By Kathy Kottaras
 
Los Angeles is on its way to becoming the Farmers’ Market Capitol of the World. The rallying cry for the future of fresh food accessibility has come from none other than Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who stood on the front lawn of City Hall today to ask farmers, chefs, organizers and consumers to “bring something unique to the table using ingredients from healthy soil and brought into this earth by our local farmers.” Today’s celebration, 30 Years and Growing, was organized to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Gardena market that opened on June 23, 1979 and to praise the more than 120 farmers’ markets that have opened since.  Sponsored by City of Los Angeles/ Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles, The Urban & Environmental Policy Institute of Occidental College, Good magazine, Slow Food LA, The Garden School Foundation and of course, edible Los Angeles, the celebration evoked a proud nod to the past, but even more importantly, an ovation to the future of sustainable and organic food in all regions of Los Angeles. 
 

 
Vance Corum, who founded the original Gardena market along with the Interfaith Hunger Coalition, stood in awe at the celebration.  “We never dreamed that when we planted that seed thirty years ago with the first farmers’ market and four farmers showed up, that we would have hundreds, thousands of people involved in the system.”  Still, he recalled the stories of individuals whose lives were changed by farmers’ markets in Los Angeles. Corum remembered the late Jim Tamai, “one of the best strawberry growers in the country” and one of only four vendors to show up at the first farmers’ market in 1979.  The market allowed Tamai, who was about to lose his Oxnard farm because of the effects of El Nino, a divorce and heart attack, to save his farm.  Tamai’s family, Steve and Gloria Tamai, inheritors of the land, sat proudly in attendance. Corum noted, “There are countless people that are here with us today, and all of them have a story.  The stories keep on spreading.”
 

 
And such stories are sure to include new schemes and visions, all intended to re-imagine LA as a metropolis of sustainable food culture and cuisine.   As part of his vision for Los Angeles as “Farmers’ Market Capitol of the World,” Mayor Villaraigosa announced a special task force that will work over the next six months to “ensure that all residents access to healthy, organic and affordable food, will provide economic support for sustainable farming practices, help more farmers find local fields, and supply underserved communities with healthy alternatives to fast food.”  His efforts were lauded by Councilmember Jan Perry, who also announced that, as part of the effort, the Central Avenue Farmers Market will have a permanent home at the new Neighborhood City Hall at 43rd and Central.  Food critic Jonathan Gold and  Max Schorr, publisher of Good Magazine, announced the winners of a competition to reinvent the future of farmers’ markets, Mia Lehrer and Associates, whose Farm on Wheels concept would use electric trucks “to disperse fresh produce more effectively in Los Angeles.”
 

 
But the celebration wasn’t all earnest business.  It was a celebration of food and of the unique diversity of Los Angeles, one of the few cities where, as Mayor Villaraigosa noted, “you can find authentic moles, curries, ramans, and kabobs” that function as “the greatest cultural ambassadors that we have.”  As such, the crowd mingled and ate, reveling in the fragrant flavors of free samples given out by East & West Gourmet Afghan Food and SEE-LA’s Farmers’ Kitchen, the aromatic spices of cooking demonstrations featuring Chefs Tara Thomas of Traxx Restaurant and Evan Kleiman, host of KCRW’s Good Food, and even the gentle bleating of Pixie the goat, who traveled all the way down from Mojave, California with Carol Pearce of Soledad Goats to share their fresh, homegrown cheese.
 

 
Councilmember Perry commented on the energy in the air as “emblematic of what we can do in the future to keep the grassroots movement going.”  The American farmers’ market as we know it, in many ways found its birthplace in Los Angeles.  It is a unique culmination of cultures, a place where the bond between the farm, food and the city is continuously reaffirmed.  It looks like during the next thirty years, Los Angeles is certain to continue to transform the world of food culture in ways that we can't even yet imagine.