This year’s Slice of Our Markets was filled with unforgettable moments that will stay with us long after the last slice of pizza was eaten.
Each guest enjoyed a tour of our farmers’ market, in which their guide highlighted the vendors whose fresh produce would later top their pizzas. They traced each ingredient’s journey from farm stand to plate, witnessing their meal come together before their eyes.
From the market, the tour flowed into nearby Vintage Berkeley, where wine was poured and pizzas were hand-thrown as guests watched. When the pizzas were later pulled from the oven, they were laden with the season’s bounty:
- creamy cheeses from Stepladder Creamery bubbling with sweet figs from Riverdog Farm,
- golden squash blossoms and tender summer squash from Golden Rule Organics,
- bursts of red cherry tomatoes from Lucero Organic Farm,
- a scatter of fragrant basil leaves from Ald & Y Organics,
- drizzles of Frog Hollow Farm olive oil deepened the flavor of Dirty Girl Produce tomatoes,
- and Stepladder’s Fromage Blanc, Lumber Jack, and Bixby cheeses added richness to every slice.
Each bite carried the freshness of the fields straight to us.
Immersed in the evening’s festivities, guest Derrick Xu reflected, “These markets have inspired me. I hope to open a small market in San Jose to bring fresh food to my community and support the farmers who grow it.”
The gathering drew a great cross section of our community and provided a perfect opportunity to share one’s passion for the local food culture. Longtime Ecology Center supporter Roger Pritchard, a member for 55 years, brought with him a first-time guest, Joel Krajewski, a spacecraft engineer whose work ranges from planetary exploration to the Mars rovers. We were delighted to see Roger and many others sharing their enthusiasm for our food and farming program, and perhaps even forging a local tradition.
When Farmer Eddie Diaz of Golden Rule stepped up on the podium and took the microphone, he looked out at the guests and immediately set down his prepared speech, saying “I worked on this speech, but now it seems more appropriate to let it go and speak from the heart.”
He spoke of three generations of his family working the land, recalling those first fragile days at the farmers’ market. Back then, they would set out five snow-white cauliflowers, their leaves still wet from the morning harvest, and return home with four unsold. Now, he said, they bring the same crisp, field-fresh heads and watch them vanish in minutes.
“The farmers’ market has been our guiding light. We couldn’t have done it without the market.”
It was exactly this convergence—of old friends and new, of food and ideas, of earth and sky—that made the night unforgettable.
