Arun Gupta, DOSA, featuring Knoll Farms
Saturday, March 23, 2019, 10:30 am - 11:15 am
Stop by the CUESA Classroom for a cooking demo featuring the seasonal bounty of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and highlighting one of our market sellers.
Arun Gupta, a New York City native, fell in love with cooking while studying abroad in France. After a semester of long dinners with his French host family, Arun got the bug and started cooking for himself and his friends any chance he could get. Despite this love of cooking, Arun’s path to the professional kitchen was unconventional at best. After a brief career teaching chess at a Montessori school, he sought advice on whether to go to culinary school, and was pointed in the direction of Michael Anthony at Gramercy Tavern. After only a trial and a brief interview, Arun was surprised when Mike asked him if he wanted a job. Over the course of close to five years at Gramercy Tavern, Arun expanded his knowledge and appreciation of fresh local ingredients from many trips to the Union Square Farmers Market. Fate led him to California, Anjan and Emily Mitra, and the DOSA team. He likes to inform his menu planning and pantry by asking himself: “If traditional Indian dishes had originated in Northern California, what ingredients would we be using?”
Rick and Kristie were avid backyard gardeners in Santa Ana until 1979, when they purchased a weedy, 10-acre alfalfa field in Brentwood. Over time, their land evolved to become an extremely productive agro-ecosystem that produces over 150 different products. The Knolls, known for their innovative practices, strive to continually increase the biodiversity and ecological stability of their farm. Their primary focus is “growing” more topsoil. They believe that if soil is well tended, it will provide healthy, nutritious food in perpetuity. Composting, cover cropping, low- and no-till, and crop rotation are just a few of the methods they employ to increase soil health. The Knolls describe their farm as “an organism unto itself, with its own rhythm and personality.”
All demos take place in the CUESA Classroom (under the tents in front of the Ferry Building) and are free to the public, with recipes and samples for all.