This past weekend, I broke my “never wake up before 7 am on the weekend” rule to attend the Good Food Awards Marketplace at the Ferry Building. The Good Food Award is exactly what it sounds like — a celebration of real, tasty food that’s authentic and responsibly produced. At the marketplace, you were able to sample and purchase delicious wares from dozens of winners. While the market ran from 8AM to 2PM, we paid a little more for “VIP” tickets where we could go earlier from 8AM to 9AM to avoid lines and crowds. Then, the doors opened to anyone after 9AM for a $5 fee.
Thankfully, we had the coffee tasting first or else I might’ve freaked out. We sampled 8 different coffees, and it was intense! I’m not a huge fan of acidic coffee or coffee with citrus notes, so none of them really appealed to me (which is probably blasphemous by San Francisco coffee standards).
It was all a jittery blur. You could tell everyone was serious about their coffee– it was timed, weighed, and gently poured over. I kind of felt like an impostor, but mainly I just nodded my head a lot and said, “I really taste the dark cherry notes in this one.”
Then, it was off to the pickled section. We tasted pickled blueberries, kim chi cream cheese, and even pickled sea beans! My favorite though, was the LaLa sauce from Baba’s cooking school (pictured above). I haven’t had a Frito in years, which is how they served the tasting. Is that even a Frito?? I don’t know. I’m probably still confused from all that Probably lala sauce.
Then, we ventured off to the other side for my favorite section, CHEESE & CHARCUTERIE!!!
And… we walked away with 5 lbs of bison/buffalo pastrami, a pack of proscuitto, and 2 packs of cheese. The VP of marketing is the gentleman slicing the buffalo pastrami, and when we walked by he said, “you’ll have a taste and you won’t forget it.” And… he was right. They only had a few 5 lb packs, and we walked away with one of them. It was that. good.
The proscuitto was also amaaaaaazing. It practically melted in your mouth. Too bad it didn’t come in 5 lb packs as well…
Cheese. Cheese. CHEESE.
Finally, we reached the last leg of the tastings with Olive Oil, Chocolates, and Preserves. We started off with a sample of butternut squash from 18 Reasons, a community food space in San Francisco that also hosts cooking classes.
On to the olive oil. It was the first time in my life where I was literally guzzling olive oil. At first we sampled it with the bread, but often the flavor of the bread would overpower the oil. Most of the oils had a strong grassy flavor which I personally really liked, whereas my companion, lamarobot, was not too fond of it. My favorite however, was the Roasted Walnut Oil. It literally tasted like roasted walnuts, with a strong, nutty and creamy flavor. Like a lighter version of peanut butter.
So much chocolate. I started to get dizzy.
Amongst the preserves, I thought the Limoncello Strawberry preserve was as unique-tasting as it sounded. Cocktail in a jam? Sign me up! The cute logo and theme also helped. I had to include the cutest, wee little skillet I’ve ever seen. Daw.
While the Good Food Awards Marketplace only comes once a year, the Ferry Building still has a bountiful farmers’ market every Saturday, filled with gorgeous, local and organic produce.
With that 70 degree weather we had, the place was poppin! The extra $10 for the “VIP” tickets was totally worth it. When we were finished, we saw lines wrapping around the building.
Can’t have a farmers’ market without some terrariums floating around.
Would you go to the marketplace next year? What looked most delicious to you?