Editor’s Mixing Bowl

This issue opens with a BLABT—a bacon, lettuce, avocado, and Benevento tomato sandwich—and closes with much clatter and chatter: those sounds in the room as friends linger around the table at the end of a meal. When artist Laurie Caird contacted us in July to see if we might present “Digest,” her yearlong offering of…

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The Moveable Feast Rambles Down San Pablo Avenue

The Moveable Feast Rambles Down San Pablo Avenue Story and photos by Meredith Pakier   From Crockett to City Center Oakland, San Pablo Avenue is dense with spots for delicious food and drink. Here’s my tour of the avenue’s Berkeley belly. Middle East Market is my stop for Persian and Arab staples like barberries, saffron,…

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A Tomato Hall of Fame

By Cheryl Angelina Koehler   I love baseball… well, at least I do when an actual baseball fan drags me to a game and tells me where to look. My allegiance ran with the Baltimore Orioles in their red-hot years of the late 1970s, and I was rooting for the Oakland A’s in 1989 when…

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The Last Bite

DIGEST lingering after a meal By Laurie Caird Soba ichi Daytrip Hotsy Totsy Club x Tacos Autlense Low Bar Burma Superstar Popoca Digest is dedicated to every person and resource involved in the curated experience of dining-—those who farmed and harvested, chopped and simmered, and selected the perfect glass as well as the seeds, the…

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Spooky Campout

Banish the bad and bring in the boo with this healthy Halloween project for kids Recipes and photos by Laura Kaufman “I DON”T LIKE THIS, I LOVE IT!” is a familiar comment at the after-school center on the Lafayette Elementary School campus where I teach creative cooking to students aged five to 12. As they…

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What’s in Season? Quince and Dates!

The aroma of QUINCE is unmistakable: sweet, fresh, floral, and complex. This fruit shares membership in the rose family with the pear and the apple, and its short neck and flat bottom make it look like a bumpy, fuzzy pear. As quince ripens, its skin turns from greenish-yellow to the color of a golden delicious…

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‘Always Enough for Everybody’

‘ALWAYS ENOUGH FOR EVERYBODY’ Author Kristina Cho’s Chinese Enough celebrates homestyle Chinese cooking By Anna Mindess   A modest bungalow with a spacious kitchen and a glorious garden in a cozy corner of Richmond is home to a food-world celebrity, Kristina Cho. In 2022, when Cho was just 30 years old, she won two prestigious…

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Acta Non Verba

  ACTA NON VERBA: Where city kids discover how food grows in nature By Rachel Trachten | Photos by Zach Pine     United States Navy veteran Kelly Carlisle often recalls the hot day out with her 4-year-old daughter in 2009 when she ducked into a plant nursery to cool off and saw something that…

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The Fall Table

THE FALL TABLE: a community of local makers Hosted by Revival Bar + Kitchen 2102 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley | revivalbarandkitchen.com | 510.549.9950   Celebrating 14 years in the heart of Berkeley’s theater district, veteran chef Amy Murray’s brasserie and cocktail lounge presents Northern California organic farm–inspired cuisine and cocktails made with Slow Food values. On…

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Daydreamer Among the Barrels

DAYDREAMER AMONG THE BARRELS At her new Tessier Winery, Kristie Tacey is living the life of her dreams By Mary Orlin | Photos by Clara Rice   Kristie Tacey is a self-described daydreamer. Throughout the long, solitary hours spent inside various East Bay labs during her science career, she often found herself daydreaming about the…

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Lunch (or Dinner) with a Crunch

LUNCH (or Dinner) WITH A CRUNCH Croquettes are the perfect homemade food savers By Francine Spiering | Photos by Raymond Franssen     The French word croquer translates as to crunch, and that is the sensation when you bite through a properly breaded and fried croquette. The recipe is said to have originated in 17th-century…

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Take Down the Fire Ladder While You Upgrade Your Garden

Take Down the Fire Ladder While You Upgrade Your Garden By Claire Elizabeth Bradley | Illustration by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge     2024’s wet winter turned the East Bay Hills into a garden of wildflowers, but it didn’t take long for the lush growth to turn to brittle gold. And now, memories of 1991’s deadly firestorm…

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Why Worry About Wasted Food?

Why worry about wasted food? Because it’s a pressing issue that affects not only our wallets but also our environment and society as a whole. In the United States, the scale of food waste is staggering, with significant consequences for people, the planet, and the economy. Reducing food waste at home is an essential step…

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Equinox Tomato Taste Fest, 9/21/2024

It’s another Edible East Bay gathering! This one is a celebration of tomatoes and a chance to taste the fall harvest from Bene Seeds farm in Sunol, the setting of our story on page 32. Tomato breeder Fred Hempel will be there only in spirit, as you will learn from the story in this Fall…

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Guide to Good Eats Fall 2024

Alameda Dragon Rouge Waterfront Vietnamese eatery offers exciting, inventive, delicious, locally sourced cuisine and a lively bar scene with a wide selection of spirits. Newly renovated, and available for private parties up to 120 people! 2337 Blanding Ave, Alameda 510. 521.1800 | dragonrougebythebay.com   Mosley’s Café Join us in the Grand Marina for a peaceful…

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Emerging Chefs Get a Boost at Public Market Emeryville

Some highlights at Public Market Emeryville: (left) Nusa, where chef and co-owner Jennifer Huang serves savory Indonesian dishes along with the sweets; (center) a welcoming place for families, where everyone can pick favorites from among 16 different eateries; and (right) Public Bar by Blush (right), where adults can chill with inspired slushies.   By Claire…

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