The Hungry
GourmetAn Inside Look at the Market
not on Saturday
By Paul Redman
![](Paul%2005%20reduced.jpg) |
John Bourne
of Marin Sun Farms handles a freshly cooked
hamburger at the Thursday market at the Ferry
Building |
San Francisco- Larry Johnson, a homeless
man, languidly dragged a milk crate along the sidewalk,
using a thick strand of Saran Wrap for a handle. The crate
was full of fishing bait: large fish heads and tiny squid.
He stopped in front of the farmers’ market, and asked
“Where’s the beef?”
A vendor, John Bourne of sustainable beef producer Marin Sun
Farms, smiled, greeted Larry, and asked if he would be in
his usual spot around the back of the Ferry Building. “I’ll
bring you a little something later on,” Mr. Bourne said, as
he flipped three hamburgers on a commercial restaurant grill
for a waiting customer. Larry nodded and walked on with his
bait scraping the pavement behind him.
This was the scene at the Thursday market in
front of the Ferry Building.
It goes
to show, that even in San Francisco, if you build a farmers’
market they won’t necessarily come—at least not right away.
The Thursday market began at the end of March, and in July
was still in the process of attracting large numbers of
customers to its organic products.
“It’s in a growth stage right now,” said Lisa Capozzi,
executive director of the Center for Urban Education about
Sustainable Agriculture, the organization behind the market.
She said there are more sustainable producers, ranchers and
growers who would like to vend at the Thursday market, and
they will be added in due time.
Of the nine vendors currently at the market, four of them
sell prepared or already cooked foods; the other five sell
organic fruits and vegetables.
The market has not developed nearly the amount of customers
that come to the market on other days at the Ferry Building.
According to a recent article in the New York Times, the
Saturday market at the Ferry Building draws as many as
12,000 customers during the peak season.
![](Paul%2010%20large.jpg) |
Ripe fruit
on display at the Thursday farmers’ market at
the Ferry building. |
For many of the vendors who attend several
other markets during the week, the Thursday market is as
much a way to promote their products and get feedback from
customers as it is a way to make money. Marin Sun Farms
sells their locally raised beef products at other markets,
but on Thursday they send Mr. Bourne to the market solely to
grill fresh hamburgers, sausages, and shredded beef
sandwiches. If a Marin Sun Farms customer wishes to pick up
a beef order placed with the company by telephone, then Mr.
Bourne brings it on Thursdays, but mainly he handles the
cooking side of the business, a feat he performs at four
markets a week, sometimes drawing a line of ten people to
his green umbrella in the market in front of the Ferry
Building.
His neighbor at the
market, Celine Underwood, is the owner of Brick Maiden
Breads, another Marin County food producer who makes the
trek to the Ferry Building on Thursday mornings.
“This market is more of a promotion for my
business than it is to make money,” Ms. Underwood said. She
bakes her bread in a bakery attached to her house in Point
Reyes Station in Marin County, using an Allen Scott brand
oven that is wood fired and does not even have a working
thermostat. She said that after much practice she has
learned the proper temperature to bake her bread, which is
made from about 90% organic ingredients and sells out at
markets and stores in the Bay Area every week.
While the Thursday market may not be the big
draw to the Ferry Building that the Saturday market is, it
sometimes serves as a stepping stone to bigger and more
crowded markets.
David De Korsak is
another Thursday vendor, and he recently founded the St.
Benoit Yogurt Corporation with his brother, Benoit. The
first market they ever attended was Thursday, July 8, 2004
at the Ferry Building. They will now be selling their
natural yogurt in glass jars at the Saturday market. David
says that CUESA required them to attend a couple of Thursday
markets before they could come on Saturdays, a requirement
David was happy to fulfill.
Every farmers’ market must decide what is
the right mix of prepared foods and fresh produce in order
to attract more customers overall. While the Thursday market
at the Ferry Building may still be in the process of
defining itself, one thing is certain: a sense of community
is developing around the Ferry Building, one visitor at a
time.
By the time the Thursday market had
reached its peak, the sun was clearing away the clouds over
the bay. Larry Johnson stepped back from his fishing rod and
crab trap hanging into the bay behind the Ferry Building. “I
don’t mind them farmers out front,” he said. “They got good
fruit.”