Mounds of bright red strawberries . . . freshly baked bread . . . slices of cheese arranged on a board . . . This is the San Francisco Ferry Building and the best farmers market in the world! Sitting on the edge of the water, near the Oakland-Bay Bridge, the Ferry Building is still home to the vessels that ply the bay, but it has been transformed into a masterpiece of restaurants, gourmet markets, and gift shops. It is also home to what we think is the world’s best Farmers’ Market, operated since 1992 by the Center of Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA).

The market is open on Saturdays on both sides of the Ferry building with over 100 vendors.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, a smaller number of stalls are set up in front. Be sure to arrive early. The crowds are enthusiastic and the lines for food grow exponentially as the day progresses. Under colorful canopies, farmers and ranchers lovingly tend their produce, arranging it so that it is an artistic masterpiece of colors, textures, and aromas. The produce is from Bay area farms and ranches, many of which are certified organic, and it is a locavore’s treasure.

Piles of vegetables, mountains of fruit, cartons of eggs, jars of honey, yogurt in little pink ceramic jars, freshly baked artisanal bread, white creamy cheeses and buckets with cheerful sunflowers. It is impossible to walk by without stopping to sample and then, having tantalized your taste buds, to pick up a bit of this and a bit of that until you are laden down with packages and bags.

If you have not filled up on too many samples, you can buy yourself lunch — perhaps a porchetta sandwich with bits of crackling skin hidden inside the bread from RoliRoti, the country’s first mobile rotisserie, which travels from market to market in the Bay area. Take a seat on one of the benches overlooking the water, and watch the ferries steaming across the bay as you bite into a sandwich, so good it will bring tears to your eyes.

If you would rather eat a more structured meal, try the Slanted Door, San Francisco’s famous Vietnamese Restaurant. Or sit yourself down at the counter at Hog Island Oyster Company and order a dozen Kumamotos and a bowl of clam chowder. When you are done, visit some of the unique shops in the building, like the mushroom store (Fat West Fungi) with its crates of over 24 different types of mushrooms or the Cowgirl Creamery with its mouth-watering cheeses.

I could go on and on but I am now very hungry. This is a must visit if you are in San Francisco.

IF YOU GO
The Ferry Building is on the Embarcadero at the bottom of Market Street.

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