Farmers Markets on our San Francisco Tours Pages

On our San Francisco Tours pages, we're hoping to include contacts for farmers markets for as many countries as possible.

Updated Resources Page for our San Francisco Tours

In the coming year, we're planning to update our resources page for our San Francisco Tours to support everyone to eat locally & seasonally.

It's Still Holiday Time on our San Francisco Tours

We're out and about on our San Francisco Tours again, relaxed and ready after the holiday.

Blueberry Pie on our San Francisco Tours

On our San Francisco Tours, it's time for the holidays. We're found a blueberry pie today. Yummy!

Our San Francisco Tours Are on Facebook

In addition to this blog, we're now on Facebook. We hope we can use it to encourage everyone to eat locally and seasonally.

Holiday and Confort Foods on our San Francisco Tours

On our San Francisco Tours, we're in the comfort food mode. For us, that means Arancini (Sicilian rice balls) and gingerbread cookies. On the home front, it's time for chicken and dumplings. I really like the flavor of free range and organic chicken. We use the same concept on our San Francisco Food Tours. Fresh rice has great natural flavor and fresh ginger makes all the difference. It's the reason getting food grown close by is so important.

Holiday Time on our San Francisco Tours

We always look forward to the holidays on our San Francisco Tours. It's a time when we get to take advantage of the all of the holiday food in the City. From Panetonne to Gingerbread Cookies, we get to find all kinds of foods to try.

When we go our on our San Francisco Tours, we never know what we'll find this of year. And we mean that in a good way. The time of year, we get lots of squash and lots of apples in, however we're still seeing some grapes in the farmers market. We're also still seeing Brussels Sprouts. I like buying them on the stalk, they're much fresher. If you can't use them right away, put the stalk in water and they'll stay fresh. Just keep the buds out of the water, otherwise they'll get mushy.

Sustainability on our San Francisco Tours

One of the most things we keenly aware on our San Francisco Tours is sustainability. Sustainability is whether a practice can be sustained over a long period of time. On our San Francisco Food tours, everyone of our stops is sustainable. In other words, they sustain the community and the community sustains them. From the perspective of our San Francisco Culinary Tours, that's essential.

We seem to be having that a discussion at the national level that should be asking the same question. From the perspective of our San Francisco Tours, it seems to a shame that we not asking the question about sustainability. For example, when the question comes to health care, from our San Francisco Food Tours, we ask the question, is the current system sustainable? In other words, will it hold up in the long run. To many of us, the answer is no. It is similar to treading water in the ocean and saying that it is okay because you haven't gone under yet. Eventually, your arms tire out and you drown. From the perspective of our San Francisco Culinary Tours, that is not sustainable.

On our San Francisco Tours, we see how local businesses can sustain a community, by keeping jobs and services in the community. When local businesses go away, the connections to the local businesses go away, as well as the jobs. Again, just like treading water in the ocean. As we see on our San Francisco Food Tours, not sustainable. And many question whether the local businesses on our San Francisco Culinary Tours are important.

When each of us gets caught us in own personal problems. it is easy for forces that do have our best interests in mind to skew the political argument so many argue against their own best interests. On our San Francisco Tours, we see how communities can come together and by looking out for each other, everyone gets taken care of.

A Local Perspective from our San Francisco Tours

One of our guests on one of our San Francisco Tours asked about a sign advertising the San Francisco Health Plan. They were guests one of our San Francisco Food Tours in North Beach\Little Italy. San Francisco has it's version of public health care option, run by the city. We're very used to that now, so seeing an advertisement on our San Francisco Culinary Tours is no surprise.

What is surprising to us, from the perspective of our San Francisco Tours, is that find what we did is not surprising. Our city, as a community, decided to do about something about health care, and provide universal health care for our citizens. Just like we see on our San Francisco Food Tours, we used the power of community to address a local problem. Many local problems, regardless of their complexity can be solved by neighbors coming together, just like we see in the neighborhoods we visit on our San Francisco Culinary Tours.

Regardless of one's opinion of our health plan, it is an example of what can be accomplished when people act a a community. On our San Francisco Tours, we can see how when people decide to shop local merchants, it develops businesses concerned about the neighborhood that are located in. For the businesses on our San Francisco Food Tours, the people in our neighborhoods are not listings on a balance sheet, they are people that they see everyday. The result is that our businesses and neighbors that we see on our San Francisco Culinary Tours end up seeing beyond the bottom line for the current quarter.

One of our San Francisco Tours, we look at how we can get people to look beyond the current fiscal quarter. The biggest challenge for of us is to see beyond the immediate situation. Faced with an immediate crisis, we can lose touch with the long term perspective, whereby we save money on the short-term, but it costs us more in the long-term. On our San Francisco Food Tours, many of our guest are surprised by how many local stores that we have in San Francisco. For that to continue, people here have to make the choice to support local stores. It it same perspective that allowed us to address health care. On our San Francisco Culinary Tours, we visit many of our friends who now benefit from this. In the short-term, we had to invest in our health care system. In the long-term, it is now saving us money. However, it took people here demanding that our elected officials respond to the community, not outside interests. If we are to see changes on a national level, it will require the same demands. When our elected officials realize that they have no choice other than to respond our own citizens, we will have policies which address the needs of our citizens.

We vs I on our San Francisco Tours

On our San Francisco Tours, we often see the effect of a we mentality. A mentality that says that we care about others around us, not just ourselves. The I mentality puts ourselves above others, as if the rest of the people around us doesn't matter or doesn't exists. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we believe in the we mentality. We believe that we have a responsibility to ensure that we improve and contribute to our community. The focus of our San Francisco Culinary Tours is that we mentality.

As the debate goes on nationally, the I mentality is disturbing. On the way home from one of the San Francisco Tours, I stopped by a local market. In the market, there was a flyer from a family attempting to raise for treatment for cancer. That poster really struck me. Only a I mentality would not be disturbed that a family would have to raise money for cancer treatment. It would be like walking past someone bleeding from an automobile accident and not even bothering to call 911. On San Francisco Food Tours, we see what happens when neighborhoods come together to help each other. Everyone in the community benefits. We see this in the neighborhoods we visit on San Francisco Culinary Tours.

The I mentality results in everyone losing out. It is like being on a ship that is sinking and being happy because you drown ten seconds later than everyone else. You may have survived for ten seconds later, but the reality is that you still drowned. If for nothing that one's own preservation, caring about only oneself is a path for self-destruction.

Networking on our San Francisco Tours

A major reason we started our San Francisco Tours was to encourage people to eat locally and seasonally. We realized that our San Francisco Food Tours were a way for people to get to know the neighborhoods of the city. We also wanted our San Francisco Culinary Tours to encourage people to get in touch with the communities where they lived.

This weekend, we learned about an amazing example of much one person can impact the communities around them. We were up a winery in Sonoma seeing friends of of ours. In the tasting room of the winery, we met someone who heard about some who need a heart transplant. They never the met the person, but they were touched by the person's dilemma. Rather than do nothing, they sent out a request on Twitter to ask for donations to cover the cost. They raised enough money in a matter of days to cover the cost. I was amazed by what one person had achieved.

If they was ever an example about why we believe what we do on our San Francisco Tours, that is it. We believe that by shopping at the same kind of places they we visit on our San Francisco Food Tours, people can preserve the local artisans they have back home. Many places have the same kind of places we visit on our San Francisco Culinary Tours, the question is whether people will value them.

One person connecting with another can achieve amazing things. On our San Francisco Tours, we see that is what makes up a neighborhood. It is a series of people who decide that their local community is important. It is also realizing that the collective knowledge of people can achieve incredible things. For example, we started talking about working to preserve some open space in Sonoma County. I've previously done work in that area so I was able to pass along some ideas. Just like on San Francisco Food Tours, everyone specializes in different areas. One person on our San Francisco Culinary Tours specializes in coffee, another specializes in chocolate, another specializes in bread, and so on.

Collective knowledge can make major changes. For example, on our San Francisco Tours, we see how neighborhoods are a combination of people working toward the same goal. When the person who enlisted others to help another who needed a heart transplant, he created a neighborhood. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we see how those neighborhoods, can be a group of people who decide to think beyond their own narrow interests. As we see on our San Francisco Culinary Tours, we people working together they can achieve amazing things. Like getting someone a heart transplant.

Community Health on our San Francisco Tours

On our San Francisco Tours, we think that the health of all us starts at the community level. In other words, the neighborhoods that we visit on our San Francisco Food Tours are the basis of the health of us. It is where we get out footing everyday. Everyday when we see people we know, we feel like have a place where we belong. Each of us needs that sense of belonging. It is why the type of neighborhoods that we visit on our San Francisco Culinary Tours are so important.

On our San Francisco Tours, the neighborhoods we explore are filled with local artisans and store, the type where people go into the store and be recognized. And yet, these are the neighborhoods most endangered during any economic downturn. It seems easy to go to the places that have the "cheapest" prices. Maybe it is the chain store down the street. At this very time, it important that we support our local stores. Otherwise, when the economy recovers, we won't have those kind of stores. Many communities have the kind of stores we visit on our San Francisco Food Tours. The question is whether we support when they need us most. The kind of places we visit on our San Francisco Culinary Tours need our support more than ever.

Eating seasonally and locally, as we do on our San Francisco Tours is an important step in supporting local stores. Local foods support local stores, local farmers, and local employees. As we see on our San Francisco Food Tours, every dollar spent in local communities stays in local communities. Every dollar spent elsewhere does little to support local communities. Many areas have neighborhoods similar to the one we visit on our San Francisco Culinary Tours. The questions is will they be able to survive the current economic downturn.

The health of communities affects our health. If we lose these communities now, they won't come back later.

Spring Fever on our San Francisco Tours

Spring Fever has arrived on our San Francisco Tours! Springtime is a great time to be in San Francisco for our San Francisco Food Tours. From asparagus to artichokes, all of us on our San Francisco Culinary Tours are enjoying the great food in the area.

Eating seasonally, as we do on our San Francisco Tours, is something we really enjoy. With all of the spring foods coming in, it almost calls out for ways to enjoy them. I'm a big fan of ravioli and risotto. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we're seeing the new harvest of olives and with that olive oil. And we'll be enjoying that olive oil on on our San Francisco Culinary tours, as it comes into the farmers markets.

In each part of our country and around the world, spring brings great foods into local communities. Just like on our San Francisco Tours, local demand has an incredible effect on whether they show up in your local markets. Local markets carry what local consumers demand. That local demand allows local farmers to exist. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we only enjoy local foods. That local demand supports local farmers in our area. Local farmers requires the same kind of demand that we support on our San Francisco Culinary Tours.

Not everyone agrees with the principles that we believe in on our San Francisco Tours. To many, they may seem lofty. We don't see it that way. The more we connect with the local artisans, farmers, and our neighborhoods, the more we lift our communities. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we see how our neighborhoods support everyone they touch. The more we support they type of artisans we see on our San Francisco Culinary Tours, the more we support each other.

Mother Day's on our San Francisco Tours

We'll be coming up to Mother's Day soon on our San Francisco Tours. Many of us spend lost of time trying to think about something unique to do every year. On our San Francisco Food Tours we try to think about how to celebrate Mother's Day in San Francisco with more meaning. On the other hand, we're always trying to get below the surface on our San Francisco Culinary Tours.

Getting below the surface includes looking where our food on San Francisco Tours is from. That includes ensuring all of food is fair trade. Fair trade means that the people growing make enough income to take care of their family. That is was grown in environmentally sensitive means. Whether it's for our Mother's Day Tours or our everyday San Francisco Food Tours, we want to feel good about all of the food we enjoy. That why we make sure that all of the food on our San Francisco Culinary Tours is local.

Finding where local foods are available maybe one of the best presents that you can give to a loved one. In other words, knowing where they have a great coffee drink means that they really can really savor it. The local roaster is our San Francisco Tours is excellent place, however there are local roaster in many areas. Check out slowfood.com for some places near you.

Eating Locally Perspective from our San Francisco Tours

I just purchased a new jacket for our San Francisco Tours. At first, it was a real dilemma, on our San Francisco Food Tours, we really believe in buying locally and seasonally, and as much as I would like it, there aren't many local clothing manufactures in San Francisco. Also, I really dislike wearing clothing that is not sweatshop free. In other words, sweatshop free clothing means that it was produced in factories where child or slave labor is not used, workers are paid adequate wages, and that they are working under safe and humane conditions. Just like on our San Francisco Culinary tours, I try to make sure that everything we try contributes the the community.

On one hand, just like on our San Francisco Tours, I like to support local stores, however the local stores only had clothing that they could not certify as sweatshop free. When I searched the Internet, I was able to find clothing that was sweatshop free, however they are by mail order only. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we not eat only produced food, we also support local merchants at the same time. I felt like I had a choice, buy sweatshop free clothes and not support local merchants or support local merchants and buy clothing that was not sweatshop free. On our San Francisco Culinary Tours, we don't have to make that choice.

Fortunately, there was a solution. After searching for clothing manufactures that were sweatshop free, I approached some local shops and suggested that they carry them. Just like our San Francisco Tours our merchants benefit when they highlight how they carry local foods, I gave some local clothing stores names of clothing manufactures where they could get sweatshop free clothing. The interesting thing was that the clothing was not only not more expensive, in many cases it was less expensive. Also, the stores saw the additional advantage of attracting new customers by carrying clothing that people could feel good about wearing. The result of this is that just like the places we visit on our San Francisco Food Tours, I'll be able to purchase sweatshop free clothing from local merchants. I felt like I was to continue the philosophy we have on our San Francisco Culinary Tours.

For many people, this may seem frivolous, after all why go to all that trouble, when they can just go down to the local store and buy anything, as long it looks good. My response is to ask if one really wants wear clothing that a child was forced to make. On our San Francisco Tours, we feel good about everything that we are eating. So we can feel good about what is inside of our bodies. Isn't it just as important to feel good about what is on the outside? Additionally, when working conditions deteriorate for workers anywhere, eventually conditions deteriorate close to home, as we have a race to the bottom as workers are forced to compete to keep their jobs. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we see how people making good choices raises up everyone, as multinational companies cannot force one worker to be a wedge against another. We also see on our San Francisco Culinary Tours how when everyone gets a fair wage, entire communities get lifted up.

When I buy sweatshop free clothing it is usually either the same price or less than other clothing, so it is definitely not a money issue. There are sweatshop free clothing manufactures left in many countries, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and others. In other countries, it is a little harder to make sure that is sweatshop free, but it is well worth it. We end supporting each other at the same time. Local merchants can benefit, as customers can see a benefit for shopping from them, as the clothing they carry is ethically made.

If we look toward the multinational companies to look out for us, just like with the banks, we will find out that they only look out for themselves. The only ones who look out for us is is.

Economic Perspective from our San Francisco Tours

Whenever we start to see hot-crossed buns on our San Francisco Tours, we know that spring is coming up soon. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we can taste the difference between local bakeries and other bakeries. The flavor of a fresh hot-crossed buns jumps out at us on on San Francisco Culinary Tours.

Beyond the tastes, we can see the other benefits from local shops on our San Francisco Tours. We see how these shops benefit the community around them by helping to form neighborhoods. On on San Francisco Food Tours, we only visit locally owned shops. Just like we only enjoy local foods on our San Francisco Culinary Tours.

Whenever the economy has challenges, each of us faces challenges. We can answer those challenges by doing what seem to be convenient or we can choose to do what helps not only our neighborhoods, but other neighborhoods, as well. Simple acts, such as making the effort to purchase clothing that is made sweat-shop free. Just like on our San Francisco Tours, we find that purchasing products that minimize exploitation of others doesn't cost anything more, it just means going a couple more blocks to go to a local store or ordering clothing from firms that are sweat-shop free. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we know everyone is benefiting from what we are doing. Just like when support exploitation of others we support our own exploitation, when we make the effort to support others in our community, as we do on our San Francisco Culinary Tours, they support us.

The choices we make now will determine what remains when the economy recovers. On our San Francisco Tours, we try to make the choices that will result in local shops surviving in the long run. Just like on our San Francisco Food Tours, all of us can make those choices. Some may think that the efforts that we make on our San Francisco Culinary Tours are a drop in the ocean. However if enough of us make those drops, the rising tide will lift all of us.

Long-Term Views from our San Francisco Tours

When there is a downturn in the economy, many of us look more short-term, how to get past the current crisis. From our San Francisco Tours, we often ask what will remain in the long-term. In other words, many of us look at the immediate short-term costs, rather than the long-term costs. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we are keenly aware of the real costs of what is around us. In the short-term, we look at the immediate or most obvious costs, the cost of the price on the item. As we can see from our San Francisco Culinary tours, the long-term cost of that outlook is a loss of local farmers, merchants, and communities.

From the point-of-view from our San Francisco Tours, the short-term outlook is part of reason we reached the point that we have economically. The view that short-term gain is the most important, rather than the long-term effect on our local communities and our world as a whole. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we can see that when we look long-term, we decide that when we emerge from a economic downturn, we want local farmers, suppliers and the type of merchants that we see on our San Francisco Culinary Tours.

On our San Francisco Tours, we see how each of us can make an incredible difference. We can shop locally and make sure that everything we purchase is fair trade, as we do on our San Francisco Food Tours. Fair trade means that the people producing our food make enough income to support their families and our communities, as we do on our San Francisco Culinary Tours.

As we see on our San Francisco Tours, that also means that we are shopping local merchants. On our San Francisco Food Tours, every place we visit is family owned. The places that we go to on our San Francisco Culinary Tours also support our local communities.

Each of our can make an incredible difference by deciding that we are going to support our local communities, so that the control of our local communities stays we us. If we see things in the short-term we may see a draining of local merchants as they are undercut by others outside of our local communities. If we see things in the long-term, our local communities can not only lead us out of the downturn, they can help to minimize downturns in the future by encouraging control of our communities to stay with us.

New Beginnings and our San Francisco Tour

Like many others, we're joining the country in celebrating new beginnings for all of us.  On our San Francisco Tours, we're hoping this signals an openness to new ideas.  On our San Francisco Food Tours, this is an issue very close to us.  From our perspective on our San Francisco Culinary Tours, what we do on a local level affects not only our local community, but also the nation and the world. 

As we see on our San Francisco Tours, when we eat locally and seasonally, not only does the income stay in our local community, it is also reinvested in our local community.  As we see on our San Francisco Food Tours, we also lift others by not pitting one group against another. In words, the threat of cheap labor and poor working conditions in other areas,  pulling down our income, does not work if each neighborhood is buying locally and seasonally.  As we see on our San Francisco Culinary Tours, if each community is not engaged in a race to the bottom, we all get lifted up.

On our San Francisco Tours, we see the diversity of our neighborhoods. That diversity makes up all stronger.  On our San Francisco Food Tours, we see the commitment we have in San Francisco to support that diversity.  All of us are some kind of minority. As we see on San Francisco Culinary Tours, the "majority" has to make commitment to support the "minority". Otherwise, all of us end getting thrown to the wolves.

This new beginning we hope we see from our San Francisco Tours, is a desire to lift all of us up. Eating locally and seasonally requires that we see the longer picture. As we see on our San Francisco Food Tours, that means that we understand that when we support our local community, everyone gets lifted up.  That fact that we understand that when we are all a "minority", we are all responsible for supporting each other. On our San Francisco Culinary Tours, we see how our neighborhoods are stronger and our individual lives are enhanced when we support each other.

January on our San Francisco Tours

It's January on our San Francisco Tours and we're enjoying new olive oil harvest. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we're enjoying the new flavors of the season. The olive oil is little peppery this time of year, which goes wonderfully with the clams from Point Reyes. Just saute some onions and garlic, brown some chicken and basil sausage, pour in about a cup of white wine, add some herbs and the clams and it is delicious. By comparing the various olive on our San Francisco Culinary tours, we're able to find which one we like best.

Tasting the difference between olive oil different times of year on our San Francisco Tour is a great example of the food we enjoy on our San Francisco Food Tours. We always enjoy looking forward to different seasons on our San Francisco Culinary Tours.

Regardless of where you live, you can eat the same way we do on our San Francisco Tours. A great place to start is your local farmers market. The same method that we enjoy eating on our San Francisco Food Tours is the best way to eat where you are. Local food has the best flavor and when it is fresh, you barely need to do much to it. As we enjoy on our San Francisco Culinary Tours, each season brings new food that not only taste good, but are also good for you.

The method of eating that we enjoy on our San Francisco Tours also supports your community. From local farmers to local stores, when you not only eating locally, your local community suffers from a lack of support. The places we visit on our San Francisco Food Tours support our local community and local farmers. The same kind of places we visit on San Francisco Culinary Tours exist in your community. During an economic downturn, they need your support even more. These are your neighbors and your friends. Your choices today will make the difference about whether they are there later.