Fall/Winter 2011
Fall-Winter 2011 Contents
Editor’s Mixing Bowl Got Olive Trees? Community milling day at the Olivina in Livermore Notable Edibles: Ancient Organics AlgaeLab Tamales La Oaxaqueña An Edible Education Some of Our Favorite Things for Holiday Giving Inspired by the Orchard: Two book reviews and thoughts on pruning Teff, Gomen, Mitmita, Senefgebs: Menkir Tamrat brings Ethiopian heirlooms to the…
Read MoreThe Farmer's Dilemma: Setting a Price
By Mike Madison, illustration by Helen Krayenhoff If you grow rice or wheat or corn or cotton, the price is set in the commodities futures trading markets. When you’re ready to sell, just check on your computer, and there’s the price. But if you grow specialty crops for sale at farmers markets, setting the price…
Read MoreTeff, Gomen, Mitmita, Senefgebs
Menkir Tamrat brings Ethiopian heirlooms to the East Bay By Patricia Hayse Haller Like most of us, Menkir Tamrat has a special place in his heart for the foods he grew up with, foods he learned to make from his mother. He’s a passionate cook, and also has an urge to grow things. He believes…
Read MoreSomething Spicy, Something Sweet: Tamales La Oaxaqueña
By Stephanie Rosenbaum with Illustrations by Robert Trujillo Fans of Oakland’s monthly gallery stroll, Art Murmur, know to come hungry. The food-truck row that springs to life on the first Friday of each month has become as much of a community draw as the art itself. Our favorite eats there this season? The vibrantly…
Read MoreSeven Stars of the Fall/Winter Season
By Jessica Prentice Jessica Prentice, Maggie Gosselin, and Sarah Klein created the Local Foods Wheel to help us all enjoy the freshest, tastiest, and most ecologically sound food choices month by month. Here are Jessica’s seven summer favorites. You can learn more about the Local Foods Wheel and the group’s other ventures at www.localfoodswheel.com .…
Read MoreInspired by the Orchard
Among the crop of newly published books that showed up on the Edible East Bay editorial desk in the fall 2011 season were two especially nice ones by local authors exploring the subject of fruit and the orchard. As I turned the pages of Plum Gorgeous and From Tree to Table, I couldn’t help thinking about…
Read MoreStylin’ Pie in Niles
Carolyn Berke dishes it up at Niles Pie Story and Photos by Katie Yen How do you run a successful bakery without a storefront and without a commercial kitchen of your own? For Carolyn Berke, who lives in the Niles District of Fremont, the answer is as easy as, well . . . . .…
Read MoreEditor's Mixing Bowl
For the past year, I’ve had on my kitchen table the beautiful piece of pottery pictured at left. It’s of a size that suggests it could be used to hold a freshly baked batch of cookies, but so far, there have been no cookies in it, nor anything at all for that matter. Instead it’s…
Read MoreLunch in Three Acts with Ariel
By Cheryl Angelina Koehler Photos by Robin Jolin “In certain villages in France, a light rain can be felt around noon in the narrow streets when people are shaking their lettuce dry out on their balconies.” Ariel is telling me this as I reach for her “French salad spinner,” an old wire basket that I…
Read MoreGot Olive Trees?
Community Milling at the Olivina in Livermore By Cheryl Angelina Koehler In Chianti, warmly dressed locals arrive at the communal mill in trucks and station wagons with plastic containers or sacks filled with olives and with stainless steel vessels or wicker-covered glass jugs for transporting their oil home. Sometimes there is a little pushing and…
Read MoreSome of our Favorite Things for Holiday Giving
At Edible East Bay, we spend a lot of time perusing the two East Bay counties for things we find worth writing about, so when it comes time for holiday gift shopping, we know right where we want to go. We especially like supporting the local economy with our purchases. GIFTS MADE BY FARMERS .…
Read MoreCheese Does a Body Good: A holistic cheese tour
Story and photos by Melissa Schilling Praise cheeses! They taste so good. But how much do we really know about the significance of cheese in our daily diet? If you really want to know cheeses, whether as a taster, a cheese maker, or an affineur (a specialist in the curing and maturing of cheeses) you’ll…
Read MoreButteressence
By Stephanie Rosenbaum Photos by Stacy Ventura Vegans love their coconut oil. Omnivores swear by lard (from pasture-raised local pigs, of course). Isn’t it time for butter to get some praise in the kitchen, too? But some butter is better than other butter, and thanks to Ancient Organics in West Berkeley, you can butter up…
Read MoreAn Edible Education
By Sarah Henry They’re the hottest tickets in town and they’re not for any music, theater, or sporting event. The 700 seats for Edible Education 101: The Rise and Future of the Food Movement at the University of California, Berkeley—400 for students and 300 for members of the general public—were snapped up within minutes. The…
Read MoreAlgae for All!
By Stephanie Rosenbaum A photobioreactor on every windowsill! It might not roll off the tongue like the 1928 Republican campaign slogan promising a chicken in every pot, but according to Aaron Baum, artist, scientist, algae evangelist, and founder of AlgaeLab, growing your own spirulina is the key to personal health and vitality, and the next…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season? Nuts!
By Barbara Kobsar with Illustrations by Helen Krayenhoff With the shortening days of autumn, the falling of the leaves, and the distant thunder of the holiday season, I’m reminded that it’s time to gather nuts. It’s not just about squirreling them away, however. Nuts in the shell are at their freshest and best only once…
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