At the shuk, Adam Sah of Buyer’s Best Friend food boutique

More than 225 people showed up for the inaugural Hazon Food Festival on March 17 at the JCC of San Francisco, taking part in a wide array of activities from sampling “matzah crack” (chocolate-coated matzah) and knishes to learning about worm composting and the shmita (taking a year off from farming every seven years).

Beaded matzah holders from Fair Trade Judaica

Run by Hazon in conjunction with the JCCSF, the festival included a shuk with 22 vendors selling food and other items, and 42 workshops/panels (for which 180 people registered).

The shuk, which was free and open to the public, in the JCC of San Francisco’s atrium

Deborah Newbrun, Hazon’s Bay Area director, called the event a big success and added, “People really loved that we did it.” The plan is to make it an annual event and rotate it among Bay Area JCCs, with the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto penciled in for 2014.

Eric Cohen explains the nuances of his Shoe Shine wine. photos/lauren wilner