How to Get “Fresh” in San Francisco

When I’m not thinking about San Francisco Real Estate, I’m probably thinking about food… and where to get the good stuff. These days, as I’m getting older, and my body is reminding me to eat healthy, the good stuff tends to include lots of good produce, preferably straight from the farm. But since I don’t get out of the City that often to drive some some of the Bay Area’s farm rich towns filled with roadside produce stands, I need to find my produce a little closer to home.

You might be surprised to find farm fresh produce within San Francisco city limits. Remarkably, for a rather urban city, San Francisco has a wide array of farmers markets where you can experience food at its finest. While some of the markets feel more like a small, mom-and-pop stand, others are large, organized markets with multiple vendors and extensive selections. When it comes to fresh fruits and vegetables, your local farmers market is the perfect place to locate some fabulous food finds whether you’re a gourmet chef, or just looking for some fresh greens to add to tonight’s dinner salad!

The fruits and vegetables are grown locally and picked when perfectly ripened. This enhances the taste, texture, and aroma of the produce. Often, market prices are lower than at grocery stores. The way transportation and distribution of food occurs today wastes huge amount of resources and energy.

Our existing system of food transportation and distribution requires enormous amounts of energy and resources. The Going Green Painlessly Blog points out that:

When you buy locally, you prevent food from travelling long distances, and therefore reduce the use of fuel. I’ve recently read, “before reaching your table, the average food item in the United States will travel 1,300 miles! In fact, only about 10% of the fossil fuel energy used in the world’s food system is used for production. The other 90% goes into packaging, transportation, and marketing of the food. All this inefficiency creates many environmental problems.”
Shopping at the Farmers’ Market benefits the local farmer.

Not to mention, when food is picked at the peak of the season, nutrients, and phytochemicals will be more abundant. And it just TASTES better too!

Below you’ll find a link to a list of some of San Francisco’s finest farmers markets. If you go, bring your own bags and lots of small bills and loose change since vendors don’t always have a large amount of cash on them. And don’t be afraid to ask the vendors questions about their products… you might even leave with a recipe or two!

San Francisco Farmers Market Guide