Fall Harvest 2016

“How would you get more people who aren’t eating butter to eat butter?” Sixty-five UC Berkeley grad students puzzled over this light-hearted question as they vied for just 25 slots in the public health innovations course Eat.Think.Design. Course instructor Jaspal Sandhu likens this class audition to putting together a team or theatrical production and finding…

It’s a beautiful fall day—perfect for a hike. I’m trying to stuff a bulky tiffin full of snacks into my mini backpack and secretly wishing I still had one little plastic sandwich bag: the kind I banned from my kitchen a couple years ago in an effort to swear off plastics. Kat Nouri felt the…

It’s an early morning in April, and I’m in the parking lot of East Oakland Pride Elementary School to meet up with Ernie Koepf and Aisling Mitchell for a presentation we are giving together. Koepf has assured me he’ll be dressed in “stereotypical fishing garb,” even though this Oakland resident is semi-retired and now spends…

HARVEST SEASON WORKSHOPS TEA AND CHOCOLATE, ANYONE? STASH IT! LOVE THAT FLATBREAD! SHOP THE TRUCK RECIPES Black Cod and Eggplant with Apple-Miso Glaze Elderberry Jam Elderberry Buckwheat Tart Spiced Elderberry Cordial Elder Almond Pound Cake Garden Salad with Tomato-Water Vinaigrette Pork Chop Pizzaiola Tomato Sauce from Fresh Tomatoes Pork Tenderloin with Fresh Fig Sauce EDITOR’S…

At Umami Mart, two friends create a shop (and blog) that celebrates drink, design, and Japanese culture By Shanna Farrell Photography by Flashpoint Collective Take a seat at the Ramen Shop bar and learn about an often unnoticed part of bartending. Chris Lane, the popular restaurant’s bar manager, has carefully arranged all manner of tools at…

Ranching With A Low-Carbon Mind-set Free-range perspectives on grass, trees, and water By Jillian Laurel Steinberger   Tomales, California, is a census-designated place—and perhaps a state of mind. The Coast Miwok people enjoyed the fruits of this fertile land until contact with Europeans in the 1500s. It’s a magical place now, and surely was then.…

Urban For-Profit Farms Reach for the Sky By Sarah Henry For all the cred that Berkeley and Oakland get as farm-friendly cities, rooftop gardens have never really been much of a thing here. Of course, East Bay urbanites have a little more land to work with than New York city slickers, with their sky-planting hubs…

Which type of chocolate—white, milk, or dark—would best enhance the flavor of chamomile tea? This is the type of question that intrigues Heinz Rimann, founder of San Leandro’s The Tea Room. Rimann selected white chocolate to bring out the delicate flavor of chamomile. With an added touch of honey the sweet result was The Tea…

 PLEASANTLY PLEASANTON A self-guided food tour By Laura Ness | Photos by Annie Tillis Rumor has it that a few folks around Oakland and Berkeley aren’t entirely clear that Pleasant Hill and Pleasanton are distinct East Bay cities, so let’s try sorting it out. Pleasant Hill is located in Contra Costa County just north of Walnut…

Arts, Education, & Entertainment AUTUMN FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL  Lake Tahoe’s premier food and wine festival, September 9–11. TahoeFoodandWine.com BOLD FOOD  Courses in the science of cooking for adventurous home cooks and curated culinary trips all over the planet. boldfoodco.com EAST BAY WALDORF SCHOOL  Where Children Thrive. Located 20 minutes from Berkeley at 3800 Clark…

By Jessica Prentice Jessica Prentice, Maggie Gosselin, and Sarah Klein created the Local Foods Wheel to help us enjoy the freshest, tastiest, and most ecologically sound food choices month by month. Here are seven of Jessica’s seasonal favorites illustrated by Sarah Klein (sarahklein.com). You can learn more about the Local Foods Wheel and the group’s…

Chicks and Love also offer hugs Meet Kellie Joe and Vanda Chong of Chicks and Love. For years, they have been popping up at Orinda, Pleasant Hill, and Walnut Creek farmers’ markets with their organic made-to-order flatbreads, which often feature their hens’ sunny-side-up eggs on top. Avid hobby farmers, these chefs also keep bees and…

The Regal Elder—Part II ElderBerry A bittersweet announcement of the shift into autumn from the elder tree Story and Photos By Kristen Rasmussen Vasquez In Edible East Bay’s Summer 2016 issue, we mentioned how the gifts of the elder tree (or Sambucus) bookend summer. The many culinary and medical applications of both flowers and berries…

A Labor of Love How Lamorinda became a wine appellation Story and map by Nikki Scott | Photography by Olivia Vigo California’s brand new wine appellation, the Lamorinda AVA (American Viticultural Area), is definitely not going to emerge as the next Napa Valley—and that may be its biggest selling point. Encompassing the area between East Bay cities…

As the fog lifts from Sunol Valley, stark early-summer sun illuminates rows of flowering plants: tomatoes, safflower, chrysanthemum, and white borage. A Bay breeze pulls butterflies and bees into the tangle of blossoms as Fred Hempel slides loops of twine over tender green leaves to trellis his tomatoes upright in the wind. Now, the work…

Farmers’ market prices don’t match everyone’s food budget, but Freshest Cargo, a mobile market truck, is out addressing that concern in some of the least-served East Bay and South Bay communities. Operated by the nonprofit Fresh Approach, the market trucks sell surprisingly affordable, just-picked local fruits and veggies. Produce is sourced from area farms and…