Saturday's Bakesale for Japan Raised More Than $122,000

Albert Law

Bi-Rite Market was one of 42 nationwide locations for the relief fundraiser.

​The organizer of Saturday's national Bakesale for Japan has pretty much a final tally for the 42-location fundraiser. East Bay chef Samin Nosrat says the simultaneous events ― which stretched from L.A. to Brooklyn ― raised $122,754 for the relief group Peace Winds Japan. The lowest-yielding bake sale made $500, the highest ― at Oakland's Pizzaiolo ― raked in just under $12,000. Nosrat doesn't quite know how many professional and amateur bakers and chefs donated to the events, though she says the five main ones in the Bay Area featured sweets from nearly 400 donors. (Check out SFoodie's slideshow from Bi-Rite Market.)

How is Nosrat feeling now, three days later, apart from exhausted? "I knew it would be a really powerful thing," says the ex-Chez Panisse chef, Tartine Afterhours cook, and cofounder of the East Bay's Pop-Up General Store. "It sort of gave me a little bit of a chance to look at the work that I do ― I think I have a gift for bringing people together around food, and that's what I want to focus on: all the ways coming around a table can empower us and make us feel connected to each other. Even people we don't know."

Then again, Nosrat says, "I didn't really do that much ― I just sent out a lot of e-mails. I just helped give people something tangible to get involved with."