Summer 2016

Arts, Education, & Entertainment EAST BAY WALDORF SCHOOL  Where Children Thrive. Located 20 minutes from Berkeley at 3800 Clark Rd, El Sobrante. eastbaywaldorf.org FLAX ART & DESIGN  After 80 years in SF, the flagship store is now at 1501 M.L.K. Jr Way, Oakland. flaxart.com/oakland-store FOOD CRAFT INSTITUTE  Classroom and hands-on education in traditional food-making techniques…

  The word on our cover came to mind several months ago while I was sorting through a greater-than-usual number of dessert recipes as possible content for this issue. Was it just the season’s sweet berries and stone fruits—nature’s ready-made desserts—demanding the limelight (so to speak)? After all, we do have plenty of fantastic vegetables…

PREPPED FOR SUCCESS Cooking up a business at the Food Craft Institute By Rachel Trachten   It could be said that having two great-uncles who were jailed as moonshiners during Prohibition would lend some unique cred to a current-day maker of alcoholic beverages, but Dana Bushouse intends to keep it all on the up-and-up. In…

A delicious and heartbreaking tale of planting, cooking, and desire Book review by Cheryl Angelina Koehler Gabrielle Myers, a young author who has lived and worked in and around the East Bay for the past 15 years, stands bravely at a weather-beaten intersection of art and life. Wind, rain, insistent sun, weeds and bugs, troublesome…

CUESA lands at Jack London Square In Oakland’s controversial boom times, sometimes there’s a win for everyone. That’s the case as the nonprofit CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) follows the ferry from its home base at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza to a new outpost at Jack London Square. In taking over…

ELDERFLOWER A fragrant declaration of summer’s approach from the elder tree Story and photos by Kristen Rasmussen The gifts from the elder tree bookend summer: The elegantly refined flower blossoms of Sambucus aromatically communicate the end of spring, while the tree’s wild, dark berry clusters mark the shift into autumn. The plant is likely called…

    When Jill Keiken found herself “marooned” in Livermore, courtesy of her husband’s government job, she thought, “We’ll just have to go to San Francisco when we want some decent food!” Then she realized an opportunity had fallen into her lap: She could explore her new town just the way she had when she…

ANCIENT FLOURS RISE AGAIN Growing interest in traditional grains —buckwheat, sorghum, and teff— goes far beyond their gluten-free credentials Story and photos by Anna Mindess T he enticing aromas of warm honey, cinnamon, and butter waft through Emeryville’s Bacano Bakery one early morning as workers carefully remove hot pans of banana muffins and pinwheel Danish from…

Fabrizio Cercatore is a real Italian pizzaiolo. Hailing from Verbania in Italy’s Piemonte region, he’s also the co-founder of Hot Italian pizzeria in Sacramento and Emeryville, where he serves up pies like the Fiori, a combo of prosciutto di Parma, mozzarella, mushrooms, tomato sauce, arugula, and Bariani truffle oil. “At Hot Italian, I love the…

Regular readers of Edible East Bay are well acquainted with writer Sarah Henry. A contributor to many local publications, Sarah is highly regarded as a reliably entertaining and informative voice on many aspects of the local food scene. She’s covered restaurants and small food producers, trends and social justice issues, tech and environmental subjects, and…

By Jessica Prentice   Jessica Prentice, Maggie Gosselin, and Sarah Klein created the Local Foods Wheel to help us 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). You can learn more about the Local Foods Wheel and the…

It’s not a donation, and it’s not a Wall Street investment. It’s a way to help bring healthy, affordable food to West Oakland by purchasing shares in the People’s Community Market (PCM). Plans for this full-service grocery store and social hall got a huge boost this spring after an extensive search and negotiation for a…

Back in 2011, Pei-Ru Ko was hoping a change in diet would help her recover from a severe autoimmune disorder. She moved from Taiwan to San Francisco, where she shared her story and found emotional and practical support from local farmers and food crafters. Ko eventually learned that she was intolerant to gluten and grains…

Gnocchi Is Just Another Noodle Raising kids to be fearless eaters By Haley Pollock Photos by Kayleigh Shawn McCollum Who wouldn’t love to take the kids along to a nice restaurant and enjoy the experience together? I do, but first, a full disclosure: I was raised in Napa Valley by parents who often took on…

Kimber Simpkins interviews Nishanga Bliss Nishanga Bliss, MS, Ph.D. L.Ac., is the author of Real Food All Year and has been a practitioner in the holistic health field for over 20 years. She is an acupuncturist, herbalist, integrative nutritionist, and professor of Chinese medicine at the Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley, where she…

AT PLAY IN THE FIELD OF THE IPA Creative brewing at West Berkeley’s Fieldwork By Derrick Peterman How did an old cabinet factory in West Berkeley become both a popular neighborhood hangout and one of California’s most acclaimed breweries in just over a year? The story of Fieldwork Brewing Company began five years ago in San Diego…