> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Local resident writes book about SM Farmers’ Market - URL: https://www.smdp.com/local-resident-writes-book-about-sm-farmers-market-2/ - Published: 2007-07-30T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T02:24:03.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Business, Downtown, #archive-import *SETTLING ROOTS IN SANTA MONICA* DOWNTOWN A well-harvested vegetable grown to exemplify its natural and unique flavors needs very little attention from the salt and pepper shaker. It’s the fundamentals of cooking with Santa Monica resident Amelia Saltsman, who has an appreciation of fruits and vegetables in their most naked form, the goodness of produce grown for its natural flavor. For Saltsman, she finds these vegetables at the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers’ Market. “I think the everyday foods that tastes amazing on their own, that is what is life-changing to those who end up shopping at the market,” Saltsman said. The self-taught chef preaches her devotion to the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market in a recently released cookbook, teaching that one doesn’t have to be Bobby Flay or Paul Deen to prepare an exceptional meal. Instead, with the right combination of well-grown vegetables, cooking can be simple and delicious, and most importantly, accessible to the amateur home chef. “The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook” is a compilation of recipes of simple-to-cook meals that require very little added ingredients. > “The Santa Monica Farmers Market Cookbook” — I SPENT SLEEPLESS NIGHTS TO PUT INTO WORDS WHAT IT MEANT TO ME AND HOW I FELT ABOUT IT.” Amelia Saltsman, Author “That’s what’s exciting to me,” Saltsman said. “When the every day is just magical.” Throughout the book, Saltsman shares the stories of the many farmers that supply produce every week — the very same farmers she has gotten to know personally in the 22 years she has patronized the market. While many of the recipes were Saltsman originals, some were inspired by the farmers themselves. One such recipe came during a visit to the Coleman Family Farm in Carpinteria last year when family patriarch Bill Coleman cooked an unforgettable yet simple meal of fish and green tomatoes. From this dish, Saltsman created a similar recipe included in the cookbook. The supervisor of the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market, Laura Avery met Saltsman at the market about 10 years ago. In the approximately 25 years she’s been with the farmers’ market, Avery has been approached by a number of people suggesting that someone should write a cookbook based on the farmers’ market, as had been done in several other markets nationwide. Avery, who wrote the cookbook’s introduction, said she has read the book three times and believes it’s a testament to how much the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market means to the people who live and work here. “I spent sleepless nights to put into words what it meant to me and how I felt about it,” Avery said on writing the introduction. “It was harder than (I thought) it was going to be.” Saltsman spent two straight years focusing her efforts solely on the book, but the cookbook is actually a product of many years spent in the kitchen writing recipes based on meals she prepared for her family, and visiting and getting to know the farmers. “I’ve come to have tremendous respect and awe for those who choose to grow our food,” Saltsman said. “I wanted to share their stories.” Saltsman and her husband first moved to Santa Monica in an apartment on Yale Street 35 years ago. Third Street back then — preceding the promenade — was home to mom and pop stores, the anchor tenants being a JC Penny and Woolworth’s. “It was very cozy,” Saltsman said. “There was nothing chic about it.” The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market was brought in to revitalize the Downtown area where the first market opened in 1981 on Arizona Avenue, Saltsman said. That was followed by the opening of the Saturday market in the same location in 1991, the Saturday Pico market in 1992, and the Sunday Ocean Park market in 1995\. Saltsman and her family moved back to Santa Monica in 1985 when she discovered the market. “It ultimately completely changed the way I cooked, shopped, thought about food and wrote,” said Saltsman, who is also a food writer. Rather than shopping at a grocery store and stocking up for weeks, she started buying most of her perishable products at the farmers’ market, keeping her pantry smaller and spending less time cooking. The attraction with the farmers’ market is the freshness, since the produce is picked for same or next-day sale. To Saltsman, that’s a big deal. “They’re able to pick the produce...at peak ripeness,” she said. “They don’t need to stay under refrigeration somewhere or shipped elsewhere in the country.” Saltsman has a long resume filled with food related jobs, including food writer, food stylist and cooking teacher. From 1980 to 1985, she ran a cooking school in Malibu, hiring teachers, planning the menu and assisting in the classes. Saltsman also hosted a cooking show on CityTV called “Fresh from the Farmers’ Market.” “It’s in the blood,” Saltsman said, refer-ring to the fact that both her grandmothers were highly-regarded chefs. “I’ve always been interested in flavor and taste and food memories.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 30, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/073007.pdf?ref=smdp.com)