SF Births an Underground Farmers’ Market

Published on Friday, December 18, 2009, by Eric Slatkin / Edit Post

Last night was the first ever underground farmers' market, put on by forageSF, a wild foods community (think mushroom and fennel picking in urban parks).

It was a nice blend of street food/underground restaurant/house party. There were vendors spread out all over the house: A woman was selling empanadas in the living room, a local honey purveyor set up shop in the bathroom, and there were jams, edible garden boxes, pies, and local acorn flour spread out over the rest of the Victorian. ...

The crowd was pretty young overall (I doubt I saw anyone over the age of 30) but people seemed to all be engaged in the food scene. I was talking with someone about mint varieties and at one point he mentioned black mint, which he'd had in Jamaica. He said it was transcendental, which made me wonder if it was actually mint. I was also excited to meet rising food hero Danny Gabriner of Sour Flour, a 24-year-old who quit his day job to learn how to bake bread, then made a profession out of it. The event organizer and founder of forageSF, Iso Rabins, seems to be leading the charge on this new breed of super-young, super-engaged local food enthusiasts. I'm excited to get to the next event and see how things continue to come together in the year ahead.