Lafitte's Russell Jackson inhales the scent of Niitaka pears

Credit for all photos: Tamara Palmer

As important as growing and selecting produce is to a healthy diet and life, it's pretty stunning how few of us really know how to pick the best fruits and vegetables when shopping. Sure, we might have heard about certain items we're supposed to thump or squeeze, and we know to look out for obvious cosmetic flaws, but too much more beyond that is a big mystery for many.

We got up too early on a recent Saturday morning to find a number of San Francisco's notable chefs shopping for winter produce at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. It was fascinating not only to see what everyone was buying and placing on their big-wheeled carts, but to watch their gears turning while dreaming up new ways to use these high quality ingredients. After several conversations, we came away confident that our local farmers do a lot to pre-select the best produce before they bring it to a market, which is why so many of the chefs are confident to purchase large boxes of ingredients on the spot. But we also got some good tips on how to select for maximum flavor and longevity.

Kristie Knoll of Knoll Farms and Annie Somerville of Greens

We think of Annie Somerville, proprietor of the legendary vegetarian restaurant Greens, as a true goddess of produce here in the Bay Area, so we met her first. She suggested we convene at the Knoll Farms stand, a biodynamic farm from Brentwood where we'd see all kinds of chefs lurking throughout the morning.

Somerville was thrilled to see the beginnings of green garlic there ("I am so happy!" she exclaimed), something she says proprietor Rick Knoll actually pioneered and is typically found after the winter. When asked what to look for, she said,

"Look for it to look just like that! Just really fresh and nice, the point is that it is the young stalks, the shoots. As they get more mature, they get longer and at the end there they start to bulb up and [wilt] and at some point you probably want to let it go. We use the shoots for sautéing. All the applications of fresh garlic, use your green garlic instead. Put it in any dish. All the tops can go into soup stock."

Green garlic

She finds it a wonderfully versatile ingredient, but seemed most excited about her plans to add it to mashed potatoes. One of Kristie Knoll's favorite preparations, meanwhile, is to cut the stalks into "knuckles" and brown them.

Horseradish root

While at the Knoll stand, we stumbled into Michael Tusk, chef/owner of Quince and Cotogna restaurants, selecting some horseradish. He says to look for pieces that aren't dried out. And, in this case of this root, size matters.

"I personally like the bigger pieces; they're easier to grate," he said. "We use it in a salad with smoked eel and with beef, but I usually I just find stuff and then I decide what to do. It's good to have inspiration around, especially at this time of year, so I try to find as many fun things as possible."

When we caught up with David Bazirgan, the new executive chef of Fifth Floor, he was hoisting up a giant bag of stinging nettles from Marin Roots Farm and explaining that he ingeniously uses them in place of spinach for a side dish of creamed nettles to accompany his new menu item, a dry aged New York steak also served with salt baked potatoes, roasted mushrooms, and red wine sauce. (He Thermo-mixes them so they don't sting.) Since this isn't an item eaten raw, picking them is a lot easier than other ingredients, but Bazirgan still suggests carefully looking through them for a vibrant, consistent color and no holes.

David Bazirgan of Fifth Floor selects chicories.

Bazirgan also uses color cues when picking various chicories at Marin Roots, selecting the most vibrant leaves; look for the whites as well as the colors to be bright. He is currently using various heirloom varieties of chicories in a salad, dressed raw with compressed persimmon, Pt. Reyes blue cheese, hazelnuts, pomegranate, vadouvan, and Chardonnay vinaigrette.

For Mark Richardson, the executive chef of Seasons Restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco, Brussels sprouts are a winter produce staple.

"Look for the sprouts with tight-fitting leaves, with no browning or yellowing," he advised. "If you can find the sprouts still on the stalk, they will be the freshest."

His preparation for them is minimal: After blanching, he caramelizes the sprouts in a pan with some olive oil and then seasons with salt, fresh cracked pepper, and chili flakes. If you can't make it to Ferry Plaza, Richardson also suggests buying them at Mollie Stone's or Whole Foods locations.

Hoss Zaré of Zaré at Fly Trap examines white carrots.

Hoss Zaré of Zaré at Fly Trap truly shocked us when we met him to scout out white carrots. We gravitated towards the biggest ones, but Zaré said that was actually not the best strategy.

"The bigger ones are woodier and less juicy," he cautions. "Too small, and they're not going to have much flavor. You have to get the medium-sized ones so you get a lot of juice and flavor. Big ones are good for braising -- chop them up and caramelize them, but the smaller ones are juicier."

His favorite current use for white carrots is to lightly peel, blanch, pan roast until lightly caramelized, and then stack with slices of braised lamb tongue.

As we were about to leave Ferry Plaza full of new ideas and new produce specimens to experiment on, we grabbed Russell Jackson, chef/owner of Lafitte, just steps up the Embarcadero from Ferry Plaza. He was checking out the produce at Hamada Farms, the Kingburg grower whose citrus and pears seem to be the secret weapon of the chefs who shop at Ferry Plaza.

"Which kind of pear do I want today?" he asked.

"Niitaka!" came the answer from two people behind the counter, in unison. Jackson leapt over to the box and started smelling.

"Surface indication really isn't anything," he said, pointing out some visible flaws on a Niitaka. "It's really about the texture, firmness, and I'm really looking for that aromatic quality to it. You don't want something heavily bruised, but [some flaws] are just from tree hang, or where it faces the sun, or whether it's been scratched by a branch."

Right now, he's roasting pears to make a demi-glace for roasted sweetbreads and also using them raw in a salad with persimmons, chicories or radicchio, walnuts and Banyuls vinaigrette.

Where many households across the nation turn to canned goods in the winter, we have these staples and so much more ripe for the picking.

Anyone who's ever browsed through the baskets of Star Route Farms or Green Gulch Farm knows what beautiful greens look like. Bunches of taut, brilliantly verdant kale and chard, each leaf perfectly ruffled or puckered, turgid and bright, rustling together crisp as taffeta or a new dollar bill.

Such perfection is no mean feat for an organic farm, where insidious leaf-miners and flea beetles (to name just two of a whole host of burrowing, munching hungry creatures who have a greedy lust for chard and arugula unmatched by even Alice Waters) can turn a row of gorgeous leaves into hole-punched eyelet overnight. Strong plants, good soil, a lot of attention, companion plantings that feed beneficial bugs--all these help. But so does accepting that your crop is always going to be on a bell curve, and not every leaf can be above average.

Of course, restaurant chefs (and the picky shoppers paying top dollar at Ferry Plaza) want perfection. Providing impeccable produce year after year has made the reputation of these local farms. But what happens to all the delectable but not-quite-gorgeous-enough stuff?

Thanks to Marin Organic, it's showing up on the plates of those who need it most: active, hungry, growing kids.

Every Monday, Scott Davidson, Marin Organic's School Lunch and Gleaning Program Manager, meets up with an all-ages group of volunteers at a selected farm. The task is simple: go through rows that have already been harvested for sale, and pick the best of what's left. The produce is boxed, rinsed, and loaded onto Marin Organic's truck. Cooled overnight, it's delivered the next day to schools, camps, and/or after-school programs all over Marin, either for free or at very low cost.

Fresh, nutritious, locally-grown produce goes to the kitchen and turns into lunch--and because there's no cost to the farm, and very little cost in labor, participating schools actually save money, money that can then be spent on getting more healthy food to their students.

Anyone with a couple of hours free on a Monday afternoon can join the Glean Team. Sign up online or over the phone, and an email detailing the next week's location will be sent to you every Friday. Usually, the location flip-flops between Green Gulch and Star Route, with a few other farms making occasional appearances.

Wear a jacket and don't-mind-getting-muddy shoes, and bring a few tote and/or plastic bags for your post-gleaning haul. (After the gleaning is done, volunteers can go through the harvested section yet again and pick for themselves.)

Last Monday, we left a hot, sunny afternoon in Oakland for the cool, foggy twists of the Shoreline Highway, bumping down the eucalyptus-lined road to the Zen Center's Green Gulch Farm. As you might expect from a longtime Buddhist retreat cupped close to the ocean, the whole place is soaked in peace and abundantly quiet. The joy jumps out in color: ravishingly purple bursts of lavender, whorled-pink roses, black-red pincushion flowers, vermillion-tipped raspberry canes and espaliered apples and pears weighted with green-and-gold fruit. Yellow-spattered mustard plants gone to flower reach up six feet high over the broccoli and cabbage rows we've come to harvest.

These weed-laced rows are going to be mowed under tomorrow, Scott tells us. The biggest, fattest heads of broccoli and cauliflower have already been picked, but sharp eyes can find side shoots, mini-heads growing next to where the main stalk was broken off. These tender, bite-sized florets are gold to school-kitchen chefs, he tells us, easy to cook and easy to eat.

We fan out down the rows. Everyone likes the hunt, especially the teenage boys in the crew. The leaves are huge and heavy, hiding the score, but underneath, the tender stalks snap easily and our recycled waxed-cardboard boxes fill up fast. We move onto small, loosely curled heads of cabbage, then over to red-veined plumes of ruby chard, puckery dino kale and curled Bloomsdale spinach.

We're mindful to take only the best-looking stuff, part of the education process of eating local and organic. Because it's being given away, it has to look better, even, than what's bought: No one, even a cash-strapped camp or school, wants to feel like a dumping ground for wormy charity carrots, no matter how much Vitamin A they might provide. It's not hard, however: there are still plenty of lovely greens left, enough to fill at least twenty-five or thirty boxes, if not more.

Scott points out the clumps of nettles growing in between the rows. This weed is probably the most nutritious thing growing on the farm (sellable for at least $6 a pound at a farmers' market) but the leaves will cause a brief, itchy sting if touched. They do leave their mark on my wrists and knees as I pick, but I don't mind: I've happily paid good money for nettle soup and nettle pasta at Delfina. Tomorrow's breakfast will be emerald eggs, scrambled with sauteed nettles. (Once cooked, they're harmless and delicious, especially rich in B vitamins. Just wear gloves, or use tongs, when working with the raw item.)

By six o'clock, the boxes are neatly stacked in the truck. Now we can go over the rows one more time, picking for ourselves. Now I'm not so particular: holey chard, nettle tips, tiny volunteer beets and potatoes all go into my bag. We'll be living off this bounty for a few days at least, while back at the farm, the tractor will be turning under the last few roots and leaves, making room for a new planting.

Green Gulch Greens Pie
This adaptable, calzone-like pie is inspired by Greek spanikopita. You could easily replace the yeast dough with six or seven sheets of defrosted phyllo dough, brushing melted butter between each sheet before filling and sealing.

Any mixture of reasonably tender greens will work here, including chard, spinach, orach, mustard, radish or turnip tops, lacinato (dino) kale, and beet greens. If you want to add in some tougher greens, like collards, kale, or broccoli leaves, be sure to shred them very finely so they'll cook as fast as the softer greens. A handful of strongly flavored greens, like arugula, parsley, or sorrel can be tossed in as an accent.

Makes 2 pies, enough to serve 6-8

Ingredients:
For dough:
1 1/2 tsp yeast (1/2 package)
3/4 cup lukewarm water
2 cups all-purpose white flour, or 1 cup white flour mixed with 1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

For filling:
approximately 10 cups shredded mixed greens
1 large onion, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, or to taste
Juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
2 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1 oz. ricotta salata, crumbled
Salt, if needed
2 eggs
2 tbsp raw rice
Egg wash (optional): 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp water

Preparation:
1. To make dough: Dissolve yeast in water and let sit for a few minutes. In a large bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal and salt. Pour in yeast mixture and olive oil. Stir to make a pliable dough.

2. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for 5-8 minutes, until it feels springy and elastic. Rinse out bowl, coat lightly with olive oil, and return dough to the bowl, turning to coat with oil.

3. Cover bowl with a clean damp towel and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and divide dough in two.

4. While dough is rising, make filling: Place a large saute pan over medium-low heat. Add oil, then onions and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft and translucent but not browned.

5. Add greens by the handful, stirring, until they collapse and cook down. (You make have to do this in batches, removing the already cooked greens to a separate bowl.)

6. When all the greens are cooked, add nutmeg, lemon juice and lemon rind, and crumbled cheeses. Let cool slightly, and taste for seasoning, adding salt if needed. Stir in rice and beaten eggs, and let sit for 15 minutes.

7. To assemble, preheat oven to 375F. Roll and stretch one dough ball into a long oval. Lightly grease a large rimmed baking sheet. Place dough on sheet. Cover half the oval with greens filling, leaving an inch-wide margin. Fold over remaining dough and pinch together to seal. Repeat with remaining portion of dough.

8. If desired, brush pies with egg wash. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until dough is firm and golden brown.

For more information or to sign up with the Glean Team, go to Marin Organic. The next outing will be Monday, Aug. 9th, from 4-6pm at Star Route Farms in Bolinas.

Maryland native Joshua Grannell is a fourteen year Bay Area resident famous in part for performing as the popular drag performer-emcee-actor Peaches Christ. Peaches' reign over her Midnight Mass movie event series that started in 1998 came to a mascara laden end in 2009. BAB interviewee John Waters was one of Peaches' many famous guests for her Midnight Mass run. Peaches Christ was featured as a (saucy!) protestor in Gus Van Sant's Milk feature film in 2008 and Trannyshack fans have long held their breath in her wake. Christ's Facebook page notes she "has also appeared on other television productions, including VH1's Totally Gay!, AMC's Movies That Shook the World: Pink Flamingos, and IFC's Cult Movie pilot."

When Grannell is not performing as Peaches, he stays busy as a writer and director. Grannell recently "came up for air" from his latest film project, All About Evil. The film was shot locally and debuted at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival. Grannell fretted over being able to fit into his Peaches gear for the Evil film, and somewhat guiltily admitted that he "ate like crap on the movie (set)," and freely indulged in the donuts and candy that were in constant supply from the film's craft services table. "It was both magical and ridiculous to get offered a candy bar" by his assistants the very moment Grannell thought of it. The pressure of being in the movie got to Grannell, and Peaches' long time costumer Tira at one point had to "bring in hardware" to zip Peaches into costume.

Grannell calls Hayes Valley home, and loves the food in San Francisco. He said, "We have the best food, ever." Because Grannell travels often, he will seek out local spots on the road. Depending on where he stays, he will at times add one Bay Area food/drink item to his suitcase. "If I know I'll be someplace that doesn't have access to good coffee, I'll bring Blue Bottle coffee with me. I love the smell of it. I really love Peet's (coffee) a lot, too."

He confessed via phone interview that his alt ego, Peaches Christ, would eat at Little Orphan Andy's. "That is Peaches' favorite!" Grannell said. "(I) can be in drag and eat there at 3 a.m. Peaches loves their Monte Cristo."

Don't expect to see the trademark Peaches hair or telltale make up when Grannell visits his other favorite spots. To stay trim, Grannell, who does not own a car, tries to walk everywhere in the City.

His list of favorite places to eat include: Ananda Fuara, Mandalay, El Castillito, Pacific Café, Suriya Thai, Ton Kiang, and Greens. Grannell said pointedly that "not all tourist spots are bad," and that he loves the House of Nan King.

Orphan Andy's
3991 17th Street (between Castro Street and Hartford Street) Map
(415) 864-9795
Hours: Open 24 hours daily, from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m.

Ananda Fuara: "Their neatloaf? Oh my God." Grannell is also "obsessed with their samosas. Delish!" He also tried the strawberry cake for dessert on a recent visit. "The food is so unique and fresh, and I love the décor. It’s bizarre (there), like some sort of cult." Cult-ish, maybe. "Folks from L.A. always go there," Grannell confessed.

Ananda Fuara
1298 Market Street (on the corner of Market St. and Larkin St.) Map
(415) 621-1994
Hours: Monday - Saturday 11am to 8pm
Except Wednesdays 11 am to 3pm

Mandalay Restaurant: "I love Burma Super Star but they are too popular, and you have to wait (forever) to get in. We were waiting for Burma Super Star and a local told us about Mandalay. The food is good, I love the ambiance, and it’s owned by the sweetest, coolest people." Grannell worries that the secret is out on Mandalay, and conceded that "It's a bit less of a secret (now)," for those seeking Burmese food in the Inner Richmond.

Mandalay Restaurant
4344 California Street (at Sixth Avenue) Map
(415) 386-3895
Hours: Monday - Friday 11:30am to 3:30pm
Monday - Thursday 5pm to 9:30pm
Friday 5pm to 10pm
Saturday 11:30am to 10pm
Sunday 11:30am to 9:30pm

Grannell used to live in the neighborhood by El Castillito: "I miss a fresh burrito when I am on the road. If I really give in to my food ID, I get a carnitas (burrito). Otherwise, I get chicken. I think we always fool ourselves into thinking 'I want guacamole.'"

El Castillito
136 Church Street (between Duboce Street and 14th Street) Map
(415) 621-3428
Hours: Daily 10am to 12am

Grannell was raised on seafood and grew up in Maryland. "Pacific Café is a great, old way of doing seafood. I love bringing my wino friends there for the free glass of wine." (Grannell doesn’t drink alcohol). "I love the ambiance; it feels so sixties or seventies. There are giant globe lamps hanging from the ceiling. They do (seafood) platters that remind me so much of Maryland." Grannell likes to order the parmesan encrusted halibut at Pacific Café.

Pacific Café
7000 Geary Boulevard (at 34th Avenue) Map
(415) 387-7091
Hours: Daily at 5pm to close

Grannell used to go to the Valencia Street location of Suriya Thai, and was "devastated" to hear they had closed. "I was freaking out. I order the pumpkin curry (at Suriya) and a dish called Evil Jungle Prince" that includes Napa cabbage, spinach, lime leaves, and coconut milk in Panang curry sauce.

Suriya Thai
1532 Howard Street (between 11th Street and 12th Street) Map
(415) 355-9999
Hours: Daily 11:30am to 2:30pm and 5pm to 10pm

Grannell brunches on dim sum at Ton Kiang. "When they have those carts, it's such a uniquely San Francisco thing. I had never, ever heard of dim sum before moving here."

Ton Kiang
5821 Geary Boulevard (between 22nd Avenue and 23rd Avenue) Map
(415) 752-4440, and (415) 387-8273
Hours: Monday – Thursday 10am to 9pm
Friday 10am to 9:30pm
Saturday 9:30am to 9:30pm
Sunday 9am to 9pm

"Whenever my vegetarian friends are in town, I go to Greens." Cassandra Peterson, better known onscreen as Elvira, is one such friend.

Greens Restaurant
Fort Mason -- Map
(415) 771-6222
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11:45am to 2:30pm
Sunday 10:30am to 2 pm
Sunday to Friday 5:30pm to 9pm
Prix fixe dinner Saturday 5:30pm to 9pm

Had enough brown sugar and butter for a while? Perhaps as a reaction to the pervasive Pacific Northwest chill, my hosts this year up in Seattle got serious about their meats and starches. At the center of the menu was a 28-lb turkey, lacquered glossy brown through a simulated pit-cooking in the Weber grill, paired up with a huge, lavishly home-smoked ham glazed purple with marionberry jam and bourbon. Alongside were plain mashed potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, and horseradish mashed potatoes; "more butter than yams" casserole of sweet potatoes whipped with nearly their weight in brown sugar and butter and topped with marshmallows; plus sage-and-chestnut stuffing, all of it awash in lakes of turkey and ham gravy.

Standing on my California rights, I insisted on adding the wonderful autumn salad found on the menu at Bay Wolf a decade ago, and on the table of wherever I've been having Thanksgiving ever since. A vivid toss of arugula, oak-leaf lettuce, sliced Fuyu persimmons, pomegranate seeds, crumbled chevre, and sweet-spicy pecans, it makes a lively antidote to all that beige stuff. (The exact recipe can be found in the excellent Bay Wolf Cookbook, a must-have for seasonally-minded Bay Area cooks.)

But after a few days of turkey sandwiches and the remains of the stuffing, what I was craving was greens: tough, raincoat-textured winter greens, steamed to tenderness and tossed with lemon and garlic and hot pepper flakes, bright with B vitamins and minerals with just an edge of bitterness.

Happily, this is their season. While you can grow all the brassica family year-round, they do best in the cool, moist weather of a Bay Area winter. In the brassica family (formerly known as the crucifers, for their cross-shaped stems) are all the cole crops: cabbage, cauliflower, kale, collard greens, mustard greens, broccoli rabe, lacinato (also known as cavelo nero, black, or dino) kale, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, and more. They are even better after a frost, when the plant produces a naturally sweet "antifreeze" to keep from the water inside its cells from freezing. Hot weather stresses the plants, and makes them more susceptible to disease and pest pressure. In cool, even cold weather, though, they thrive.

If you haven't grown brassicas before, the easiest ones to start with are the leafy greens, including broccoli rabe (rapini), collards, and kale. Plant them now, and you'll have fresh greens to pick through spring. The leafy greens will keep producing week after week; pick the large leaves off the outside of the plant to eat, leaving the tiny leaves at the center of the whorl. In a week or two, a whole new crop of large leaves will be ready to pick. Just snap off the bigger leaves and leave the tiny ones down at the center.

Since the days are shorter now, growing will be slower. Instead of seeds, it's probably better to start with already established plants. Look for them at well-stocked garden centers or farmers' markets. (Flowercraft on Bayshore, the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market, and the Marin Farmers' Market all have good arrays of edible green starts at this time of year.)

Being a highly nutritional subsistence food for cultures all around the globe, these sturdy greens are easy to grow and not particularly fussy. In fact, they're vigorous self-seeders and will colonize any neglected corner of your corner for years to come. Prepare the beds with some good compost and mulch around the plants to keep down weeds. Pick leaves as they mature, since the more the plant is picked the more leaves it will push out.

Right now, lacinato kale is my favorite go-to green. While farmers often disparage the cutesy moniker of "dino kale," the curled, bumpy, black-green leaves do resemble dinosaur skin, if dinosaurs were vegetables. They're less rubbery than common kale and collards, meaning they need only a light steaming, followed by a quick saute in olive oil with some minced garlic, lemon zest and juice, and a sprinkle of hot pepper flakes. Eat them straight out of the pan, if you're like me, or toss them with orecchiette and a handful of grated romano cheese. (Use a mix of broccoli rabe and lacinato kale for a particularly excellent version.) Shredded, they can be the backbone of Portuguese style caldo verde soup with linguisa and potatoes, or a warming Florentine ribollita, the bread-thickened minestrone of beans and vegetables. According to an article in Gravy, the newsletter of the Southern Foodways Alliance, Punjabi truck stops stay open around the clock in winter dishing up bowls of sarson ka saag, greens (especially pungently biting mustard greens) cooked slowly with onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, cumin, and coriander. Topped with butter, the flavorful puree is scooped up with makki ki roti, thin, tortilla-like corn cakes flavored with fenugreek and ajwan seeds.

The key? Get your greens fresh, unwilted and unyellowed. Remove any tough central ribs. For side dishes or pastas, steam in an inch or two of lightly salted water until just tender to the bite. Tough greens like collards and kale take longer; broccoli rabe, mustard greens, and lacinato kale will go faster. Drain well, let cool, and then chop or slice before sauteeing. For soups, remove the tough central rib, stack the leaves up and roll like a cigar. Slice thinly and add strips to liquid, simmering until tender.

I know, fireworks and farmers aren't usually uttered in the same sentence, but why not? In San Francisco you can have up close and personal access to both at these special events.

Every year KFOG puts on a fireworks extravaganza. You can fight the crowds on the pier or treat yourself to an upgrade. Head to Waterbar, the best spot in town for viewing the fireworks and nibble on oysters on the half shell, prawn cocktails, pizzas, gougere sandwiches, artichoke crab crostini, risotto fritters, salt cod fritters, gravlax, ceviches, tartare and mini meatballs.

What: Kaboom, VIP Event
Cost: Tickets are $65 and include passed hors d' oeuvres (cash bar)

When: May 10th 7 - 10 pm

Where: Waterbar, 399 The Embarcadero, 415.284.0161

How: Purchase tickets online

Macy's at Union Square puts on a variety of terrific culinary events. Catch the third part of the series "Get Green Cooking" where local farmers are paired with chefs who explain the ins and outs of sustainable farming, the importance of organic seasonal produce, and the tremendous impact your food choices can have on your community.

Sara Tashker of Green Gulch Farm and Annie Somerville of Greens Restaurant will discuss their partnership, organic farming, vegetarian cooking and more. Plus, they’ll cook something delicious!

What: Get Green Cooking Demo with Sara Tashker of Green Gulch Farm and Annie Somerville of Greens Restaurant
Cost: $10 donation to CUESA (the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) includes a sample of the featured dish, a glass of Benzinger wine, a canvas Ferry Plaza Farmers Market bag, plus a deluxe sample from Origins Organics, in celebration of their new USDA-certified organic skincare line
When: May 14th 6:30
Where: Macy's Union Square, Cellar Kitchen
How: Seating is first-come, first-served starting at 6 pm