Dine Out for School Gardens

And the Winner Is ...

CHEF LISA BOOKS-WILLIAMS OF PLEASANTON! (Photo of Chef Lisa and emcee MikeC: Lilia Photography http://lilia.com/) Competing against some esteemed vegan chefs, Chef Lisa took the crown in the recent Vegan Iron Chef competition, sponsored by the San Francisco Vegetarian Society. Her challengers were Eric Tucker, executive chef of San Francisco's famous Millennium Restaurant and Chef Phil Gelb of In the Mood for Food catering service, who also has a popular supper club. Chef Lisa Books-Williams is... Read more...

Tour de Coops

Go for a grand tour of Alameda's urban chicken coops, which range from humble to huge. On Sunday May 5, 1–4pm, join the crowds going on bike or on foot for a close-up look at best of the island's chicken coops, bee hives, and vegetable gardens! It's free and open to the public. Visit as few or as many coops as you like. Refreshments are available en route. For more information and a map showing all the coops on the tour, please check out www.alamedachickens.org.

Cow milking at Sather Gate?

Yes indeed! In 1957 urban agriculture was essentially gone from Berkeley, but now in 2013 it’s back . . .well. . .  maybe not with cows in town, but certainly goats and chickens, as well as plenty of thriving vegetable gardens. Learn about the history of farming in Berkeley at the Berkeley History Center’s new exhibit, From Farm to Urban Farming, 1850-2013. The exhibit, which runs through Sept. 30, highlights the farms, dairies, nurseries, and orchards that dotted the... Read more...

Save BUSD Garden and Cooking Programs

When: Thursday, April 11, 2013 from 7 – 8:30pmLight snacks served at 6:30pm; Where: Longfellow Middle School AuditoriumTransportation: 8 blocks northwest of Ashby BART,nearby street parking, buses on Sacramento Street (49)Berkeley Unified School District has one of the oldest and most successful food and nutrition programs. It teaches students where food comes from, how to grow and prepare it, and what to eat for lifelong health. For 15 years, this groundbreaking program has helped our... Read more...

Plant Foods Enhance Your Love Life

By Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. For thousands of years, different plant foods have been eaten for their “aphrodisiac qualities,” inspired by their sensory characteristics or internal effects. Some of the effects are strictly visual. The color red, for instance, has always been associated with passion and can be found on Valentine’s Day menus in the form of beets, cherries, and cranberries. The sensual pomegranate has long symbolized fertility, and the asparagus has been enjoyed as an... Read more...

Make Your Own Bacon!

Berkeley resident Will Glennon has been on a mission ever since he tasted real homemade bacon. “The difference between your own and the industrial supermarket variety is akin to the difference between a pale pink tomato from Safeway and a ripe heirloom tomato picked from your backyard,” he says. “There is no excuse not to make your own, and plenty of reason to run out and buy some pork belly while contemplating the thousand flavors you might try as you create your own signature bacon.... Read more...

The Right to Pleasure: Food, Italy, and the East Bay

Food Sovereignty Tours:  When Slow Food was founded in Italy in 1986, with that infamous protest against McDonalds on the Spanish Steps of Rome, a powerful cry went out giving shape to what we now know as the “food movement.” It was a call to resist the rapid advance of corporations, steamrolling local diversity and cultures all over the world. But as far as political statements go, it was pretty unique. It called not only for resistance, but also for the right to pleasure. It’s a... Read more...

In a Parallel America: EcoFarm, Farm Family Values, and Organic Culture

An opinion by Jillian Steinberger, M.A. "What I want to talk about is less important than the Frankensteinian issue of GMOs and the 2012 Farm Bill, which reduces American organic farmers’ access to markets in favor of industrial agriculture. By law. "But then again…maybe it’s not less important. Let me explain. "It’s a chicken and egg question: How does low-rent industrial agriculture thrive when there’s so much information circulating on what’s wrong with it? Why do loving... Read more...

Urban Wine Tour!

Hey, this is Edible East Bay editor Cheryl Koehler telling you about our December 10, 2011 treasure hunt!  I took a whole lot of friends (even some I didn't know i knew) out to search at a select group of East Bay urban wineries rumored to have some gems at their tasting bars. Here’s a map (drawn by Mark Middlebrook) showing where these wineries, all members of the East Bay Vintners Alliance, can be found. “But where are the vineyards,” you ask? Well, as far as I know, there are no... Read more...