Sunday, August 24, 2008

Santa Rosa Farmer's Market Cooking Demonstration

I spent Saturday morning doing a cooking demonstration of tomato and eggplant sauce which I called Salsa di Pomodoro e Melazane as it would be in Italian. It was great fun and I got to speak to a lot of people. It was the annual tomato festival at the market where people get to taste a host of heirloom tomatoes. The dish takes only 3 minutes at pressure in the pressure cooker, tastes fresh and delicious, and all the ingredients came from Santa Rosa.


A woman named Ann from Pasadena found me on the Relish Culinary website and wanted to come see me. Her friend in Santa Rosa has lived there for 22 years and never made it to the market until she urged him to go. I cannot imagine not going to the market for 2 weeks, let alone years.


Later in the day I attended a LIFEE (http://www.ecoleader.org/) picnic. A colleague who is in this year's class said that when she first moved to Santa Rosa she went to the farmer's market because it gave her a place to feel connected.


With Slow Food Nation almost upon San Francisco, I am sure that there are many people who are thinking about their connection to their community and the food associated with it.

As I've said before, food is the language common in all cultures. When you break bread (or other food) with people it changes your relationship. This is likely why people like to socialize at events that involve food.

And the summer is a great time for it. Then again so is the rest of the year. You can still catch me doing cooking demonstrations and classes this year at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's market and other locations. Check my website http://www.theveggiequeen.com for more details as they become available or sign up for my email newsletter on my site.

Here's to great cooking.



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