Spring 2019
Indigenous Food at Café Ohlone
First Flavors of the East Bay Café Ohlone Offers Indigenous Foods for All to Share By Anna Mindess | Photos by Cynthia Matzger Vincent Medina’s ancestors have long gathered shellfish, salt, and pickleweed in the salt marsh along this east shore stretch of their homeland on the San Francisco Bay. Louis Trevino (left) holds sprigs…
Read MoreFish Tacos with SeaSlaw from FreshCatch
There is something magical about crispy, beer-battered flakey fish topped with a delicious seaweed salad wrapped in a warm tortilla,” says Jessy Ryan, “co-flounder” of FreshCatch, one of the Bay Area’s forward-thinking community-supported fishery companies. FreshCatch operates as a collective of single-vessel businesses that fish along the West Coast with a vision of making sustainability…
Read MoreChicken Curry Day
By Prerna Singh My brother: He is Mummy’s favorite kid. She never admits to it and always gives me that what-on-earth-are-you-talking-about look every time I say this to her, but I know. He is the gentler of us two (at least on the outside), doesn’t leave any trail of his crimes, and he…
Read MoreGood Food Awards
Kudos to Local Food Crafters Chicken Liver Mousse by Picnic in Albany If you’re on the hunt for outstanding new foods and flavors and you value responsible business practices, you’ll want to sample the products honored with a 2019 Good Food Award. This annual national contest rewards producers in 16 categories, ranging from…
Read MorePower Moms Fight Food Waste
Stop Food Waste Two Power Moms Take the Challenge Xouhoa Bowen and Christina Means have a few things in common: Both are activists working to empower women, are raising young children, and don’t like wasting food. Last fall, the two joined StopWaste’s “Food Waste Challenge,” measuring how much food was going to waste in…
Read MorePrerna’s Chicken Curry
From Chicken Curry Day by Prerna Singh Serves 4–6 2½ pounds whole chicken, cleaned and cut into pieces ¼ cup lemon juice ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon fresh-cracked black pepper 1½ cups chopped onion 3–4 cloves garlic 2 inches ginger root 2–3 hot green chili peppers (adjust according to how much heat you can…
Read MoreFollow the Blue Bottle Coffee Cart
Ramblings of the Blue Bottle Coffee Cart How it rolled here, there, and back to where it started at the Temescal Farmers’ Market By Cheryl Angelina Koehler Summer 2006: Rockridge and Temescal residents are in a swoon as Urban Village Farmers’ Market Association brings them their own neighborhood farmers’ market. There in Oakland’s DMV…
Read MoreSplit Jaw • Split Pea
By Garth Grimball | Illustration by Jessica Caisse “You know how I always say I’ve never met a soup I didn’t like?” It is remarkable how many stories my grandfather begins with this rhetorical question. The man lives for soup and talks about it at length to anyone, so much so that my family…
Read MoreHappy Acre Farm
Recipe for a Happy Acre Two young farmers, one selfie-loving mutt, and a baby in the broccoli crate By Cheryl Angelina Koehler Photos by Helena and Matthew Sylvester Recipe by Chef Anna Buss Jump to recipe Farming as a vocation often calls to mind dire reports on the demise of the family enterprise and…
Read MoreCommunity Minded
Be In Community at East Bay Community Space and The Well Visit two adjoining spots on Telegraph Avenue, East Bay Community Space and The Well Café, where you can enjoy affordable workshops and events and an impressive selection of teas, drinking chocolates, and gluten-free foods. Want to take part in a curated tea…
Read MoreFavorite Fish Tacos of the East Bay
What is it about fish tacos? Our publisher can’t go anywhere that has fish tacos on the menu and not order them. “I love the way the fried batter and the sliced cabbage give two kinds of crunch, and that bit of spicy heat always makes my day,” she says, “however I’ve…
Read MoreZucchini Noodle Salad with Peas, Radishes, and Romanesco
From What’s in Season? Recipe by Barbara Kobsar | Illustration by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge Serves 4–6 3 medium zucchini ½ cup chopped green onion 2 or 3 radishes, trimmed and sliced thinly 2 cups blanched Romanesco florets 1 cup English peas Dressing 1 cup cottage cheese (for a mild dressing) or 1 cup crumbled blue…
Read MoreDisposable-Free Dining
Berkeley takes another step forward in its commitment to reducing waste in our landfills The City of Berkeley has taken its commitment to zero waste a step further, passing new legislation that changes the rules on throwaway cups, containers, and other disposable food ware. In late January, the Berkeley City Council gave a unanimous…
Read MorePelé Aveau’s Split Pea Soup with Ham
From the story Split Jaw • Split Pea By Garth Grimball | Illustration by Jessica Caisse Serves 8 1 pound green split peas 2 tablespoons butter 1 medium onion, diced 1 large carrot, diced 2 celery stalks, diced Pinch of cayenne 1 tablespoon curry powder 3 sprigs thyme 1 bay leaf 2 quarts chicken stock…
Read MorePrerna’s Roti
From Chicken Curry Day by Prerna Singh Indian meals are never complete without roti or one of any number of other wonderful flatbreads. There are endless ways to make Indian flatbreads, and it mostly varies by region. For instance, soil in the southern part of India is very good for rice crops, so breads…
Read MoreAnna’s Kale-Arugula and Toasted Cashew Pesto
Chef Anna Buss started her food journey on an educational farm in Israel, where she learned how to grow and cook with seasonal ingredients. On moving to the Bay Area, she worked as a farmers’ market chef for the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association and also for Frog Hollow Farm. A longtime member of…
Read MoreBenchmark Pizzeria Opens in Oakland
A Pizza Nerd Makes His Mark Peter Swanson’s Benchmark Pizzeria spawns a second location By Alix Wall | Photos by Kala Minko Melissa Swanson, Jennifer Moffitt, and Peter Swanson take charge of Benchmark’s new restaurant on the corner of Washington and Ninth in Old Oakland. Peter Swanson is a self-described pizza nerd. Through seven years…
Read MoreA MODERN TAKE ON PINOLE SEED CAKES
From Indigenous Food at Café Ohlone By Anna Mindess | Photos by Cynthia Matzger “Our name for pinole in Chochenyo is muyyen,” says Vincent Medina. “It’s one of the first foods we’ve worked to learn about. A mixture of native seeds—chia, redmaid, amaranth, tarweed, etc.—it’s loved by our people in those old days, and that…
Read MoreGarden Allies
Friends, partners, collaborators, cohabitors . . . Grown together, plants can be more than the sum of their parts By Joshua Burman Thayer | Illustrations by Cheryl Angelina Koehler Did you know that plants form alliances? Like humans, plants do better when they associate with other plants for mutual benefit, such as to procreate,…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
Produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. By Barbara Kobsar | Illustration by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge February Dense in texture but mild in flavor, cauliflower offers endless possibilities in salads, pastas, soups, snacks, sauces, hummus, and even mac and cheese. We find it in a myriad of colors these…
Read MoreEditor’s Mixing Bowl
They say that appearances are everything, and that certainly goes for a magazine cover. In order to succeed, a print publication must quickly convince folks walking by to reach out and take a copy home for a closer look. In theory, a dog stepping up to announce the Spring 2019 issue of Edible East Bay…
Read MoreSource Guide Spring 2019
edible EAST BAY Source Guide Join our Edible East Bay community. Advertise and thrive. niki(AT)edibleeastbay.com 415.994.6595 Arts, Education, & Entertainment CALIFORNIA ARTISAN CHEESE FESTIVAL Indulge yourself in Cheese Bliss. Tours March 16–24. Festival March 23–24 in Sonoma Wine Country. artisancheesefestival.com MRS DALLOWAY’S Full-service, indie neighborhood bookstore. Wide variety of garden books, cookbooks, and…
Read MoreBarbara’s Mandarin, Fennel, & Avocado Salad
6 mandarin oranges, peeled and sliced crosswise into ¼-inch rounds ½ fennel bulb, thinly sliced (reserve fronds for garnish) 2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and sliced 1 small shallot, peeled and thinly sliced ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar Salt and fresh ground black pepper Divide orange slices between 4 salad plates. Layer…
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