Dive In
The longer days of summer offer more time to try new things, like exploring new wines, entering a food contest, or heading back to school for a green career.
Food crafters are invited to enter their scrumptious products in the Good Food Awards competition.
In this newsletter:
● Sip and savor at the Oakland Wine Festival – July 18
● Feed your creativity at Berkeley Spark – July 18
● Enter your product for a Good Food Award – through July 31
● Green your career or lifestyle at Merritt College
● Feed your garden with help from the Hungry Bin
Cheers!
The first annual Oakland Wine Festival, making its debut on the Mills College Campus, features acclaimed area winemakers and renowned Oakland chefs. Seminars, tastings, panels, and exquisite wine and food are all on the menu. A significant portion of the proceeds will be donated to charitable organizations. Cost varies by event.
Saturday July 18, 10am–midnight
Mills College
5000 MacArthur Blvd, Oakland
Fired Up
Creativity and community engagement are on the front burner at Berkeley Spark 3.0. Located next to the Ecology Center’s Saturday farmers’ market, the event showcases local artisans, food crafters, innovation and technology companies, and nonprofits. Free.
Saturday, July 18, 10am–9pm
Berkeley Spark 3.0 Arts + Innovation Festival
Martin Luther King Jr Civic Center Park
2151 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Berkeley
Got Good Food?
If you’re a food crafter with a product that’s both delicious and sustainably made, consider making a bid for a Good Food Award. Entries of beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, confections, honey, oils, pickles, preserves, and spirits, plus two new categories, cider and pantry items, are accepted through July 31. Two hundred food leaders take part in a blind tasting to choose this year’s 150 winners, to be showcased in San Francisco at a Good Food Awards Marketplace in January.
Green Smarts
Interested in learning more about sustainability? Does a green career appeal? How about a class on Oakland’s food culture? Merritt College offers an array of engaging environmental courses, and registration is now open. Certificate programs are also available in three areas: Fundamentals of Environmental Management, Greening the Urban Environment, and Urban Agroecology. The Fall semester begins August 24.
Partner Profile: Hungry Bin
Edible East Bay is pleased to highlight places and products advertised in our magazine.
Oaklander Chris Lynch describes the Hungry Bin as “a very cool invention that uses worms to compost food scraps.” Lynch puts his scraps into the bin, where they’re converted into castings and a nutrient-rich liquid that looks something like tea and drips right into a convenient tray. He uses the liquid immediately or stores it, and his cherry tomatoes are thriving. He adds that the bin is very clean, simple, and easy to use.
Chris Lynch is putting the Hungry Bin to work in his Oakland garden.
