Good Food Festival: Celebrate the Santa Monica Farmers Market 30th Anniversary

By Andrew Froug Wed., Aug. 10 2011 at 9:00 AM

Categories: Farmers Markets, Food Festivals

A. Scattergood

Long-stemmed strawberries.

We all know someone who, when they shop at a farmers market and see the season's first batch of tomatoes/figs/strawberries, they lose all sense of self control and start celebrating amongst the stalls. Imagine this person -- and let's face it, it's probably you -- now surrounded by a sea of other people who are just as excited, and now you have the Good Food Festival & Conference. Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Santa Monica Farmers Market, it'll be held on September 14-18th and features a jam-packed (literally?) schedule that crisscrosses Santa Monica. So what are they doing for those four days?

There's a celebration on September 15th at Santa Monica High School for the 30th Anniversary of the Santa Monica Farmers Market, where national food experts, politicians, chefs and farmers all mix and mingle. Then there's another party, a "Localicious" Gala celebration -- is Rachael Ray on the event naming committee? -- at the Annenberg Beach House, where 30 L.A. chefs are paired with 30 farmers from the market, serving dishes to attendees.

On September 17th and 18th is a two day festival at Santa Monica High School with all kinds of farmers and food purveyors as well as a talk by rancher Joel Salatain about sustainable farming. There's also a presentation called "Grow and Preserve Your Own" for festival-goers who want to learn about how they can get involved in seed starting, chicken raising and bee keeping.

Concurrently, the Aero Theater will be continuing their Good Food Film Series, which began on August 10th with a screening of Queen of the Sun and features a screening of Harvest during the festival on September 14th.

There are a lot more events, featuring different permutations of farmers, chefs and, presumably, you the eater/learner. Because hey, skipping and hopping around to celebrate fresh strawberries is a lot more fun when you have someone beside you.