This past Sunday Salad For President collaborated with Madcapra and Kismet’s Sarah Hymanson and Sara Kramer for a one day only event: Summer Snow Salad Bar at Smorgasburg Los Angeles. We partnered with RootDown LA, the youth-led nonprofit whose mission is to improve the food and nutrition available to the residents of South Los Angeles. We relied on their network of community gardens to source a rainbow of unusual herbs and fruit for a salad-inspired take on the classic carnival favorite. Sarah Hymanson and I showed up with coolers in-hand and grabbed whatever we could: Mexican marigold (tastes like guava), lemon verbena, concord grapes, chocolate mint, tomato, sorrel, rose geranium and fennel seed. We made our way back to the Madcapra prep kitchen in the basement of the Grand Central Market, and spent the day washing and sorting herbs, blending them with simple syrup and straining them through a chinois sieve until they were smooth, bright and intense in flavor.

On Sunday morning we got set-up and Sara Kramer began by crushing ice. We offered guests the combo of their choice (my favorite was a gazpacho syrup with sea salt and olive oil and minced cucumbers on top), and raised a good deal of cash for an origination that’s making real change in the way Los Angeles eats.