If I were making a list of the pioneers of the sustainable food movement in Northern California, Straus Family Creamery would be one of the first names I would add. For decades, the family dairy farm has been trying new approaches to reduce the environmental impact of their farm while also improving the quality of the product. Read more
Marc Rumminger
Marc Rumminger lives in Berkeley, California. On-line, he writes the Mental Masala blog and contributes to the The Ethicurean and Eat Local Challenge. Off-line, he writes the "Eating by the Numbers" column for Edible San Francisco.
Pickles and Chutney Taste Pavilion
Pickling and fermentation were probably invented out of necessity, as pre-industrial societies needed ways to preserve the harvest and provide sustenance through the winter. In more recent times, pickling and fermentation have become ways to create new flavors, enliven a meal, eat locally throughout the year, or improve the nutritional value and digestibility of a set of ingredients. Recent feature articles in the food sections of the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times point to a new popularity for pickles in restaurants and home kitchens. Read more
Eating from the Slow Food Ark of Taste: Tepary Beans
During a recent visit to the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, a bag of tepary beans at the Rancho Gordo stand called out to me as I struggled to make a few choices from their incredible variety of offerings. I knew that they were an ancient bean associated with Native Americans and so I bought a pound. The variety I purchased are small and pale green in color. The photo shows them along with a kidney bean and black bean for scale. Read more
What they ate on the way to the California gold fields
When news of the discovery of gold in California spread around the world, thousands flocked to the West to try to strike it rich. In 1849 alone, 42,000 people traveled overland, 1,500 took a route across Panama, 6,000 Mexicans came north, 41,000 took the long sea route around Cape Horn. A sleepy little village in 1848, over the next few years San Francisco exploded in population and wealth, becoming the capital of the West. Read more
From Neglected Yard to Edible Landscape
Open the yellow pages to the gardeners section and you’ll find a multitude of advertisers offering a variety of services: pruning, tree services, lawn care, torture by leaf blower and so on. But very few, if any, of the listings offer “vegetable gardening” services. Read more