Fort Mason Farmers' Market Tour

​Most of us shop a farmers' market the way we shop a grocery store — quickly, from a list, and slightly intimidated by the things we don't recognize. Cara Mangini would like to fix that.

​Join us for a morning at the Fort Mason Center Farmers' Market with the chef, restaurateur, and award-winning cookbook author who built a career teaching people what to do with vegetables. We'll meet at Equator Coffees at the entrance to the market (grab a coffee if you need one) before the public opening and walk the stalls together while they're still quiet — long enough to actually talk to the farmers, ask what came out of the ground this week, and hear Cara's take on what to buy and how to use it.

​Expect the practical stuff: how to tell a good bunch from a tired one, what's genuinely at its peak in October, which unfamiliar thing on the table is worth taking a chance on, and what you'd actually cook with it that night.

​Every guest takes home:

• ​A custom Book Society x The Vegetable School market tote, made for this event

• ​A 100 ml bottle of Cara's estate-grown olive oil, milled in St. Helena straight from harvest

• ​A recipe card from The Vegetable School

• ​A little more confidence at the market than you walked in with

​About Cara Mangini

​Cara Mangini believes eating vegetables is one of life's greatest pleasures, and has spent her career putting them at the center of the American plate. Her first book, The Vegetable Butcher, won two IACP Cookbook Awards, was nominated for a James Beard Award, and landed at #2 on Southern Living's list of the best cookbooks of all time — behind only the Joy of Cooking. Her latest, The Vegetable Eater, won the IACP award for Best Single Subject Cookbook of the Year. As founder of the produce-driven food company Little Eater, she was named one of the world's top 50 plant-forward chefs. She now runs The Vegetable School across San Francisco, the greater Bay Area, and Napa Valley.

​Books

​A limited number of copies of Cara's cookbooks, The Vegetable Eater and The Vegetable Butcher, will be available during the tour.

​Good to know

​Coffee, pastries, and anything you fall in love with at the market are on you — bring a card or cash and a little room in your bag. The tour ends as the market fills up, so you'll have the rest of the morning to shop what Cara pointed you toward. We'll be outside the whole time, so bring layers for the waterfront.

​This tour is limited to just fifteen spots. When they're gone, they're gone!