Spring 2015
Contents Spring 2015
EDITOR’S MIXING BOWL SIDE DISH Josephine Food Start-Up Keeps Willard Students Cooking Classroom Cooks Welcome the Charlie Cart Liba Falafel Sets Down Roots SEVEN STARS OF SPRING WASTE WARRIORS CHEESE THERAPY COMPOSTING TO SAVE THE PLANET FIELD TO PLATE CANCÚN WHAT’S IN SEASON SOURCE GUIDE DIGITAL EDITION RECIPES Spring Tonic Nettle Soup Roasted Cauliflower Soup with…
Read MoreSource Guide Spring 2015
Artisanal Foods CALIFORNIA’S ARTISAN CHEESE FESTIVAL Friday–Sunday March 20–22 in Petaluma. 707.523.3728, artisancheesefestival.com FENTONS CREAMERY Handmade ice cream, quality ingredients, and friendly service. E.S. Fenton founded the Oakland creamery in 1894. 4226 Piedmont Ave, Oakland. 510.658.7000. fentonscreamery.com FRANTOIO GROVE Award-winning Tuscan varietal extra-virgin olive oil from the Martin family in Gilroy. frantoiogrove.com IL FIORELLO Extra…
Read MoreComposting to Save the Planet
BY CHERYL ANGELINA KOEHLER ◊ ILLUSTRATIONS BY LILA VOLKAS The real dirt on Farmer Al Courchesne of Frog Hollow Farm is some very rich humus indeed. Compost. Huge heaps of it. “We see this as a model for farming that could address climate change,” says Courchesne, whose conversion to the way of composting grew in earnest…
Read MoreCheese Therapy
THE MOVEABLE MOUSE IS IN “Pauline” Dispenses Cheese Therapy BY LAURA NESS Cheese makes people smile, literally,” says Teri Tith Concannon, co-founder of Cheese Therapy, the unique artisan cheese delivery company she operates with friend and co-founder Chef Denise Garcia. And those smiles aren’t just about the psychological connection to that oft-used phrase encouraging people…
Read MoreFood Shift and LeanPath
WASTE WARRIORS Food Shift and LeanPath keep food out of the landfill BY RACHEL TRACHTEN The soup was passed to waiting hands, bowl after bowl of fragrant broth brimming with carrots, potatoes, and onions. Make that super-skinny carrots, not-so-pretty potatoes, and oversized onions—veggies that would otherwise have been plowed back into the soil because they didn’t…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
BY BARBARA KOBSAR Choosing produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. February Citrus gets top billing during the winter months but even as the season winds down there’s one more star to come forward: California navel oranges are at their peak during February when they are heavy with…
Read MoreCancún Sabor Mexicana
FROM FIELD TO PLATE Farmer Jorge Saldana Grows His Food Business The first in a series of stories about relationships between local farms and restaurants BY SARAH HENRY │ PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBIN JOLIN Farm-to-table restaurants are a dime a dozen in the Bay Area now. The term even induces eye rolling among jaded food critics.…
Read MoreSeven Stars of Spring
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 seven of Jessica’s seasonal favorites. You can learn more about the Local Foods Wheel and the group’s other ventures at localfoodswheel.com.…
Read MoreLiba Falafel
AT HOME IN OAKLAND Liba Falafel Sets Down Roots BY SARAH HENRY ◊ PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT PETERSON Liba Falafel, the food truck, has had lots of loyal fans since it started rolling five years ago, but its owner, Gail Lillian, always wanted a brick-and-mortar joint for her falafel business. In fact, she hopes to run several falafel shacks.…
Read MoreCharlie Cart
Classroom Cooks Welcome the Charlie Cart BY SARAH HENRY ◊ PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARIANNA NOBRE A streamlined kitchen on wheels is set to roll out soon in California schools. The Charlie Cart is a mobile, modern, playful design solution to a serious, longtime problem of underfunded or limited cooking instruction in schools. Carolyn Federman, who cooked up…
Read MoreEditor's Mixing Bowl
Sometimes I wonder if I’m having too much fun at work. It’s like the efforts of these earthworms: They happily burrow through the murky rubble, digesting it for three months. Then they come up to the surface and announce that they’re done, looking around to see who is ready to appreciate what they’ve made and…
Read MoreJosephine Food Start-up
UNEXPECTED PARTNERS Josephine Food Start-up Keeps Willard Students Cooking BY MOLLY GORE ◊ PHOTOGRAPHY BY SIKA GASINU On a mild Thursday night in late October, long after the school day had ended, the Willard Middle School campus drew a lively, hungry stream of visitors. Against the backdrop of a thriving, terraced garden, students doled out Styrofoam bowls of…
Read MoreAbout Our Cover Artist
Edible East Bay readers should be well-acquainted with this issue’s cover artist, Margo Rivera-Weiss, and for good reason: Margo’s work has graced three past covers, and her fantastic illustrations have made many of our articles dance and sing during the seven years she has been contributing. An Oakland-based artist originally from Miami, Florida, Rivera-Weiss previously…
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