Section » SF Bay Area
San Francisco sustainable restaurants have a blind spot for seafood
In an ideal world, when a restaurant tells you that it serves “sustainable seafood,” you could have some faith that the claim is true, that the chefs and buyers know exactly what they are getting and the issues around how it was caught. The seafood situation in the famously eco-friendly San Francisco Bay Area is a far cry from this ideal, according
More articles
Bean there, done that: A tour of Hodo Soy
Farmers markets are far more than a source of good food from small farmers and a place to build connections among the community. They can also serve as incubators for food businesses, places where new entrepreneurs can try selling prepared foods on a small scale or where experienced market participants
Grow vacancies: Gene Fredericks is thinking inside the city’s big box
They're the bane of urban and suburban areas alike: the vacant, boarded-up K-Marts and Home Depot Expos, squatting like concrete cowpies amidst a landscape of weedy parking lots. But where most people
Comments Off • Read more »
Cooking outside the zone: Agretti, paired with fregola
At last week's farmers market, one of my outside the zone choices (made in honor of National Farmers Market Week) was agretti (Salsola soda) from La
San Francisco set to approve zoning changes for backyard farming for cash
Summer of urban-ag love: The Bay Area is known as a bastion of urban farming and the local food movement, but "laws governing land use are still stuck in another era, one that frowned on farming in the city, especially in residential areas," reports Zusha Elinson. When Little
Cooking outside my comfort zone, Part 2: Fresh chickpeas
Last week, I vowed to escape my farmers market rut and cook outside my comfort zone in honor of National
Cooking outside my comfort zone, pt. 1: A remembrance of squash blossoms past
In honor of Farmers Market Week next week, I vowed here to get out of my market rut and cook outside my comfort zone. That's how I came
Cook outside your comfort zone in honor of National Farmers Market Week
It's the height of summer, and the tables of farmers markets around the country are overflowing with firm-fleshed, scarlet tomatoes; bunches of fragrant basil; and -- depending on where you live -- juicy stone fruits, avocados,
Want to grow food on City of Oakland land? Here’s how
By Stephanie Paige Ogburn We’ve all seen it: the vacant lot down the street that gets full sun, or the underused city park choked over with weeds. And many of us have thought: I bet that would be a great community garden space, if some enterprising growers
Comments Off • Read more »
Q&A with John Scharffenberger: First wine, then chocolate, and now … tofu?
Before founding the chocolate company for which he became famous, John Scharffenberger made California sparkling wine. In both cases, he was one of the first
The Edible Schoolyard brings learning to life
The cover story of this week's East Bay Express has a provocative teaser: "Berkeley's Edible
Monkeying around: Berkeley woman hires out fruit-picking primate
I was eating breakfast at North Berkeley's Guerrilla Cafe the other day when I spotted a sign on the other side of
Saul’s got SOLE: The Jewish deli in Berkeley evolves
When it comes to comfort food — especially comfort food that is wrapped in "tradition" like the Jewish deli — change can cause a lot of discomfort. People want what they think will make them feel better. They want
It takes a city to save a farm: How the Bay Area food and farming community helped Soul Food Farm recover from a devastating fire
I posted previously on Ethicurean (here and here) about the September fire at Soul Food Farm, a relatively new but well-known pillar of the Bay area food scene. The
