Posts Tagged ‘farmer’s market’
I try to orient all our meals around things that are seasonally available, and I think I mentioned this earlier, but I neglected to mention the rockstar center of the meal planning universe that is the Local Foods Wheel. It shows which foods are naturally available year-round in the Bay Area (like sardines and cauliflower) and which time of the year everything else is available. A quick dial to February, for example, (arguably the most desperate for us as our hearts are already longing for avocados and berries in the season that lies ahead), shows escarole, grapefruit and artichokes. Inspiration renewed. We will rock the escarole until the berries appear.
The Food Wheel was conceptualized by Bay Area chef Jessica Prentice, who also operates something my family relies on: the community kitchen, Three Stone Hearth in Berkeley. A former Director of Education Programs at the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, and author of Full Moon Feast, she has done all sorts of smarty things for food and the Locavore movement (and remains, apparently, ego-free and undernoted.. this woman should be getting attention right and left in my opinion). Oh, and that term, “Locavore” that all the hip 30-somethings like to throw around casually like yesterday’s “slow food” and last year’s “organic”? It’s her word.
Anyhoo, I’ve become super dependent on the Food Wheel for all my meal planning and it occurred to me today that I would crumble into a thousand pieces without it. What if I had to actually wait until I got to the farmer’s market to see what’s available? To conceptualize an entire week’s worth of meals while standing at the farmer’s stand would take a much greater woman than me. And beyond that, what on earth would I do if I left the Bay Area and landed in New York, for instance?
Ta Daaa! The New York version is now available, thank heavens. There is a god. And she’s waiting for me with her food wheel in Brooklyn.
We recently went to the Oakland Lakeshore Farmer's Market after nearly a yearlong absence. It's always been a pretty big deal, with the kid entertainment, produce and fruit purveyors from one end of the Bay to the other (and far beyond- Rainbow Orchards from ElDoradoCounty has a booth!), live music, loads of specialty booths like the rotisserie chicken guy and the oyster guy, and of course great food booths where one can find amazing snacks such as a Himalayan chicken pita, a vegan soul food plate, organic beef tamales or fresh samosas.
These things all in check, I felt at home again. We grabbed a macaroon (family fave, and it better be for $3 a pop) and settled into the grassy hill among the natives. But slowly, the crowd evolved and it became clear that something had changed. Once a cute meet-up and coffee spot on a Saturday morning, it is now a bonafide scene, with hot girls of all persuasions, shirtless toned dads, rasta families, college kids, cool grannies, hipsters and yes, moms with strollers. It's like a rainbow celebration of humankind and the best of Oakland all at once. The music used to be a simple guitar based trio. Now, it's a full-on multi-culti dance party (last week started Soca and turned HipHop in a matter of minutes and ended up Reggaeton) with folks bouncing and shaking it on the cement music area to the point that the musicians were completely obscured. All hands in the air, sweaty good old fashioned dance party. It can best be described as going OFF. And in broad daylight!
I was tempted to join the party but had bumped into an old friend who apparently goes weekly with her hipster friends, and we had just settled down for a coconut espresso on the shady grass where my daughter was doing laps around us to burn energy. The water fountain was shooting away and kids were stripping down to panties and sandals while the parents cruised other parents. You know how it is; checking their presentation on some sort of point system.. the less of a "parent" you look like the better.. women all bespangled with cool calm hip Oakland vibe, young men who could obviously be out playing but are attentively pushing their baby stroller instead (and even a happily married dyke such as myself is not immune to the sex appeal of that occurence).
So instead I people-watched in amazement. Clearly, this is where the beautiful people come to buy their organic produce and then stick around to see and be seen. My wife, clad in a tshirt that proclaims the name of our daughter's preschool and a basic pair of shorts and converse felt incredibly underdressed. Or maybe just under-hip. It occured to me, watching these packs of incredibly cute looking dykes strolling the venue (single and childless for sure, but not all that young and still looking tight!) that we don't even have the wardrobe anymore to front like the farmer's market crowd. A Power Look for interfacing with some snobby real estate broker? Check. Casually comfortable done with luxury labels and a handbag that makes the Marina chicks drool? Check. But Oaklandish-cool we don't really do. I'm pretty sure I don't even speak that language anymore. But I see it, and I recognize it and I kinda sorta think I need to at least remember how that feels, so I'm sure that I'm not just getting old and cranky and selling my uniqueness short for a Max Azria sundress (and oooooh how I love them).
In the end I was thrilled (slight ego bruise aside) to see such great representation of what Oakland consists of. This incredibly communal feeling energy and such beautiful representation of every possible color of skin, all mixed families from every possible background coming together. I love it here. Now if I could only remember where I put my edge. I think it's buried somewhere under a pile of skinny jeans.