To build knowledge and keep up with trends, I occasionally like to get out of my own food-rich backyard and see what's happening elsewhere. I did that recently by attending San Francisco's Fancy Food Show.

The annual event attracts thousands of people from around the globe interested in buying, learning about or selling a fine food or beverage. San Francisco is a dynamic food city, so before attending the show, I spent two days checking out markets and restaurants.

My wife is recovering from an injury, so we limited our excursions to one at midday and one in the evening, which proved more than enough to get a fine taste of the city.

Late morning the first day, we visited a place renowned for dim sum, which we love: Yank Sing's Rincon Center location. The service was top-notch and the dim sum superb. We somehow managed to sample nine dishes, including carved-at-your-table Peking duck, crisply coated soft-shell crab and Shanghai dumpling, a signature dish of minced pork, scallion and ginger wrapped and steamed in its own aromatic broth.

From Yank Sing, we took a short walk over to the Ferry Building and quickly rebuilt our appetites. This historic structure on the Embarcadero — eastern waterfront — is home to a wide range of inspired food vendors selling local cheese, charcuterie, seafood, mushrooms, bread and more. The Ferry Building also hosts a farmers market and is home to some great restaurants, one of which I'll talk about in a minute.

For dinner that night we went to Mamacita, a top-rated restaurant that makes original Mexican dishes from scratch each day. It was Friday and this place was rocking, which might have something to do with the 60-plus types of tequila offered.

The food was exceptional and many dishes were meant for sharing. Those we tried included enchiladas filled with slow-cooked chicken and baked with mole sauce, homemade crema (a type of sour cream) and cheese, and chili verde, a comforting slow-cooked beef and root-vegetable stew served with tomato/serrano salsa.

After a leisurely breakfast in our hotel room the next day, we jumped in a cab and headed to San Francisco's Little Italy but didn't make it. Our cab driver was a former chef whose hip surgery ended that career.

She said we had to check out a food store called Bi-Rite Market in the Mission district and we got her to take us there. Every square inch of this not overly large store was a sustainable food lover's dream, neatly jammed with fine produce, cheese, meats, takeout and other goods, much of it available to sample.

On their website, biritemarket.com, this business says the food they make and sell connects their staff, guests, producers and the environment. In this way, they say, they "create community through food."

After leaving the store, we walked a few minutes to the Castro district, home to a number of San Francisco's gay citizens. I had read about a must-try restaurant there called Anchor Oyster Bar and when we arrived, the pint-sized establishment was full.

The weather was warm, so we waited outside for a table. While we were waiting, a tour group walked by and stopped at the business next door. We listened and learned it was formerly Harvey Milk's camera store. Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, and was assassinated in 1978.

The Anchor Oyster Bar opened in 1977 and, like Harvey Milk, has a positive spirit. We had a fine time eating raw oysters, some of which came from B.C., and other tasty fare, such as my Dungeness crab burger. The place is so small that to get to the bathroom, you had to walk through the kitchen. When I did, I wished I had ordered the plump prawns — they looked so good sizzling in the chef's frying pan.

For dinner that night, we met friends at the ultra-modern Italian trattoria Barbacco in the business district. Like Mamacita's, many menu items were well-priced and perfect for sharing and we did that by enjoying 10 different creations over a two-hour period, including bruschetta with cured sardines, potatoes and salsa verde, and braised chicken thighs with creamy polenta and garlic confit.

The service was dizzyingly professional. The place was so hip, its always-changing wine list was on an iPad on the table.

The next day, I went to the food show. The best way to describe it is overwhelming.

The event is held in the massive Moscone Center, where more than 1,300 vendors from about 35 countries set up shop and showcased at least 80,000 products.

Everything imaginable was available, but companies selling gluten-free products, products made with ancient grains such as quinoa, artisan-prepared meats, organic food products and olive oil seemed most numerous.

Event organizers actually engaged a trend-spotting panel of renowned food journalists and cookbook authors. Their top five picks from the show included the first two I listed above, along with gourmet pickled products, such as Pacific Northwest cherries soaked in a vanilla and tarragon brine, nut-based drinks, such as almond water, and products made from coconut, such as jams, ice cream and beverages.

Canada was well-represented at the show, but my favourite booth was by U.S.-based Food Match Inc. The company is a producer of Mediterranean-style foods and specializes in olives and antipasti. They sell more than 350 products and had many of them beautifully displayed and ready for tasting at the show.

Walking kilometres around the Moscone Center ensured I was hungry when enjoying my last meal out in San Francisco at the Slanted Door.

I rendezvoused with my wife at this chic, water-view restaurant located in the Ferry Building. The Slanted Door serves modern Vietnamese food, classic dishes updated and infused with local ingredients. One we tried and savoured was sweet-and-sour-tasting grilled organic chicken served over rice noodles with imperial roll, cucumber and mint.

The food scenes in San Francisco and Victoria are similar in that chefs and businesses in both places are doing an admirable job of sourcing foods locally and featuring them on their menus and store shelves.

However, I wish we had a year-round meeting place like the Ferry Building. With that kind of indoor market, I know our city's top food purveyors and restaurateurs would create a fancy food show of our own.

eakis@timescolonist.com

Eric Akis is the author of the best-selling Everyone Can Cook series of cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.