Read and Savor!

Bryan Terry
Photo by Paige Green

Bay Area Book Festival, June 6 & 7

Food lovers and food writers, take note: the first ever Bay Area Book Festival promises a weekend to savor. The downtown Berkeley fest features 150 exhibitors such as indie bookstores, writing programs, publishers, and authors from the Bay Area and far beyond. In the food-themed area you’ll find cooking demos, panels, and talks about food and food writing.

Both days spotlight an array of chefs and authors on the cooking stage. On Saturday, vegan food whiz Miyoko Schinner teaches the art of creating vegan versions of staple ingredients, and Tacolicious author Telmo Faria shares the secrets to a spicy chile verde taco. Visitors can enjoy lessons in bread making from the Mill’s Josey Baker and a big scoop of attitude and humor from the flavor mavens behind Humphry Slocombe ice cream. Sunday brings Tara Duggan to the stage to demonstrate ways to use every inch of a vegetable. She’s followed by chef, author, and educator Bryant Terry, who remixes African, Caribbean, and Southern flavors to wow vegans and omnivores alike.

Indoors at the Brower Center, the Writing Cookbooks, Writing Food panel is moderated by Jenny Wapner of Ten Speed Press and features Chez Panisse chef Cal Peternell, Sandra Gilbert, and Dan Jurafsky. A discussion on the science of booze and another on sustainable foraging also promise lively conversation among expert authors. Listen, learn, question, and experience the joy of books. baybookfest.org

—Rachel Trachten