Edible San Francisco

The California Native Garden Foundation invites you to attend our summer fund raising banquet, Eating California, on August 2, 2008 at the Palo Alto Art Center at 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto. The banquet, which features a tasting menu of over 25 California native foods, is the culmination of a series of classes taught this spring by John Farais, a chef who specializes in indigenous edible cuisine and Alrie Middlebrook, a garden designer, and co-author of the book, Designing California Native Gardens. The food will be prepared by the students in the class, Chef Farais, and other guest chefs. A no-host cocktail bar featuring local, organic wines and prickly pear margaritas will open at 5:30 PM. The progressive banquet, which kicks off at 6:15, will be staged in seven courses. The event will end at 9:00 PM. Between the courses, attendees will be entertained by our guest speaker, Dr. Kat Andersen, author of Tending the Wild. Dr. Anderson spent several years interviewing and recording the oral histories of California indigenous people. Here Kat will describe native food gathering and harvesting techniques, including prescribed burning and other sophisticated agricultural practices. Representatives from regional schools and local non-profit organizations who are the recipients of the Foundation's services will describe their native garden projects and show photos of their progress. Many raffle items have been donated for this event, including delicious foods, native plants, professional gardening and landscaping products and services, coupons for fine restaurant dining, and several valuable surprise items. The funds generated by this event will be used for the CNGF's Garden Designer Scholarship Fund and matching grants for native garden construction, which are available to California schools and non-profit organizations.