A Podcast Conversation with Rancho Gordo Bean Company’s Steve Sando

November 4, 2023, was a memorable morning at Edible Communities’ annual Edible Institute. None among us—the assembled publishers of regional magazines like Edible East Bay— can forget the exhilarating keynote speech delivered by Steve Sando, founder of the Rancho Gordo bean company. In an hour filled with passion, warmth, and humor, Sando revealed how his own dogged curiosity led him to forge a successful business based on respect for land, culture, and human dignity, one that also brings some of the world’s most delicious dishes to our tables. As our moderator summed up in the introduction, “Steve likes to remind us that food from the Americas is international food—as we cook heirloom beans and other grains and ingredients, we should keep in mind that we have a common culture with Mexico and the rest of the Americas. It isn’t exotic and esoteric. It’s continuing traditions that are well-established for a reason. This food is exciting, tasty, healthy, romantic, and possibly, easier on the earth. Rancho Gordo has growers in Central California, Oregon, Washington, and New Mexico, and they also work with small farms in Mexico to source really rare crops through the Rancho Gordo-Xoxoc Project.”

Quite a bit of the excitement of that speech was captured by Edible Alaska publisher Amy Houck in her Eat, Drink. Think podcast. Click here to listen.