By Brie Mazurek, Foodwise
Guest blogger, Brie Mazurek of Foodwise, an SDDT Healthy Communities Support grantee, shares how their teaching kitchen enables free food and nutrition education for kids and adults at the farmers market.
It takes empowered communities to create an equitable and sustainable local food system, which is why education has always been at the heart of our work at Foodwise. While we’re known for running San Francisco’s famed Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, it’s in our teaching kitchen at the Ferry Building where our community gathers to share and nourish food culture and wisdom, roll up our sleeves, and make something delicious together.
Tucked under the arches of the Ferry Building behind larger-than-life photomurals of farmers and food justice leaders, the Foodwise Kitchen is a hub of activity for youth and adults alike: Kids taste fruits and veggies from our local farmers, guided by the Foodwise staff. High school students in our Foodwise Teens program collaborate to make a farm-fresh lunch and enjoy it together. Local chefs and volunteers prep ingredients for our free public cooking demos, showcasing what’s in season at the market.
Since 2012, Foodwise has offered Foodwise Kids for free to San Francisco Unified School District elementary school classes (grades 1 through 5), serving more than 2,500 kids and adults each year. Every Tuesday and Thursday, we welcome kids to explore the farmers market, meet local farmers, and prepare healthy, seasonal foods in our kitchen alongside their classmates.
Using market coins we provide, kids choose what to buy in the farmers market, empowering their agency to make healthy food choices. Studies show that kids often need to taste new foods 6 to 15 times before they start to build new eating preferences and habits. Foodwise Kids offers joyful opportunities to taste, learn, and share food in community, which is core to engaging young people in healthy eating.
Foodwise Kids prioritizes higher need classes, where over 80% of students qualify for free and reduced price lunch, as well as schools that have higher percentages of BIPOC students, groups who statistically have less access to fresh, local produce. “Foodwise has provided my students with invaluable experiences that teach about food production and farming, wise food purchases, nutritious eating, and cooking lessons that embrace healthy eating,” says first-grade teacher Hazel Mak.
For high school students, we offer Foodwise Teens, a paid youth development program where teens become change agents for a sustainable, equitable, and nourishing food future. Through hands-on experiences in the kitchen, in their school gardens, and at the farmers market, students learn about food justice, develop important life and job skills, and build community together.
Students graduate from the program reporting increased self-confidence and deepened awareness of the food system and their agency within it. Foodwise Teens participant Lucia shared, “I’ve really used the things I’ve learned with Foodwise and taken it home with me to help my mom and my sister cook at home.”
For adults, on Saturdays at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, our free cooking demos at the Foodwise Classroom tent provide a gathering place for market visitors to share food traditions and seasonal, accessible recipes, always with free samples to taste. Our demos reflect the diversity of our food community, with 60% of our demos led by BIPOC chefs, food makers, and farmers.
None of this free food and nutrition education can happen without the infrastructure of a robust working kitchen and the support of our community. With funding from the 2024 SDDT Healthy Communities Support Grant, we were able to purchase and install a much-needed double oven and dishwasher and refrigerator along with durable items like chairs, tables, AV equipment, and other kitchen supplies.
These investments allow us to have a functional and organized teaching kitchen to ensure that programming runs smoothly for our team and participants. We are now able to think more ambitiously about increasing the frequency of educational events in our space, which will allow more students and community members to participate.
Farmers markets are spaces where neighbors can learn and share food culture, put our values into action, and build community together; the kitchen brings those lessons home. We’re grateful for the support of the SDDT Healthy Communities Support Grant, as we work to support and empower all San Franciscans of all ages to take part in a fair, regenerative, and delicious food future for all. Learn more about Foodwise’s programs and join us at an upcoming event.