Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

Ferments for home, momos for lunch

Mariko Grady began selling homemade miso in the Bay Area to raise money for victims of Japan’s 2011 earthquake. She went on to join La Cocina’s food business incubator and develop Aedan Fermented Foods. Foodwise describes Aedan’s miso, koji and amazake as handmade in small batches, using ingredients that include organic rice from Koda Farms and fresh organic koji.

Binita “Bini” Pradhan took a different route to La Cocina. Raised in Nepal, where her mother cooked for the royal family, she later moved to San Francisco and built Bini’s Kitchen around foods including steamed momos. The dumplings described by Foodwise have turkey, lamb or vegetable fillings with freshly ground and roasted spices; the business sources some spices from Nepal and buys locally when possible.

The two businesses suggest different uses for a market trip: ingredients to take into your own kitchen, or prepared food for a meal while you shop. Foodwise lists Aedan on Saturdays and Bini’s Kitchen on all three market days, but a directory listing is not a promise that a particular seller or dish will be there. Check the weekly updates before making a special trip.

Further reading: Aedan Fermented Foods at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market : Foodwise ↗ · Bini's Kitchen at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market : Foodwise ↗ · Ferry Plaza Farmers Market at the San Francisco Ferry Building : Foodwise ↗

Choose the scale of your shop

Saturday is the expansive option: Foodwise describes more than 100 vendors around the Ferry Building, with produce and food products as well as breakfast and lunch. It is also the day for the Foodwise Classroom, making it a good choice if you want to combine a grocery shop with a free demonstration.

The weekday markets are more compact. Foodwise’s market page describes about 20 vendors on Tuesday, with fresh produce and hot lunches; Thursday has 10 to 15 vendors, with street-food lunches alongside produce. A weekday visit can be organized around lunch and a smaller grocery run rather than the breadth of Saturday.

Further reading: Ferry Plaza Farmers Market at the San Francisco Ferry Building : Foodwise ↗ · Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Visitor Info & Services : Foodwise ↗

A market rebuilt into the waterfront

The market’s location is tied to a major change in the city. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the Embarcadero freeway, and its removal created an opportunity to rethink the waterfront. Farmers, restaurateurs, planners and other advocates formed the San Francisco Public Market Collaborative and held a one-time Harvest Market across from the Ferry Building in 1992.

A weekly Saturday market followed in 1993 and became year-round that fall. During waterfront redevelopment it moved to a Green Street parking lot in 1998; the Saturday and Tuesday markets returned to the Ferry Building area in 2003, when a Thursday market also launched. The outdoor market and the building’s indoor shops share a setting, but Foodwise operates only the outdoor market.

Further reading: History of Foodwise and the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market : Foodwise ↗ · Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Visitor Info & Services : Foodwise ↗

The grocery trip as a lesson

Education was part of the market’s early design. Sibella Kraus founded CUESA in 1994 to help city residents understand their connections to California farmland; the organization, renamed Foodwise in 2022, offered cooking demonstrations and produce tastings among its early programs.

That idea remains useful to a shopper deciding what to buy. The Seasonal Spotlight tent offers free tastings, recipes and seasonal shopping tips, while signs at seller tents explain farming or production practices. On Saturdays, the Foodwise Classroom offers free cooking demonstrations and seasonal celebrations; consult the events calendar for the particular offerings.

Further reading: History of Foodwise and the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market : Foodwise ↗ · Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Visitor Info & Services : Foodwise ↗