Hello!
A short poem to mark the season…
Basho: A Departure
Summer is over and
we part like eyelids,
like clams opening.
–Robert Hass, from Field Guide
The days are quickly getting shorter and it’s pitch black when we run on the beach at 6 a.m. But there’s nothing quite like the slant of the autumn sun with those long afternoon shadows to remind you that summer is long-gone. And there’s still baseball to be played. Humm baby!
By the way, I'm Bruce Cole, Publisher of Edible San Francisco. Welcome to all the new subscribers this week! But if you'd like to hop off anytime, simply unsubscribe. I appreciate you reading (and sharing) this newsletter.
Here we go.
Chopped Salad For Fall
As we mentioned last week, here’s our kitchen sink of a salad using what we found at the farmers market. This time of year, that means persimmons, chicories, fresh shell beans and the last of the summer’s jalapeños. This chopped salad uses them all, plus whatever stragglers in the fridge vegetable drawer: carrots, cucumbers, Little Gem lettuce, cherry tomatoes, parsley, and Cascadia Sleeping Beauty cheese. Plus some quinoa, all tossed in a bracing savory vinaigrette. The idea is throw every vegetable you have in there, even apples would work, adding a sweet counter note. Get the recipe here: Seasonal Chopped Salad for Fall.
Sweet Potatoes Are In Season: You can find them freshly dug at farmers markets this month. We’ve been stocking up on Okinawa purple-fleshed sweet potatoes from GG Farm; they make the best oven fries, crispy on the outside, moist and puffy on the inside. Not a fan of sweet potatoes? This recipe may convince you otherwise: Ottolenghi’s Sweet Potato Shakshuka with Sriracha Butter and Pickled Onions with crunchy roasted sweet potato skins on top. Green Kitchen Stories
In Full Living Color: Bryant Terry, author of Vegan Soul Kitchen, Afro-Vegan and Vegetable Kingdom, and the chef-in-residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora, has a new book, Black Food, coming out this month on his 4 Color Books imprint. “I think the most impactful part of 4 Color will be modeling how we want the publishing world to be,” Mr. Terry said. “The informal tagline is: 4 people of color, 4 coloring outside of the lines,” and, as a nod to Black women and Black culture, “4c hair.” The New York Times
ICYMI: The Best Barbeque Potato Chips Are From Alaska. “There’s a heavy coating of spice mix, with a well-rounded balance of sweet, savory, and smoky and a rich aftertaste. The crunch is strong (the chips are fried in either corn oil or sunflower oil). This is a complete, all-around grade-A potato chip.” America’s Test Kitchen
SPONSORED
Join CUESA for our most important night of the year, bringing together farmers, chefs, winemakers, and changemakers to grow thriving communities through the power and joy of local food. At CUESA’s Sunday Supper: A Farm to Home Feast, you’ll enjoy a lavish four-course dinner and virtual gala from the comfort of your home.
Enjoy an unforgettable menu from the city’s top chefs, paired with specially selected wines and hand-crafted cocktails—beautifully packaged for pickup or home delivery.
Join us live online with Emmy-winning host Liam Mayclem to celebrate our essential food and farming community, visit beloved family farms, and go behind the scenes with chefs. Guest speakers include Bryant Terry (author of Afro-Vegan, Vegetable Kingdom, and the forthcoming BLACK FOOD), Shakirah Simley (Executive Director, Booker T. Washington Community Center), and more. Access to the virtual gala is free!
Life As A Teenage Farm Worker: Many people are surprised to see teenagers at work in physically demanding jobs in the agriculture industry. “Ashley Pavon is struggling in high school, yet wants to go to college; in one scene, a guidance counselor winces as Pavon talks about her absences, forced to choose between work and her education. When she is in school, she’s exhausted from working the night shift at a packing facility, sorting flash-frozen strawberries. During the days she labors in the strawberry fields, picking fruit in repetitive, low-paid toil.” Civil Eats
Whitewashing Organics: The tiresome debate that claims commodity food is as healthy as organic food ignores the fact that “a whopping 44% of farmers and farmworkers globally are poisoned by pesticides—meaning an exposure acute enough to cause immediate symptoms like nausea, headache, and, in extreme cases, death. That’s approximately 385 million cases with 11,000 fatalities globally every year. Do people just not know farmworkers exist?” Amos Magazine
Could The Pandemic Help To End Hunger In The U.S.? At the height of the Covid-19 crisis, Congress injected trillions of dollars into the economy to help aid families and businesses in need. “In essence, the pandemic triggered a country-wide policy experiment aimed at keeping families fed and financially afloat. Along the way, we also learned how to keep families from going hungry.” Politico
Weekly Update On The Continued Decline Of The Alt-Meat Market:
Anything But Chardonnay: “I've really come to think about the idea of being anti-capitalistic as something part of making natural wine, to an extent. I want something where the winemaker touched the bottles and touched the wine.” Rachel Signer, author of You Had Me at Pét-Nat: A Natural Wine Soaked Memoir, in From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy
Yes, Grey Poupon Is Making Wine Now:
Dateline 3021 A.D. “Archeologists excavate ruins on a site in the Bay Area that once housed a restaurant and find “a metal utensil with a long and slender neck and a shallow, circular scoop at the end. DNA analysis showed that this was used for eggs — rather, an egg. It could be that one person’s job was to watch over this task: a careful, sacred position that must have been greatly coveted at the time.” SF Chronicle
Lucky For You: These egg scoops are available in the present day.
Have you listened to this month’s playlist yet? We’re really digging the last track, a cover of California Dreamin’ by Omar Apollo.
EAT.DRINK.THINK October 2021: The playlist we listen to while cooking dinner every night. Props to the SF Symphony and Oakland composer, pianist and rapper Kev Choice for the tune that kicks off this months playlist. Segues nicely into Letter To Hip Hop, Pt. 2, from The DysFunktional Family. Also new tracks from Wiki, V12, José Gonzalez, Cleo Soul and Jamila Woods with a cover of the Tracy Chapman classic, Fast Car.
That’s all for this week.
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We’re outta here. Be well and take care,
–Bruce
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"Humans — despite their artistic pretensions, their sophistication, and their many accomplishments — owe their existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” Anonymous