Forage East Bay

Last night a group called ForageSF held their first underground "farmer's market" in a parking lot on 24th street at Broadway in Oakland. People lined up around the block to pay $2.00 to become a member and enter the grounds where artisans and chefs sold their goods without the pesky permits that dog cottage industries.

I sampled some of the most delicious food yesterdsay: a raw flax seed crunchy cone filled with mango and other delectable ingredients which created a spicy Thai cone. I then had a spicy, yet creamy mac 'n cheese. I sampled "Kaya" (funny, because I was with my friend Kaya who was concerned that she was eating herself). Kaya is a coconut cream which these folks had lovingly spread on toast out of a toaster oven.

My cousin and her daughter were selling their own free-range honey, straight out of their back yard hive in Tiburon. And then there were the sweets, many of which were raw, vegan, or baked and fabulous.

We foraged and grazed for nearly two hours. The only problems I saw were that a) it started late -5 p.m., and there weren't many beverage vendors. The beer guy pretty much had a lock on beverages. But this event apparently blew away the SF one (according to the cousin who participated in the SF version), which is just another reason why I love my city. Oakland rocks and hopefully this is just one of many forage events. My next Forage event will take place on 9/4, where I'll go on an East Bay forage through Forage SF (at a cost of $30). The intrigue begins....