Mario Ishii Hernandez, Frog Hollow Farm
Saturday, June 9, 2018, 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 featuring one of our market seller-farmers.
Mario’s first and most important lesson in good food came by watching his mother pick through dozens of cucumbers at a local market to find what she believed was the best in the bunch. He noticed how she looked the cucumber over for its size, (not too big) for signs of blemishes or bruises and even its smell. Why go through such trouble for a simple cucumber? Can it make that much of a difference? Because good cooking starts at its source. From where, when, how and whom it’s grown by. Is it organic or conventional? Is it in season? Is it the preferred variety for the dish? This an important part of working with food. Because food can be healing and nurturing. Food can inspire, from the right hands.
Mario started his food career under the tutelage of Chef Canales at Oliveto Restaurant in Oakland and traveling through Italy to study its food culture and history. In 2007, he and dozen of his friends opened a small café in the East Village of New York City called Abraco, which was has become a New York institution and has been named in Food and Wine magazine’s Top 10 cafes in the country. Until very recently, Mario was the market chef for the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association, creating simple farm to table recipes, leading market cooking classes and providing content for the Cookin’ the Market website.
All demos take place in the CUESA Classroom (under the white tents in front of the Ferry Building) and are free to the public, with recipes and samples for all.