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Twittering food carts, underground dinners, new kinds of under-the-radar food markets: There's a DIY food revolution happening on the quasi-legal fringes of major American cities. One of the leaders of the movement is Iso Rabins. He hosts underground dinners in San Francisco through his organization forageSF (each course focusing on wild ingredients like nettles and snails). And, in December, Rabins launched the city's first underground farmers' market, held in a friend's flat. Rabins will be guest blogging on CHOW.com, and this is his first post.
The SF Underground Market is the realization of an idea I had in early December while driving across the Bay Bridge. I know all these people who make things: sauerkraut, kombucha, soap, pies, beef jerky, homegrown veggies. Many had dreams of starting a small business with their creations, but lacked the resources. It costs a lot to start a food business. There's the business license ($50), the health department certification ($250), commercial kitchen rental ($75 per hour), liability insurance ($60 per month). If you want to sell at a farmers' market, there’s the added expense of a per week vendor fee ($75). And that's just to sell at a local level.
My idea was to create a space for these people at a market that would be at night, and be free to enter, with the bonus of live music and workshops where people could learn to make the products they were buying.
So it's not exactly legal. At my first market, I ran into some problems with the SF Department of Health. They were tipped off by a “concerned citizen” because many of the market's vendors aren't licensed and don't work out of commercial kitchens. I was told that if I wanted to do this again in the future (and stay out of jail) that I should reclassify it as a private club, and then the health department could ignore me. Now if you want to come to the market, you need to sign up for a free membership online.
I'm not aiming to bash the well-meaning attempts of government to protect our food supply. The problem is we’ve gotten to the point where only someone with a significant amount of cash can afford these costs, and lately there are fewer and fewer of us that fit into that category. The end result is a food system dominated by corporate titans whose concerns for safety and quality stop at exactly the point where their profit will be impinged. The reality is, these regulations don’t even seem to protect us.
When a single burger can contain meat from thousands of different cows, all grown in separate cramped feedlots around the globe, how can we possibly expect accountability? There's an entirely different type of accountability at the market: there's trust that's created when you look a producer straight in the eye.
The second market was a big success: 23 vendors sold everything from sauerkraut to beef jerky, corned beef sandwiches to backyard eggs. Beatbeat Whisper from Oakland provided tunes, while 1,000 shoppers tried to move around in a space meant for 300.
At the market, I cooked up a boar osso bucco served over buttery mashed potatoes. People smelled that as they walked in, and you could overhear the chatter of people talking about what they'd made. "This is the best sarsaparilla I've ever had," and, "Legally, you can have four chickens in your backyard in San Francisco, but they need to be 20 feet from a door," and, "For this jam, I collected apples from backyard trees in Berkeley." There was a line of people waiting outside for an hour and a half to get in.
Yes, those 1,000 people showed up at the market to buy things. But the real reason they waited so long to get a corned beef sandwich or a jar of jam was their desire to be part of something that they can feel good about supporting. Everything that was sold at the market has a lookalike that you can buy at any corner store, and for less money. What was different here was the satisfaction of helping someone in their community do something they love.
The 3rd SF Underground Market will be on Saturday, March 6, at 9 Langton Street in San Francisco's SOMA district. See the forageSF website for details.
Thanks for all the comments, I like the debate. I agree that it would be best if we could all get certified to sell at regular markets, but that is unfortunately not possible for many of us. In response to the idea that we are taking business away from legit markets: I disagree with that. People are not choosing between the underground market and a legit one. Most likely they go to both, because...+READ
Thanks for all the comments, I like the debate. I agree that it would be best if we could all get certified to sell at regular markets, but that is unfortunately not possible for many of us. In response to the idea that we are taking business away from legit markets: I disagree with that. People are not choosing between the underground market and a legit one. Most likely they go to both, because they fill different needs. I think, as fullpalate said, that the success of this market shows there is a real thirst, not only on the consumer side, but on the producer side, to have this kind of space where people can share what they make, as well as get a leg up on the road to being more legitimate.-COLLAPSE
This is a noble response to food trade and regulation standards, the costs push producers to be large-scale, outside of the home, outside of the hands of consumers.
Small-scale food producers selling their goods at their own un-regulated marketplace.. in what sense is this really unfair to licensed vendors who pay to sell their goods at select locations with larger bank accounts? Calling this...+READ
This is a noble response to food trade and regulation standards, the costs push producers to be large-scale, outside of the home, outside of the hands of consumers.
Small-scale food producers selling their goods at their own un-regulated marketplace.. in what sense is this really unfair to licensed vendors who pay to sell their goods at select locations with larger bank accounts? Calling this unfair competition assumes a fair playing-field to begin with, which I think the existence of the UFM seems to disprove. The fact is this marketplace now exists because there was a gap that consumers want filled.-COLLAPSE
We're fans and we haven't even made it out to one of the underground market events. This is a fantastic idea and while I understand the concerns of some that legal operators are punished for their compliance while folks like you go underground, I think the existence of underground food vending is itself a statement to the city that more must be done to help small producers sell their goods...+READ
We're fans and we haven't even made it out to one of the underground market events. This is a fantastic idea and while I understand the concerns of some that legal operators are punished for their compliance while folks like you go underground, I think the existence of underground food vending is itself a statement to the city that more must be done to help small producers sell their goods without the heavy burden of city licenses. We'll see you at a market soon!
Cheers,
Steve & Jason
http://yourfoodchoices.wordpress.com-COLLAPSE
I understand the motivation behind this idea, but it's extremely problematic. The people going to these events are not likely choosing between McFood and DIY; they are most likely already shopping at alternative sources (FM, Rainbow, etc.). Most of the farmers and producers at certified farmers markets are not big corporations, but rather small producers who already went through all the expenses...+READ
I understand the motivation behind this idea, but it's extremely problematic. The people going to these events are not likely choosing between McFood and DIY; they are most likely already shopping at alternative sources (FM, Rainbow, etc.). Most of the farmers and producers at certified farmers markets are not big corporations, but rather small producers who already went through all the expenses to do things legally that this guy is now circumventing. If people at UFM are pricing their goods lower than at the certified FM, they are giving the shoppers the idea that the prices at the CFM are unreasonably high, confirming a belief that many people already have.
If you wants to be really alternative and revolutionary, then have the whole thing be on a "barter only" basis, where people exchange goods for good or for gift certificates for services. Then you wouldn't be unfairly competing with existing producers.-COLLAPSE
I look forward to further posts
I think charity 4 makes a good point but I have to say that the underground market idea sounds like such a wonderful idea - the kinds of people selling at these markets i imagine arent the type to care about authorities or changing the law which is unfortunate but the more popular these things get the more likely the authorities are to make changes one would hope....+READ
I think charity 4 makes a good point but I have to say that the underground market idea sounds like such a wonderful idea - the kinds of people selling at these markets i imagine arent the type to care about authorities or changing the law which is unfortunate but the more popular these things get the more likely the authorities are to make changes one would hope. http://theirishmeateater.blogspot.com/-COLLAPSE
Many business"s are started from home to market,but thats, they key,Start at home minimise your costs and do what you can to raise a buck.figure out what you can do to make the most amount of money in the least amount of time(hopefully legal,lol) when i started by business i had with $.25 cents, my mother taught me,"If you make a dime ,save a nickle." when i first started the foundation of mt...+READ
Many business"s are started from home to market,but thats, they key,Start at home minimise your costs and do what you can to raise a buck.figure out what you can do to make the most amount of money in the least amount of time(hopefully legal,lol) when i started by business i had with $.25 cents, my mother taught me,"If you make a dime ,save a nickle." when i first started the foundation of mt business,i made sauce out of my house and traded the local butcher for grociery's.at the time it was pretty much a bag of chop meat and cheese for a couple burgers but it was a start.i eventually saved up $1000.00 and had enough to pay rent one month , operating licenses and turn on the heat and hot water, i was so tight on money i sent my first customer out for his own change.the facts are as stated by charity,instead of creating competition for the local merchants, figure out how you both can win, IF YOU HAVE A BUTCHER ALREADY SET UP IN TOWN THAT'S ALL LICENSED AND LEGAL, SEE IF YOU CAN WORK IN HIS KITCHEN FOR A DAY UNDER HIS UMBRELLA,for instance- if you have a procedure on how you make your jerky,ex-pand your production to how much jerky you can make in a day, use his legal kitchen,to slice,and dice. make a enough product for your needs and make enough to cover his costs, maybe ,he would take everything you make and now you have your first store location,you could use a smokier there,a de-hydrator or his ovens, and most of these kitchens are set up to wash down,clean up ,fast and efficient, not to mention trash pic-up.sometimes we need to think it's not how much we make ,it's what we save,as you fine tune your produtions it gives you time to think how far can you take this product,make and save a buck.eventualy if it is a good money maker,you'll have the pocket change to pay the over head occuring and the legal fees and the production costs in general,maybe you'll make enough to be one of the local vendors,keep in mind the goverment will always catch up to you, and remind you to give to ceaser what belongs to ceaser.the fact that 1000 ppl came to buy product is great,i can't help think that if you made $1 dollar each off a 1000ppl , thats $1000.00 and $5 dollars each is $5000.00
if you get everyones name and contact info,you already have a business,and can afford the operating license, store front, health dept. fees, etc. and you can still supply a good product to your loyal following. ED-COLLAPSE
I think it's great that you want to create an opportunity for people to sell their specialties and help them do what they love. But the problem with your approach is that you take away sales from small entreprenurs that also do what they love, but do it legally. In essense, they're being punished for doing it right. And if it's not right, it would seem to me the best way to help would be to...+READ
I think it's great that you want to create an opportunity for people to sell their specialties and help them do what they love. But the problem with your approach is that you take away sales from small entreprenurs that also do what they love, but do it legally. In essense, they're being punished for doing it right. And if it's not right, it would seem to me the best way to help would be to spearhead an effort to ease the fees and restrictions required for home produced goods. That way everyone wins.-COLLAPSE
good