Bar

I'm starting to wonder if there are a lot more restaurants out there that care about sustainable food and sourcing food from local, family farms than is readily apparent.

There are well-known Bay Area restaurants that have pioneered and become famous for sourcing sustainably grown food from local, family farms - places like Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Oliveto in Oakland, and Flea St. Cafe in Menlo Park. And in the last couple years, I have become familiar with more restaurants that might not be as famous, but where a relationship with who grows the food and how it is grown is important. For example, Mayfield Bakery in Palo Alto highlights on their menu many of their suppliers that are local farms like Mariquita Farms, Heirloom Organics, and Happy Quail Farms.

I have assumed that these restaurants are few and far between, but I keep finding more and more restaurants that have sourcing from local, family farms as a core piece of who they are - whether it be through restaurant reviews in the Metro, or just by noticing the subtle touches on a menu at an understated restaurant like Chow.

I have been a fan of the Chow family of restaurants for many years, starting with Chow in the Castro and Park Chow near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. After not visiting Chow for several years, at a recent visit to Chow in Danville, I noticed that many of the items on the menu were organic (pork, chicken, eggs, dairy, juice, etc.) but without being too loud about it. I decided to inquire more about it, eventually having a conversation with their general manager - and I really liked what I heard:

• Understated (not necessarily very "public") commitment to sourcing local, organic and sustainable food from local, family farms
• Emphasis on quality and relationships with suppliers, through well-respected distributors such as Veritable Vegetable and GreenLeaf as well as with some farms directly like Alhambra Valley Farms,
• Realistic and frank perspective on balancing quality/taste and sourcing locally. For example, Chow believes it can get top quality beef from Marin Sun Farms and dairy from Straus Family Creamery, and at the same time has not found a local quality, reliable sustainable pork vendor so they source from a small family farm in Iowa.
• People who are excited and care about not only providing a great product, but also with a commitment to running their business in a way that nurtures healthy relationships with the people that grow and produce the food they are buying

Looking at Chow's menu and website, you would never know how deep their commitment is to local, sustainable food. And even though I know that local + small family farm often equals fresh + delicious, it's heartening to see that philosophy embodied by not only individuals, but also restaurants like Chow.

Change, One Person At A Time

My mother-in-law is a first generation, Cantonese immigrant matriarch who scraped her way to a comfortable life for herself and her family with the hallmarks of millions of immigrant family stories before her: working hard, being resourceful, managing every penny like it was the last. I doubt she has ever been opposed to eating fresh and healthy food, but I also imagine she has never given much thought to how something is grown - value is paramount in ensuring everyone gets fed on whatever budget they had growing up. She lives in the San Fernando Valley in LA, and shops often at Chinese supermarkets in Monterey Park, where the best price can be had - and you never know where the food comes from. She is one of the last people that I thought I might influence to participate in any kind of good food movement. But what a difference shopping at a good farmers' market can make.

My mother-in-law recently spent a couple weeks with us in the San Francisco Bay Area. She joined me on our Sunday morning routine, shopping at the Mountain View farmers' market. As we walked, my favorite vendors greeted me by name, I picked up a bag of satsumas that she knew her granddaughter would devour, and she saw the richness and diversity of food that I could buy at the market - fruits, vegetables, eggs, beef, cheese, nuts, honey and much more. As idyllic as this experience sounds to me, I'm not sure she gave much thought to any of this. I'm guessing she thought it was a pleasant walk that was one of those funny, "green" things that her odd son-in-law did.

And then she found the chestnuts.

Fresh chestnuts. She was delighted to see them. I think they took her back to her childhood in Hong Kong. She bought a couple pounds, took them home to cook, and she was in heaven. She kept asking me to taste them, and asked if I liked them. She lamented that she wouldn't be around for another Sunday market to buy more. She asked us to buy a couple pounds for her the next weekend and ship them to LA (!). And then, when she got back home to LA, she looked up farmers' markets near her (!!!) - and plans to hit up the Calabasas market on Saturday, and/or maybe the Agoura Hills market on Sunday.

Wow. Really? Who knows if my mother-in-law will become a regular farmers' market shopper, or develop an appreciation for fresh local produce, or develop any relationships with the people who grow the food she eats. But, man, this is an inspiring step. If my mother-in-law can take this step, I am optimistic that many, many more can.

Restaurant Reviews + Sustainable Food

In my own personal quest to connect to the food we eat, I often feel like I'm on this journey alone. I know there a lot of people around the world that are on a similar journey - and I can read about them in books like Omnivore's Dilemma and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle or online at green info/news websites like Grist. But when it comes to what I encounter and interact with everyday (especially in the media), I don't necessarily see a mainstream consciousness.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I recently picked up a copy of the Metro Silicon Valley (free weekly paper where I live), and the featured restaurant review talked just as much about the externalities of cheap, fast food burgers and reasons to look for sustainably raised meat as it did about the restaurant (Slider Bar Cafe in Palo Alto). The review pointed out that the beef came from Niman Ranch and Masami Farms, and that dairy from Clover Stornetta Farms (and when I looked on their website, they have a page dedicated to their suppliers). I have been curious about Slider Bar Cafe, based on the recommendations of a couple friends, and now this bit of info bumps this restaurant on my list of new places to try.

This kind of restaurant review (by Stett Holbrook, food editor at the Metro) may be out of the norm, but much appreciated in these parts where understanding where our food comes from is just as important as how good it tastes.

New Year's Resolution

So buying produce, meat, and eggs directly from the farmers' market makes it easy to know where a lot of the food eat is coming from. When I go to the Mountain View farmers' market, I know that Lucy takes care of the free range chicken and duck eggs that we cook in our omelettes, and Jim raises the grass fed cattle that becomes the beef that we put in our beef stew, and Paul has been taking care of the satsuma, nectarine and asian pear orchards that bear the fruit we enjoy. I have a lot of confidence that the food is, on the whole, produced sustainably and with care, and that if I have any questions, I know I can just ask. But what about the wheat in the spaghetti or pasta sauce that we buy at the farmers' market or grocery store, or the hot dogs that are served at my daughter's daycare or just about anything when we're eating out? How do I know if any of this is produced sustainably, or good or bad for me?

Well, it turns out that we can ask.

We can ask Santa Cruz Pasta Factory, and Steve will write me back telling me about the wheat/grain suppliers for the pasta that they make. And we can ask LunchMaster, who is the company who caters my daughter's lunches at daycare, and Felicia will tell me a little about their vendors. And if I happen to see an emphasis on local and organic on the menu at a restaurant, like I did at Chow, I can ask and have someone like Andrew email me back and tell me about the farms they source from directly or indirectly.

Last year, I took a big step in really shifting most of our grocery shopping to direct from the farmer, rancher or producer, primarily through shopping at farmers' markets (so much that more than half of our grocery bill is spent at local farmers' markets). This year, I want to continue in that vein as much as possible - and also not ignore the relationship (or lack thereof) with the food that we consume otherwise. I can ask the question of the people that we buy from, get more information, gauge the responses, and change our consumption and behavior accordingly. The more I know, I can make more informed choices about all the food we eat.

I want to know if the food is good to eat - and good to think. If one restaurant serves delicious food and cares about the relationship with the food, how it was grown, and where it came from, maybe I feel better about supporting them. And if that one vendor doesn't know or care where their food comes from, maybe I don't want to support them as much, or at all. Having that information is so empowering, and I'm going to spend this year asking those questions.