Shhh…Underground Farmer’s Market

Leave it to San Francisco to make food rogue. A few weeks ago, Iso Rabins, founder of Forage SF, organized the city’s first “underground” farmer’s market to give small, local vendors an opportunity to sell their food who otherwise can’t afford to rent a commercial kitchen. A dozen vendors gathered in a private house in the Mission district and sold a wild range of homemade goods like sweet potato bourbon, “slow” jams, corned beef sandwiches, acorn flour and even foraged items like mushrooms. Several hundred curious customers wiped the place clean, as most vendors sold out within hours!

Why couldn’t these people just sell their goods at the Marin or Ferry Building market, you might ask? Well, apparently there are some pretty stringent requirements to meet if you want to (legally) sell food to the public. This especially applies to prepared goods, which must be made in commercial kitchens that cost hundreds of dollars to rent. Also, it costs up to $500, plus a portion of profits, to secure a spot at some markets. For many new or small vendors, this is pretty unrealistic.

And here I thought that I could just roll up with my wheelbarrow or basket in hand, set up shop, and pass out jars of my homemade fig jam!

If you’re curious what kind of contraband goods you can get your hands on, check out the next underground market on Jan. 28 (venue TBD by Forage SF). You can also apply to be one of the vendors if you’ve got a knack for making treats like pies, empanadas, or even beer like some of the others.

I’m definitely going to check it out and report back!

*Image compliments of SF Public Press.

Tagged as: farmer's market, Forage, homemade