Summertime in Sacramento is a special thing. While I would never call myself a “foodie,” I’m certainly an enthusiastic eater. And there’s lots of eating to be enthusiastic about during a Sacramento summer.

As everyone knows by now, Sacramento is known as America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital. Of course, I’m well aware that the farm-to-fork trend is everywhere and maybe our city’s moniker doesn’t do enough to truly encapsulate the bounty of our region. To be fair, it’s super tough to sum up all that’s great about Sacramento’s food scene in one clever city nickname.

Sacramento sits in the center of one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions. We grow food for the entire country with the greatest variety of crops in the world. So while we are supportive of the entire farm-to-fork movement all over the country, Sacramento’s chefs and farmers have a distinct advantage over everyone else. Plus, we enjoy a year-round growing season while other ag capitals are frozen over. Of course, the summertime is still the best.

You can’t beat a summer in Sacramento. The warm days are filled with fun on the river or shady bike rides through Midtown. I love it when the sun goes down and the ground is still warm from a hot day and the smell of a thousand barbecues fills the air. I like to see friends enjoying nice cold local beers under patio umbrellas at their favorite neighborhood pub.  And it seems like there’s always someone strumming a guitar on the porch of some old Victorian house. There are couples walking hand in hand down the street while others are on awkward first dates. There are skateboarders in parking lots and clubs overflowing with well-dressed young folks. There are people cheering at baseball games, people sipping wine and people making art. And it’s all the same stuff that’s been going on for generations, and a warm Sacramento summer is the perfect frame for it all.

Oh, and of course, there’s all that food.

Sacramento in the summertime is the perfect destination for food lovers of all kinds.

This time of year it seems like there’s a farmers market on every corner. There’s the one at McKinley Park, the one on J Street, the one by the Capitol, the huge one under the freeway and many, many more. It’s kind of ridiculous, really, but like I said I’m an eater, so it’s all OK with me.

As an added bonus, we have local chefs who are available to bring the farmers market experience to visitors. If you’re looking to walk around the farmers market and then have a chef turn what you bought into a delicious lunch just moments later, the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau can make that happen.

Or if you want to leisurely stroll from restaurant to restaurant getting a small bite and a visit from the chef at each, the SCVB can make that happen too.

Or maybe you want dinner on the farm itself. Of course, the SCVB is more than happy to make that happen.

Heck, maybe you want to hop on a 16-passenger bicycle with all your friends and pedal your way to a selection of Sacramento’s awesome craft breweries and pubs. The SCVB can hook you up with that, too.

Or maybe you want to take a cooking class or learn about cheese or visit a cattle ranch or learn the ins and outs of craft cocktails or just enjoy a nice dinner in the perfect setting. You name it, the SCVB can make it happen.

And, of course, every summer wraps up with the popular Farm-to-Fork Festival along Capitol mall where the best that Sacramento has to offer is all on display.

Long story short: If you are looking for food tourism options, Sacramento is the place to be, and the summer time is the perfect time to visit. Perhaps it’s too late for this year, but summer 2015 is going to be great too, so give us a call and let’s start planning!