Harvest 2010
Zucchini with Onions
This recipe is from Vedika’s Sanjai Mathur, who describes it as “a light recipe with a sweet effect, perfect for summer.” ½ pound zucchini, peeled and diced1 onion, chopped2 teaspoons ghee (clarified butter)½ teaspoon cumin seeds¼ teaspoon turmeric powderSalt to tasteFresh coriander leaves to garnish In a pan, heat ghee and add cumin seeds, swirl…
Read MoreDEBORAH MADISON IN BERKELEY
An interview at TRAX Gallery BY CAROLYN MILLER In a case of perfect timing, Deborah Madison came to town at the height of berry and stone fruit season to discuss her latest cookbook, Seasonal Fruit Desserts: From Orchard, Farm, and Market (Broadway, 2010). The famed founding chef of Greens restaurant in San Francisco is the…
Read MoreCooking With Fire
Evolutionary then and now? BY SUZANNE SAUCY It’s midsummer and I’m tending a campfire under a clear, star-filled sky at an elevation of 7,500 feet. As I watch the red-orange embers and listen to the crackle of burning logs, I find myself pondering the meaning of fire to our early human ancestors. For them fire…
Read MoreScott Miller’s Market Hall
Sending a Message to the Market Quality and Sustainability Don’t Come Cheap Story and photos by Tim Kingston Scott Miller, the dark-haired, wiry, hyperkinetic executive chef at The Pasta Shop and Market Hall Foods, has a new mission, one that has blossomed far beyond providing local foodies with top-quality meat, vegetables, poultry, and fish. He…
Read MoreTamale Secrets at Union City’s Ramírez Farm
Real Mexican field corn flourishes near the Fremont BART By Patricia Hayse Haller | Photos by Cheryl Angelina Koehler At first glance, the most remarkable thing about the Ramirez farm in Union City is that it is there at all. Just two blocks (less than a tenth of a mile) from the BART station in…
Read MoreStirring Up Passions
Rachel Saunders and her Blue Chair Fruit Company Story and photos by Rita Hurault with David Gans Rachel Saunders was cooking up a batch of strawberry-rose jam when we visited the Oakland kitchen of her Blue Chair Fruit Company last May. As we approached, the aroma of berries brightened the air stirred a…
Read MorePOMEGRANATE PASSAGES
BY SUSAN UNGER Illustration by Helen Krayenhoff Each year in late October, I begin harvesting the pomegranates that are drooping from the tree in my back yard. It’s an arduous process that starts with yanking and cutting the fruits from their branches and then taking them into the kitchen to hack them into quarters. Next…
Read MoreOn Produce Overload?
How to Make the Most of a Plentiful HarvestBy Cheryl Angelina Koehler Last April as I was editing our summer issue’s article about the expanding community-supported agriculture (CSA) model, I took a small leap and signed up for a weekly veggie box. The result has been exactly as expected: Every seven days I find myself…
Read MoreSeven Stars of the Harvest Season
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 best bets for the harvest season. You can learn more about the Local Foods Wheel and the group’s other ventures at localfoodswheel.com…
Read MoreWHAT’S IN SEASON?
BEANS By Barbara Kobsar This May, I decided I would test my gardening skills and plant a Three Sisters garden of corn, beans, and squash. The native peoples of North America revered these crops as the “sustainers of life,” and called them the Three Sisters not only for the human nourishment they provide, but also…
Read MoreEast Bay Winemakers, Naturally
By Mark Middlebrook illustration by Margo Rivera-Weiss Wine would seem to be the quintessential natural beverage: pick grapes, crush grapes, and wait a little while for the native yeasts that nestle on grape skins to do their job of converting sugar to alcohol. Yet the history of winemaking, especially since the 20th century, has been…
Read MoreEating Street Food in eVille
By Derrick Schneider photos by melissa schneider When I started working in Emeryville two years ago as a server-side programmer for a videogame studio, the foodie friend who had suggested me for the job gave me a rundown of the local lunch options in easy walking distance. He finished his short list and said, “You…
Read MoreAn Interview with Susan Coss, Director of the Eat Real Festival
eat real festival 2010 Friday, August 27, 2–9 p.m. Saturday, August 28, 10:30 a.m.–9 p.m. Sunday, August 29, 10:30 a.m.–9 p.m. Jack London Square in downtown Oakland eatrealfest.com Edible East Bay: Susan, what is the Eat Real Festival? Susan Coss: Simply put, Eat Real is a three-day celebration of the good and delicious food grown…
Read MoreEditor’s Mixing Bowl
On December 31, 2009, as I was bidding the old year adieu at Bosco’s Bones and Brew in Sunol, a young man dressed in the scrappy garb of a 21st-century urban homesteader came into the bar carrying a box filled with unlabeled jars of home-canned pickles. One by one, he started passing out the jars…
Read MoreTaste…
Taste . . . . . . the tender pulled pork sandwich at Café 15 (597 15th St, Oakland); smooth and strong AeroPress coffee at Catahoula Coffee Company (12471 San Pablo Ave, Richmond); a spicy vegan taquito plate at Flacos (new restaurant at 3091 Adeline St, Berkeley, in addition to their Berkeley Farmers’ Markets booths);…
Read MoreHarvest 2010 Contents
Editor’s Mixing Bowl Taste… An Interview with Susan Coss, director of the Eat Real Festival Eating Street Food in eVille By Derrick Schneider East Bay Winemakers, Naturally By Mark Middlebrook What’s in Season: Beans By Barbara Kobsar Seven Stars of the Harvest Season By Jessica Prentice with Maggie Gosselin and Sarah Klein On produce overload?…
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