Spring 2016

By Barbara Kobsar Choosing produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. MAY In early May, enthusiasts scramble for the first handfuls of sweet Burlat cherries, but aficionados are happiest when mid-season varieties like Bing, Brooks, Rainier, and Utah Giants hit the stands. The dark-red, heart-shaped Lambert cherries are a…

Looking around at our rain-drenched landscape, it strikes me that this transition time from winter to spring speaks eloquently about the cycles of life: Some plants are decomposing or resting as others are poised to leap forth with new vigor. Joy Moore, cooking and gardening instructor at the Berkeley Independent Study (BIS), is touring me…

Arts, Education, & Entertainment CALIFORNIA’S ARTISAN CHEESE FESTIVAL  Friday–Sunday March 18–20 in Petaluma. artisancheesefestival.com EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DISTRICT  Parklands and trails ideal for healthful recreation and environmental education. ebparks.org EAST BAY WALDORF SCHOOL  Where Children Thrive. Located 20 minutes from Berkeley at 3800 Clark Rd, El Sobrante. eastbaywaldorf.org HELEN KRAYENHOFF SHOP  Food-themed notecards. Find…

CSA projects can be found in all kinds of places, even tiny city backyards. Sophie Hahn dreamed of farming her yard to feed her family and neighbors. But growing produce to feed people on a regular basis is challenging, and she never felt capable of undertaking the project herself. But one day, out on a…

Ba-Bite brings Israeli flavors to Piedmont Avenue BY ALIX WALL  |  PHOTOS BY MELISSA MORRISON Majadera. Also known as mujaddara, majadra, mejadra, moujadara, mudardara, and megadarra, this uncomplicated concoction of spiced lentils and rice, most often served with a generous swirl of tahini sauce and a topping of fried onions, is popular throughout the Arab world.…

GET INTO THE GAME At The Local Butcher Shop’s Deer Butchery Class Indigenous mule deer run amok through the East Bay hills to the delight of children and urban nature lovers. But when the fauna non grata polish off the baby blueberry and kumquat trees just planted in the backyard, an omnivore in our gardening…

WASTE NOT Food Shift launches a test kitchen for a better food system STORY AND PHOTO BY A. K. CARROLL Food-waste activist Dana Frasz was blanching a massive vat of green beans when she first learned of Robert Egger, the man she would later describe as her “soul brother.” Egger is founder and president of…

Growing Together “We plant trees for peace and food justice,” says Mallika Nair, who started the Oakland organization Growing Together in 2013. The group plants fruit trees throughout the city, especially in East Oakland and other underserved areas. “The bigger goal,” says Nair, “is to reforest the city.” Growing Together has planted more than 450…

By Barbara Kobsar Artwork by Patricia Robinson Choosing produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. February Citrus shines as winter wanes. Especially vibrant are the blood oranges, with their beautiful dark-red flesh and telltale splotches of red on the skin. Moro and Tarocco varieties are most common in our…

Originally from the cornfields of Nebraska, Amanda Kuehn Carroll has spent most of her life wandering and wondering, often getting lost in the process. Her work has appeared in Diablo, 7×7, Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, Napa Sonoma,SF Weekly, and online at Berkeleyside. You can find links to her work at akakuehn.wix.com/clips and reach her at…

MENU OF OPPORTUNITY The Town Kitchen delivers sandos and salads, plus jobs for low-income youth BY RACHEL TRACHTEN | PHOTOS BY CAROLYN FONG With lunch-hour delivery fast approaching, a team of young sous chefs busily assembles a row of boxed salads. Chef Jefferson Sevilla, otherwise engaged, looks up mid-sentence, spies a missing ingredient, and utters a…

AID FOR THE APIS An Alameda grocer is looking out for the bees BY ERIK FERRY | PHOTOS BY OLIVIA VIGO Let’s just face it, there’s nothing better to spread on a slice of artisanal pistachio levain than some fresh, aromatic, local honey. Praised be the baker, and praised be the bee. In case you…

 By Jillian Laurel Steinberger Every day, more and more of us look for a connection to our foodshed. At the farmers’ market, we meet our thoughtful, local organic farmers and learn about what they are growing. Or we take it several steps further and become participants in community-supported agriculture (CSA). That term was coined in…

LIFE LESSONS From the Independent Study Garden BY SAMI MIRZA, 8TH GRADE, BERKELEY INDEPENDENT STUDY PHOTO BY OLIVIA VIGO Imagine you are walking through a typical city neighborhood, grey sidewalks and faded paint surrounding you. Ahead, however, you see a clump of green sticking out. As you approach you realize that it’s a grove of…

Kids stir up fun and great dishes at Sprouts Cooking Clubs Seventeen eager kids can barely wait to get their hands into the cookie dough set out in bowls on a kitchen counter. The youngsters, ages 7 to 12, are spending their winter break at Sprouts Cooking Club, where they chop, stir, and sauté alongside…

WHAT MAKES GOOD FOOD GOOD? At the start of each new year since 2011, food producers all over the country have waited expectantly to learn how their entries have fared in the Good Food Awards. San Francisco–based Seedlings Projects says the awards “celebrate the kind of food we all want to eat: tasty, authentic, and…

THE RIGHT BLEND A history of Bay Area coffee culture By Shanna Farrell | Illustrations by Margo Rivera-Weiss The Pacific Northwest may be one of the most recognized hotbeds of specialty coffee, but the Bay Area gives it some stiff competition. Stemming from San Francisco’s 19th-century history as a port city and building upon foundations…

An Ojai orchard and its coveted citrus find a following in Berkeley By Sarah Henry Photos and art by Lisa Brenneis The first in a series about the backstory behind East Bay farmers’ market vendors and their sought-after, seasonal bounty. Nothing says the start of a new year quite like citrus season. Meyer lemons, Cara…

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 illustrated by Sarah Klein (sarahklein.com) with coloring by Maggie Gosselin. You can learn more about the…