food

This week, families across the country will sit down for a Thanksgiving dinner made up of, well, a lot of the same dishes. But, the exact recipes can be very different and varied. San Francisco chef Traci Des Jardins draws inspiration from her multicultural childhood in the Central Valley for a feast that will make your mouth water.

Francis Lam grew up in New Jersey to Chinese immigrant parents who dreamed of him becoming a dentist or lawyer. When he said he wanted to be a writer, well, they weren’t exactly thrilled. But then they saw that first byline and they were convinced.

The Bay Area’s long history of chocolate spans all the way back to the Gold Rush. Since then, the region has been a source for chocolate innovation again and again, from a Berkeley-based revolution in chocolate desserts to a craft chocolate revolution in the ‘90s that turned the industry on its head.

There’s a long history of chocolate making in the Bay Area that goes all the way back to the Gold Rush. Over a century later, a new guard of chocolate makers is picking up where a previous generation of innovators left off, and they’re leading a small but potent revolution in the chocolate industry.

Today, we have a show that may make your mouth water — it's about the Bay Area’s long history of chocolate connoisseurs. And, we’ll meet local artisans who are changing the way we consume it.

Sandip, who does not like fish, relishes his annual dish of Ilish, the prized fish of Bengal. But at what cost?  

Oakland’s food scene has been blowing up the past few years, with an increase in new, delicious restaurants. Diane Rodriguez asked Hey Area, “Where are the good places to eat in East Oakland?” 

Maritza Hurtado Torres has been cooking for as long as she can remember.

From the series California Foodways, we go to Rosebud's Cafe, where Tyx Pulskamp and his family push the boundaries of what people are ready for.

The Uyghurs are a Muslim minority in Western China who have been marginalized for years there.

Their origins are interesting — Chinese with Turkic and other central Asian influences. Their food is a fusion of Chinese, Arabic, Kazakh, Afghan and Turkish flavors and dishes. 

The Golden State Warriors are rolling, now. Last night they crushed the Portland Trailblazers in the first game of the Western Conference Finals. But, win or lose, the team is leaving for San Francisco next year. In the latest from Bounce, we're looking at how the Golden State Warriors organization is teaming up with local businesses like Oakland's Bakesale Betty to bring some East Bay flavor to the City.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s restaurant critic Soleil Ho is a self described ‘ethno food warrior’ who writes on what she calls ‘the fish sauce beat.’ She’s Asian American, queer, and writes about the intersections of culture and food. 

On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet Series, we'll speak with Tim Wise about his new book Eating Tomorrow: Agribusiness, Family Farmers, and the Battle for the Future of Food. 

Bay Area newcomer, Brittany Bare, wanted to know the history of the oldest restaurant in North Beach.  She asked: “What is the oldest restaurant and the history of that restaurant in Little Italy?” After setting Brittany straight about the fact that this ain’t New York and, in San Francisco, it’s North Beach, reporter Mary Franklin Harvin, found the answer — with a slight caveat. 

Elsa Guerra has experienced several serious health scares. But it never stopped her from taking care of others. Today, she’s a great grandmother, and teaches Bay Area residents about nutrition for the non-profit 18 Reasons, working to empower low-income earners through cooking cheap, nutritious, and delicious food.

From Audiograph, signature sounds of the Bay Area:

I’ve moved 16 times. So when I settled in San Jose, I thought I could finally get some real Vietnamese food.

But where to go?

Unearthing the Green Revolution, Part III: California's industrial approach to agriculture has long served as a model for government officials in Punjab, India, which dramatically increased crop yields decades ago as part of the high-tech, chemically supplemented Green Revolution. Yet the cost for Punjabi farmers has been a legacy of pesticide reliance, debt, and the hopes for a better life in other countries. 

Unearthing the Green Revolution, Part II: The story of how agriculture became agribusiness in California and around the world begins in Punjab, India, where the Green Revolution didn't just change how farmers work the land; it changed how they live. 

Unearthing the Green Revolution, Part I: California's fertile Central Valley is home to a sizable community of farmers from Punjab in India, a region also famous for its rich cropland. Why they came to the United States is a story as layered and complex as the politics and science of the crops they cultivate. 

It looks just like a little white table tennis ball, but spongy and sweet.

  On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet Series, we’ll have a conversation with investigative journalist Mark Schapiro about his new book, Seeds of Resistance: The Fight to Save Our Food Supply. More than half of all commercially-traded seeds have fallen under the control of just three multinational agrochemical companies.

From the series Uncuffed:

I’ve been entering and winning sushi competitions in prison for 25 years. So when Keith Kitagawa showed up and beat me on his first try, I knew I had to find out his secrets.

Rosa Hernandez left Oaxaca when she was 20 to work in the fields in Madera, California. Now, she co-owns a restaurant, Colectivo Sabor a Mi Tierra, where she cooks the food of her homeland for the many indigenous Mexicans who live in the area. She did it, she says, after realizing the cultural value of her food through inter-ethnic friendships and connections.

Right now, there are backpackers crossing into Canada after five months of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. They're called thru-hikers, and they started the trail in Mexico and will traverse 2,650 miles. Now, the lazy among us might have just read "Wild," Cheryl Strayed's memoir about the Pacific Crest Trail. The even lazier among us may be waiting for the movie to come out in December. The hikers who actually make this trek see toenails fall off and their feet can swell whole shoe sizes. They say the only thing they talk about more than their feet is food.

On Saturdays, Mariko Grady’s company, Aedan Fermented Foods, has a food stall at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.

“Hard work, low pay, miserable conditions, and more!”

On this edition of Your Call, we talk about the struggle to make the restaurant industry more equitable. The Bay Area’s food scene is sumptuous, but it’s not immune to some of the nastier aspects of the restaurant industry.

On this edition of Your Call, writer, artist, and activist Sunaura Taylor discusses her new book, Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation.

This week on KALW's showcase for the best stories from public radio podcasts and independent radio producers...