When The Davis Farmers Market Cookbook is published in March 2012, it will celebrate one of California's earliest and most renowned markets and the food produced by California's small farms. The book is being written by award-winning cookbook author and Winters resident, Georgeanne Brennan, and former Davis Mayor and food activist, Ann Evans. In it, the authors sing the praises of the Davis Farmers Market as well as the local food showcased there every week, year-round.

Brennan and Evans had the idea to write the cookbook about three years ago. Brennan explains, "It was one of those projects that was simmering on a back burner. Ann and I saw all these farmers market cookbooks coming out. Of all the farmers markets out there, Davis Farmers Market deserves to have a really good cookbook." Brennan is the author of more than 30 books. winning a James Beard Award for her book, The Food and Flavours of Haute Provence, in 1998 for best international cookbook; her book, Apertif: Recipes for Simple Pleasures in the French Style, won a Julia Child Award for best wine or beverage book that same year.

The Davis Farmers Market Cookbook will document the story of a pioneering farmers market–established in 1976–and the local food movement that has swept the nation. Says Evans, "As a former mayor, I understand how the market provides a lot of identity on how Davis feels about itself in terms of being a healthy community. This market was the first to be named 'America's Favorite Farmers Market' by American Farmland Trust in 2009. It was crying out for its own cookbook."  

Brennan and Evans started writing together in 2003, when they wrote a cover story for San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, "Yolo County: The Next Napa?" The article looked at how a quiet farming county became a gastronomical powerhouse. Since then, the pair have co-authored articles for The San Francisco Chronicle, The Sacramento Bee, and Edible Sacramento. They also write a monthly column–"From the Ground Up"–for regional newspapers, including The Davis Enterprise.

Evans and Brennan are organizing the book to provide people a simple, easy way to cook farm-fresh food throughout the seasons. The book has ten basic recipes at the beginning that can be adapted as cooks see products change with the seasons at the farmers market. Those recipes are followed by four chapters–one for each season–with each chapter containing about 20 recipes.

Brennan says The Davis Farmers Market Cookbook will cover California's food culture as well as a history of California cuisine. She adds, "The book will be different in the kinds of recipes we include–recipes that are both simple and accessible but that also reflect contemporary trends and interests. The diversity of products at the Davis Farmers Market means you can shop and get everything you need to put together a fabulous meal. This cookbook will reflect that."

Brennan and Evans co-founded Slow Food Yolo together, and are partners in Evans & Brennan, a food consulting firm. Both are trailblazers in California's food revolution. Brennan's books have sold more than 200,000 copies and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Brennan is a cooking school owner and cooking teacher who co-founded Le Marche Seeds in the 1980s. The innovative mail-order seed company was one of the first to supply pioneer organic farmers, locally and nationwide, with imported European and Asian heirloom varieties. Evans co-founded of the Davis Farmers Market and the Davis Food Co-op, and served on Davis City Council from 1982 to 1990, and as mayor of Davis from 1984 to 1985. After graduating from UC, Davis, she spent 30 years working for the state of California, developing regulations for certified farmers markets and developing food co-ops statewide.

The cookbook will have recipes for all kinds of cooks, from beginner to advanced. Evans adds, "This book will help cooks feel the joy of working with farm-fresh, local food and what it means to shop the market and cook food to share. Our cookbook will deepen their relationship with food by inspiring them."

The authors first proposed the cookbook to the Davis Farmers Market Association's Board of Directors in the fall of 2010. Their proposal included printing the cookbook offshore to keep the books' price low. But board members wanted to see the book published domestically, and preferably in California. Randii MacNear, Davis Farmers Market's executive director, recalls, "Even though the board was enthusiastic about the cookbook itself, they weren't fond of the idea of publishing offshore. That just didn't fit with the market's philosophy of local farmers and local food." The board decided that the authors could move forward with the cookbook, while market staff looked for an underwriter to cover the additional costs involved in printing domestically. MacNear explains, "We thought the market's partner–Sutter Davis Hospital– would recognize this as an opportunity to help create a legacy for the market and for Davis. We were elated when the hospital decided to underwrite the domestic printing."

The Davis Farmers Market Cookbook will include more than 80 recipes written by Brennan and Evans, plus more than 50 full-color photos by Craig Lee. Lee worked as a photojournalist for The San Francisco Examiner and then The San Francisco Chronicle. He won recognition from the National Press Photographers Association, Pictures of the Year and other associations. While working at the San Francisco Chronicle, Lee sought assignment to the team of editors, writers and designers covering food and wine. During his tenure with the Chronicle's Food and Wine team, these sections were recognized as the best in the nation in 2004, 2006 and 2007 by the James Beard Foundation. Lee's photos are also published in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The Davis Farmers Market Cookbook will go on sale March 1, 2012 for $24.95 and be available for purchase at the Davis Farmers Market and in bookstores.