Chloe and me, we were pretty much a 21st-century urban couple of a certain type. We met at a mock Iron Chef party that some friends of friends of mine put on—I think the theme was “Battle Matzoh,” with a team of out-of-work chefs throwing down the Streit's against a crew of laid-off CNET coders. The coders were winning when I spotted Chloe in a nurse’s outfit one size too small, drinking Manischewitz shots out of a tiki mug. Well, that was it for me. I’ve always had a soft spot for women in uniform who can hold their liquor.

It didn’t take long to convince her to leave the house she was sharing with 3 roommates on Cesar Chavez and move into my place in Oakland. I had a backyard, a Vitamix, a 3-year-old Saab, room for her cat and I always put the seat down, even when she was gone for the whole day at a yoga-and-goat-cheese-making retreat.

And we were pretty much in sync around most things. We’d recently switched our coffee from Ritual Roasters to Four Barrel to Sightglass. With their roastery in Williamsburg and their farmers' market lockdown in Temescal, Blue Bottle was over, Chloe insisted, pulling her curly hair into two Dr. Seussy-looking pigtails on the top of her head, and I had to agree, although secretly, I’d been kind of looking forward to being able to get one of their insane New Orleans iced coffees to wake me up for the drive home after a Sunday of Frisbee and Tecates in Dolores Park, even when it became obvious that their generator-driven coup wasn’t going to happen.

Since we both worked in Emeryville, we got together to eat lunch together almost every other day, sharing leftover jicama-kale salad or hitting up Primos Parrilla if our supply ran low. Sometimes when she was feeling cranky I’d walk over to her office and leave a couple of cupcakes from the Cupkates truck—one for her and one that she maybe didn’t have to know about for the cute maybe-lesbian-but-maybe-not receptionist with the mermaid tattoo and the skateboard kicked up at the back of her desk.

Chloe used to be vegan in college, but like most girls, she was just waiting for someone to feed her a really good pork chop wrapped in bacon and convince her that we could be ethical omnivores together. She’s still pretty skinny though; I’d like to go in on getting a whole pig with the neighbors down the street but I don’t know what our actual capacity for jowl and trotter might be. It’s not like I’m Chris Cosentino or anything, who could probably propose to a woman with a fried calf brain and a lamb tongue and still get lucky.

So we’d had our first anniversary last month at a Stag Dinner in her friend Chicken John’s art space, down the street from the Victorian where she used to live. Pretty cool, and Chloe didn’t flinch at the oyster starter or the second course of squid stuffed with blood sausage. But now her birthday was coming up, on April 1st, and I had to come up with something to top that, without tapping into what we’re saving for going to Bali in December.

That’s when I saw it on my Twitter feed: another underground restaurant, this one by Guerrilla Greens. I hadn’t heard of them, but I figured they were probably part of the East Bay's roving, ever-shifting band of backyard-chickening, rooftop-beekeeping, front-yard-chard-growers. They made me feel old, they were so earnest and gluten-free in their muddy Carharts, foraged lemons rolling around the back of their pickup trucks. But at least a couple of these types could usually be counted on to have worked the line at Ubuntu or done a stage at Saison. I signed us up.

Ok, so maybe I should have seen something weird right then. See, they didn’t ask for an email address or a Paypal account, just my address. In fact, there wasn’t any mention of money at all, which was definitely strange, since usually these dinners are, you know, pretty expensive, especially given that the bathroom's usually down 2 flights of stairs and the main course takes three hours to come out and then it's something like three little pieces of raw goat meat in argan oil covered in flowers.

But I wanted to convince myself that maybe this was something really new. Maybe they were trying some kind of different slow-money business model with kale donated by Novella Carpenter. Not that I wanted us digging into platefuls of cougar-chomped lamb, but why couldn’t there be a new post-capitalism paradigm at work? Underground restaurant, underground biz model, right?

Until I woke up on Monday. Shower, shave, go into the kitchen to steam up an almond-milk double latte for Chloe. Except that the stove’s not there. The refrigerator is gone, too, which is okay because we stopped keeping our coffee beans in the freezer after the guy at Sightglass told us how that shocks the beans. And I usually make the almond milk myself in the Vitamix, so I still should be able to make Chloe her coffee. Except these Guerrilla Greens—and really, who else could it be?—have taken everything with a plug. The espresso machine, the juicer, the toaster, even the crockpot given to us not-really-ironically from Chloe’s mom.

There was firewood piled where the television, stereo, and Netflix envelopes had been. They’d left the iPad, which was nice, but after all, they'd need the Twitter feed to explain themselves. Even without the carefully calibrated fair-trade, shade-grown buzz I’d become so used to every morning, I was beginning to understand.

We weren’t going to their restaurant. Their restaurant was coming to us. We were becoming their restaurant. Their restaurant was inside us.

I picked up the iPad. There, on their Twitter feed, was their paradigm: THE NEW URBAN HOMESTEADING. BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

My hands were shaking. I did my yoga breathing. If only they'd left us some matches, we could still make pour-over coffee.

While I crumpled up old copies of the East Bay Express to get the fire going, Chloe came in from the backyard, a baby goat in her arms and a chard leaf caught in her pigtails.

“This..is...the…cutest…thing…I’ve..ever…seen,” she breathed, snuggling her chin between the kid’s floppy little ears. “I’m going back outside to get us some milk for breakfast.”

“But, Chloe,” I whined. “What about your lactose intolerance?” But she didn’t answer; looking out, I could see her head already tucked tightly against the furry brown side of one of the four dwarf goats wandering through the backyard, nibbling the oak branches and trimming down the blackberry brambles. "Aren't you going to be late for Hot Zumba?"

“It’s like squeezing a hairy water balloon!” she called back, as a family of quails skittered over to the compost pile, followed by three seagulls and five high-stepping pigeons. A snake lolled on one of the three discarded, empty computer monitors which were now filled with honeycomb and a swarm of slightly angry-sounding bees. A bag of clay kitty litter and a bale of straw sat in a back corner. I knew, without looking, that the next tweet would be cryptic instructions for building a cob oven.

I still need my coffee every morning, but besides that, it’s not so bad. I know what to do now. Chloe freecycled a hand-cranked coffee grinder, and we filter it through one of her old American Apparel tank tops. We’re naked now, most of the time; it just feels better, especially after a whole bunch of snails moved into the shower. We sleep on the moss under the oak tree; our futon's under the porch, growing our first crop of enoki mushrooms. Chloe says we should have our friends over for escargots in goat butter next week.

Did you know that snake makes an awesome curry? You should try it, you know. Just get on our Twitter feed. We'll tell you how.

The Perennial Plate is an online weekly documentary series dedicated to socially responsible and adventurous eating. The episodes follow the culinary, agricultural and hunting explorations of chef and activist, Daniel Klein. Season One took place over a calendar year in Minnesota where every Monday for 52 weeks, Daniel and cameragirl Mirra Fine released short films about good food. In Season Two, they will be traveling across America, taking the viewer on a journey to appreciate and understand where good food comes from and how to enjoy it.

Bay Area Bites asked Daniel about Season Two's Real Food Road Trip -- the mission, the project, the plan for the Bay Area and how people can participate.

Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine jump for joy in front of the vehicle that will take them on the Real Food Road Trip. Photo: Tim Klein

BAB: What is the mission of you trip? How does a road trip around the country fit in with your project? What do you expect to accomplish? Why did you choose the specific destinations you plan to explore?

Daniel: The mission of our trip is to explore and promote what good food is in this country. What “good food” or “real food” means is, of course, up for question. And we don’t pretend to know. This trip is about engaging and learning with the people who are passionate about their food.

The first phase of The Perennial Plate was about Minnesota. It was extremely local and/or regional. There is fantastic stuff happening here, much like the rest of the country. We couldn’t move on and just do a year in Iowa, so we decided to take on the whole country and show glimpses of these places in all their similarities and differences. It also just seemed like the logical next step for the show.

We expect to learn a lot. What I film is generally something I want to learn about, so we just bring the viewers along on that same educational and entertaining journey. Beyond learning, we hope to meet (and entertain) a lot of people, and develop a project that is a real celebration of all that goes into food (animals, the earth, water, money, politics, humans, love).

The destinations on our map are not set in stone. We want this journey to be guided by the people who submit ideas, or have stories to tell. We drew a map of places we wanted to visit, but it will surely change and develop.

Real Food Road Trip Map. Illustration: Mirra Fine

BAB: After a year documenting local Minnesota food + farming what kinds of local stories will you seek from specific regions? Are you going to try to capture the essence of the local cuisine? Or are you just looking for compelling stories?

Daniel: There are some regions where we really want to focus on the food that makes that place famous, but other places we’ll avoid the obvious choices. The truth of the matter is we don’t know yet. In the first few days of announcing the project, we received hundreds of story ideas, we are still sorting through them.

We are looking for compelling stories most of all. But each episode will vary. One week may just cover “Iowa” and have several short stories about food in that state. Another week could be a more in depth look at just one fisherman in Louisiana. We don’t like to repeat a format each week, and we think that changing things up keeps people coming back. One thing that will stay constant is that each week will keep moving, we’ve only got 6 months to cross the country.

BAB: When do you anticipate being in the Bay Area? What types of stories are you looking for to capture the food culture of the Bay Area? Do you have anything lined up yet? How can people submit their stories?

Daniel: We expect to be in the Bay Area in late June, early July. I am really excited about the Bay Area, but also a little nervous. There are so many stories there, it seems like everyone and there brother is involved with food in some way. So we could do something on just how prevalent and awesome good food is. We have been in touch with a number of folks in the Bay Area, but nothing is confirmed yet. On our website we also got hundreds of stories from across the US, many were from the Bay Area. We are still accepting ideas on our site, please: Tell Us Your Local Food Story.

Mirra Filming with second camera. Photo: Chuck Peterson

BAB: I am curious about your production process -- how will you produce segments while on the road? What kind of setup do you have?

Daniel: Working from the road is going to be a challenge, however after filming and editing 52 videos, we are relatively proficient in the process. Our setup will include a laptop, many hard drives, 2 cameras (one HD video camera and one DSLR camera that will be used to film occasionally but more often to capture pictures for our blog and the post-trip cookbook).

Our plan is to always be a week ahead of our videos, so its pretty real time. We are leaving on May 9th and we will release our first video on the 16th. We will film an episode every week as well as extra footage that may not make it into the series, but could appear in a film or mini-series version of the project.

BAB: I hear that Mirra, your vegetarian girlfriend and videographer will be blogging to document your journey in addition to shooting the segments. You say she will provide a vegetarian perspective to the experience -- what does that mean? Why do you want to include this POV?

Daniel and Mirra working together at a Harvest Dinner. Photo: Stephanie Watts

Daniel: Mirra will be blogging. She’s always been a part of the project, though very behind the scenes. But she is a funny writer with a very different POV from my own (when it comes to food). We say she will bring a vegetarian perspective, but really she will just bring her own thoughts to the project, they just happen to be vegetarian. That means when I am excited about some meat, or discussing the morality of killing an animal, she may have something different to say. It won’t all be serious of course, I expect her to make fun of me often.

The show is very much about connecting people to their food and making them think about it. We are learning and don’t know the answers, so by having two very different food perspectives, we are playing to that concept of dialogue and reason. Also, the first episode turned Mirra into a vegetarian -- it may do the same to others -- and that’s ok. The more folks are conscious about what they eat, the better.

Bread Pudding + Pumpkin Soup and Harvest Dinner Menu. Photos: Stephanie Watts

BAB: You also talk about doing events while on the road that people can get involved in. Can you clarify the details for people that might be interested?

Daniel: There are two types of events: harvest dinner and screening. We are working on a 30 minute version of the Minnesota series that we will be showing across the country (along with a Q&A). These screenings can be in at a restaurant, farm, home, theatre... wherever there is space and the appropriate equipment for screening as well as a reasonable size crowd (20+)

For the dinners, we will be cook (and film) and promote the dinner. The host is expected to organize the location, kitchen, money (for food) as well as bring together the guests. The event can be a fundraiser for an organization, a farm or The Perennial Plate. Events must have at least 20 people.

To host an event, please Submit Your Idea.

BAB: Is the Perennial Plate slated to become a documentary film? A TV series?

Daniel: We plan on turning the 6 months of filming into a documentary film or mini-series. Although we are releasing a video every week, we will be filming other content that will make this next phase possible.

BAB: How have you funded your project for the past year? How do you plan to fund your upcoming Real Food Road Trip?

Daniel: Last year was funded out of pocket as well as through crowd funding and hosting harvest dinners. For Season 2 we are raising $20K on Kickstarter (Please Donate!) and also looking for sponsors. It's a lot cheaper to drive around Minnesota than to drive cross-country. We want the viewership to both guide the trip as well as help pay for it.

BAB: What do you hope people will learn from The Perennial Plate?

Daniel: I hope people are entertained and through that entertainment, become more engaged with what they eat. Even if they go in a different direction than I would, if they are thinking and making a choice about it, that is positive.

BAB: How has your project affected the way you view food? View life?

Daniel: The project has made me more open minded about food. I don’t think there is one answer, and when you meet with people who have different points of view, but a similar passion for making good food available, you realize that this process has many paths.

The project has made me look differently at filmmaking and storytelling. I focus more on the person and less on the project, looking for moments of humanity rather than a clear explanation.

The Perennial Plate | Twitter | Facebook | Foursquare

If there is ever a nuclear war or our food system completely falls apart, I'm heading to Hank Shaw's house. Besides being an avid hunter and gardener, Hank is a highly experienced forager -- which means that he's likely to be one of the few people who continue to eat well when the world is on its last legs (assuming we haven't destroyed all plant and animal life, too). Lucky for us, he chronicles his adventures on his blog, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, and is about to release a cookbook/wild food guide, Hunt Gather Cook.

I'm excited to interview Hank about his new book and learning to forage in the Bay Area, an area that is teeming with wild edibles. He was also generous enough to provide a recipe for Fennel and Tomato Pasta Sauce, which you will find at the end of the interview.

Happy foraging!

How do you define "foraging?" What sort of things do foragers do?

I think of foraging as the gathering of wild plants and mushrooms, and, to a lesser extent, shellfish such as clams and mussels. For me, foraging is when you go looking for things that don’t run away. Hunting and fishing involves catching more mobile fare.

Foraging can be as easy as eating the weeds around your house -- you’ll likely find dandelion, wild lettuce, chickweed, plantain, wild mustard and possibly wild onions and salsify root in vacant lots and yards around the Bay Area. Or, foraging can be as tough as digging giant geoduck clams (pronounced gooey-duck), which live three feet under the sand and are only accessible at extreme low tides a few times each year. Picking berries is easy. Picking owl limpets off storm-tossed rocks in Bodega Bay is not.


Foraging has become more popular over the past few years. Any ideas why?

People are yearning to be closer to their food, to know where it comes from and to eat with a sense of place on the plate. To eat abalone is to be Californian. To eat wild rice is to link yourself to the great Northwoods of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Nothing is more local, more seasonal -- and, when done responsibly, more sustainable -- than incorporating wild food into your diet.

Foraging gets you out into the world, into the fresh air and into close contact with Nature. We are all so busy that maybe the simple act of hiking with a purpose provides the spark we need to get the hell away from the computer, whether it’s to bring back huckleberries for a pie or a deer for a full winter’s worth of meals. Foraging allows us to flirt with the wild.

I can walk nearly anywhere and spot edible plants and animals. Knowing that not everyone possesses that skill is a heady, powerful rush. I know I am not alone in that feeling, and many new foragers describe something similar to me when they find a good stash of nettles, or morels, or butter clams.


What can a Bay Area person find in their area? Any ideas for tasty things the average Joe or Jane should keep an eye out for? 


"Yard weeds" are a great place to start. I wrote a primer on lawn foraging a while back that runs through the basics. Mostly these are salad greens, and right now is prime time for them all.

Blackberries are a good one. Everyone knows what they look like, and they are everywhere. Put on some gloves and get out there in July and August. We also have great huckleberry picking around here. Huckleberries are a lot like blueberries, only a little spicier, a little more tart. There are other berries around, too.

Fennel is another easy one. Fennel is native to the Mediterranean, but it was brought to California by Italian immigrants a century ago and has naturalized here. It is the same fennel you get in the store, only denser and more flavorful; it will not have big, fat bulbs, though.

Are there any dangerous foods that locals should avoid? What are your thoughts on the general dangers of foraging? 


Everything has its dangers. Mushrooms, especially. I came very close to poisoning myself recently. I thought I had a fried-chicken mushroom: It met every descriptor, except the spore print. Had I been foolish enough to not take a spore print, who knows what might have happened? That said, chanterelles and morels are pretty easy to identify. Buy a good guidebook (I recommend David Arora’s All that the Rain Promises and More), learn it, and go slow.

This is also true for plants. There are lots of good guidebooks for West Coast foraging. Pick one up and study it, and then bring it into the field with you. Never eat something you cannot absolutely identify.

You will also meet up with ticks, bees, wasps, and, occasionally, rattlesnakes. It’s an occupational hazard. Bears and lions are around in the mountains, too, but they will not generally bother you. I’ve seen both animals several times while foraging. I gotta admit I was a little unnerved by the kitty, though.

Say a person wants to learn more about foraging before setting out on their own. Where should they go for more information? Should they take lessons or go on foraging walks? Where can they find such a thing? 


I know that some people do conduct foraging walks, but I have not been on one since I was 11 years old -- and that was in New Jersey. I’d contact Iso Rabins with Forage SF for more on that one. As for me, I learned everything I know from experience, from books, and from being with knowledgeable friends. If you are into mushrooms, however, there are several excellent mycological societies around the Bay Area. Join one, go on a foray, and learn. It’s a cool experience.

Can you tell us a little bit about your book? What topics does it cover? Will a Bay Area person be able to put it to good use? How about a person in other parts of the country? 


The book is called Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast, and it is intended as a guide and cookbook for anyone who wants to make wild foods part of their diet -- or for someone who already does fish, forage or hunt, this book will help expand their knowledge. A lot of people just forage, but don’t hunt or fish. A lot of hunters don’t know much about foraging, and a lot of anglers don’t understand hunting. This book brings it all together, with recipes at the end of each chapter. Some of those recipes are basic, like buttermilk fried rabbit, but others push the edges of wild game cooking, like wild boar liver crème caramel.

But I think the most important, the most unique piece of this book is the hunting section. Very few books have ever been written for adults who want to start hunting but have no idea how to go about it. Most intro-to-hunting books are geared for little kids. I include extended chapters on everything from hunting rabbits to deer to waterfowl, wild boar and upland game such as pheasants. Not a week goes by when I don’t receive an email from a reader of my blog who wants more information about how to start hunting. This book is an attempt to help.

As for the Bay Area, it is an integral part of my blog, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, and since the book is an outgrowth of the blog, it follows that anyone living in the region will get a lot out of the book. There is not one chapter that is not relevant to someone living in NorCal.

That said, I have lived (and fished, hunted and foraged) in New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and I have visited many other states in search of wild food. Just as there is no chapter that excludes California, no chapter excludes the rest of the country as well. Sure, there may not be highbush cranberries here in NorCal, but the Midwest doesn’t have manzanita or madrone. I write about all of them.

When does the book come out, and where can we get more information? 



Hunt, Gather, Cook comes out May 26. It is already available for pre-order on the various online booksellers such as Amazon.com and Powell’s. Once the book is released, I will be setting up a series of events in the Bay Area and beyond -- cooking demos, readings, even fishing and foraging trips. You can get updated information about both the book and where I will be doing events on my blog, Honest-food.net, and by following me on Twitter under @Hank_Shaw.

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Fennel and Tomato Pasta Sauce
By Hank Shaw, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

Tomatoes and fennel pair well together, and this recipe is wonderful with the baby fennel that is sprouting all over the Bay Area right now. The sauce gets an added anise hit with a splash of Ouzo or Pernod, just to liven things up.

It is a great vegetarian sauce to serve with pasta, ideally a long pasta like spaghetti, bucatini or even homemade tagliatelle. Once you make the sauce, it will store in the fridge for 10 days or so. You can also freeze it.
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup wild fennel, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/4 cup ouzo or other anise-flavored liqueur
1 quart tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon mint or lemon verbena, chopped
Salt to taste
Pecorino cheese to garnish

Instructions:
1. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a wide, deep pan or a large pot. When the oil is hot, add the fennel and onion and saute for 4-5 minutes, until the veggies are translucent. Don’t let the veggies brown — turn down the heat if you need to. Add the garlic and saute for another minute or two.

2. Pour in the ouzo and let this boil until it is reduced by half. Add the crushed tomatoes, honey and mint and mix well. Taste for salt and add some if needed. Let this simmer gently for 30 minutes.

3. Put the sauce into a blender or food processor and puree. Pour the blended sauce back into the pot and bring to a simmer. You’re ready to serve. This is a powerful sauce, so use less than you think you need at first.

(Note: Photos courtesy of the fabulous Holly Heyser)

Sean of Hapuku Fish Shop at Market Hall

You wouldn't think that something as mundane as making a sandwich for my daughters on a weekend afternoon would be loaded with controversy, but it is. You see, my daughters love tuna fish sandwiches. Easy enough, right? We all grew up on sandwiches made of canned white tuna mixed with mayonnaise and served with a pickle. Yet although this quintessential American lunch may seem benign, it's something I refuse to serve my children. The tuna fish sandwich we all grew up on is now too controversial, and potentially dangerous, for my daughters to eat.

As a recent San Francisco Magazine article entitled "The New School of Fish" by Erik Vance has helped highlight, eating carnivorous fish like tuna is unsustainable. But as a mother, I'm equally (if not more) concerned with mercury levels in the foods I give my family, along with antibiotics founds in many farmed fish stocks. Yes, I want to support sustainable fishery, but I also want to make sure I'm not dousing my children's bodies with poison.

Mr. Vance's exploration of fish sustainability and Forum's latter discussion on the topic were both incredibly informative and helpful to me as a consumer, yet I'm starting to realize that although I know more now than I did before, I am still woefully uninformed. One of the big discussions on Forum was that although fish markets and restaurants may think they're offering sustainable and healthy choices, they later find out that they were misinformed, and in some cases lied to, by distributors. On Forum, Craig Stoll of Delfina said that he found out only that morning that the Petrole Sole he offered the night before had questionable sustainability issues. If he can't figure it out, how do ordinary consumers stand a chance?

Over the years I've struggled to find a solid list of fish that I can give my family, but like a neighborhood built on landfill, what seems solid at one moment can buckle the next. So although a type of fish may seem okay one year, an El Nino season, a hurricane somewhere, an oil spill, or simply new scientific information about fish habitats and levels can change everything.

This is why I now purchase my seafood from a local fish shop that is owned and operated by someone who is passionate about providing sustainable and healthy fish to his customers. As an East Bay resident I go to Hapuku Fish Shop at Market Hall in the Rockridge District of Oakland. Going to a market like Hapuku allows me to be a little lazier. The store chooses their selection according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list and they make an effort to know where their fish selection comes from and how they were caught. I now also try to avoid all large carnivorous fish because their mercury levels are higher (and, as it turns out, these fish also dominate the overfished and endangered lists).

But shopping at Hapuku isn't always realistic for me, and not everyone has access to a fish monger who's passionate about what he sells. When I'm shopping somewhere else, I've come up with a list of resources that help me determine what I should and should not buy. Most of the resources are online, so having a smart phone is pretty helpful when purchasing fish and although I think it's ridiculous that I need to be plugged into the Internet to buy salmon, this is sadly the world we live in now. If you don't have a smart phone, you could easily copy these resources and take them with you when shopping.

Here's my list. If you know of other reliable resources, please share them in the comments section.

Consumer Fish Resource List

• The granddaddy of all resources is the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch List, which catalogs every imaginable fish and details what is a best choice (taking into account both health issues and sustainability factors) and which fish should be avoided. If you have an iPhone or other smart phone, you can download their free app. If not, you can print their cheat sheets from their site; or you can pick up a nicely printed card from them the next time you go to their wonderful aquarium.
• Only buy fish that is in season. Sausalito's Fish Restaurant has a fantastic Truly Sustainable Choices cheat sheet available for this purpose. When you look at it you'll see that fish have seasons, much like peaches and tomatoes, so if want to buy California Sea Bass, get it in the summer.
• Monterey Fish Market has its own incredibly helpful list of sustainably-fished seafood on their site that is worth checking out.
• Erik Vance's San Francisco Magazine article The New School of Fish provides an in-depth look at fishing and sustainability, but even if you don't have time to read the whole thing, it's worth taking a look at the visuals that go with it. I especially like the alternatives list, where Mr. Vance provides information on good sustainable alternatives (such as substitute California Albacore Tuna for Ahi Tuna). The article also details the difference between various fishing techniques, from rod and reel to long line (and I guarantee you that once you read about long-line fishing you'll never knowingly purchase anything that was caught that way again).
• Whole Foods shoppers can look for the "Fish Forever" label, which lists fish endorsed by the Marine Stewardship Council, although beware that this independent non-profit organization has been questioned by the Times of London and that Greenpeace does not endorse it.
• Greenpeace has its own International Seafood Red List which inventories fish to avoid.
• And of course, there are a variety of wonderful small fish markets in the Bay Area that are run by people who are knowledgeable, so seek those out.

Sustainable Fishing Issues in the News this Week
Should selling and distributing shark fins be illegal?
Challenges to the Endangered Species Act to Protect Delta Smelt

A new bill introduced by state Assembly members Paul Fong and Jared Huffman sinks its teeth into the sale and distribution of shark fins in California. Environmentalists say AB376 would help stop the torture and slaughter of endangered shark species. But state Senator Leland Yee and some members of the Chinese business community contend that sweeping legislation is too broad of an approach. They also see the law as an attack on Asian culture.

Host: Michael Krasny

Guests:
• Adam Keigwin, chief of staff for state Senator Leland Yee
• John McCosker, senior scientist and chair of the Department of Aquatic Biology at the California Academy of Sciences
• Paul Fong, assemblyman for California's 22nd District
• Peter Knights, executive director of Wild Aid -- a non-profit organization committed to stopping the illegal wildlife trade

Related Information:
• The Great White Shark: Meet the Man in the Gray Suit (KQED Quest)
• Calif. shark fin bill would ban Chinese delicacy (SFGate)
• Shark fins: Can we preserve human culture and dwindling species? (SFGate: The Thin Green Line)
• Is Banning Shark's Fin Racist? (SFoodie)

Oprah did a pretty big thing for the vegan community last week. She had a Vegan Challenge where she and 378 Harpo staffers went vegan for a week, followed by a show on veganism, American eating habits, factory farming, and industrial agriculture. Guests Kathy Freston, Michael Pollan, and Lisa Ling joined. There have been mixed emotions about the show: Was it sugar-coated? Should Michael Pollan have even been there? Did the footage of a Cargill slaughterhouse correctly represent the true horror of animal agriculture (Hint: No. But a new and concise video called Farm to Fridge by Mercy for Animals does. So does Earthlings.)? There was a sense of tip-toeing around the issues, which I’m sure was at least in part due to the infamous Texas Cattlemen vs. Oprah Winfrey and Howard Lyman lawsuit of 1998. Lisa Ling mentioned that they were not allowed to shoot everything at the slaughterhouse, and Oprah even says in one segment “Let’s try not to get sued.”

Oprah Goes Vegan

That’s not to say that good things didn’t come out of the show. One thing most vegans can probably agree upon is that it was huge exposure for the vegan lifestyle. Ten—hell, five—years ago, this wouldn’t have happened. Ellen is awesome, Martha has been great—but really, you can’t get bigger than Oprah in terms of reaching an audience. She opened a dialogue which few media personalities have dared to open.

Not only did Oprah convince her staff to go vegan with her (who collectively lost 444 pounds and gained 84 pounds), but she also instituted Meatless Mondays at the Harpo café and created a Vegan Starter Kit that now lives on her website. It features a grocery list, a 3-week meal plan, a list of simple substitutions, a vegan FAQ, and some Vegan 101 from Kathy Freston (whose new book, The Veganist, was the number one best-selling book on Amazon after the show aired).

Kathy Freston on Being a Veganist

While the kit is pretty good for basic info, it does include a lot of processed foods, and TONS of Kashi (who seems to be a sponsor, owned by Kellogg Company). PETA has had a Vegetarian/Vegan Starter Kit on their site for years. Believe it or not, not all vegans agree with all of PETA’s tactics, but for all the controversial things they’ve done, they’ve also done a lot of good. One of those good things is their kit. It’s interactive and approachable, with traveler tips, recipes, and a shopping guide of what’s vegan at your regular, everyday supermarket (note: They are not all healthy—just vegan!). The shopping list is very handy for vegans just starting out or living in areas that are not vegan-friendly.

I referenced kits like these when I first became vegan, but as the years have gone by, I’ve grown a lot in my knowledge of what makes my life easier, healthier, and tastier and I’ve naturally moved beyond the basics. With the help of blogs, cookbooks, videos, and yes, even celebrities, I’ve compiled, not only a great pantry and fridge, but also a strong library of resources. What better way to append the efforts of Oprah’s starter kit and online “resource center,” than to add what I know? New and exciting vegan information, products and places pop up everyday, so please feel free to comment and add resources that should be included. For those either committed to or just flirting with the idea of going vegan, I hope that this list proves useful.

In My Vegan Pantry/Fridge:
These are not your standard tofu/veggie dog/beans suggestions that most beginner vegan guides list. But they are essential for me and for most vegans I know. There is a whole world beyond what most people consider "typical vegan ingredients."

1. Cashews: For nut cheeses, milks, sour cream, cream cheese, pumpkin pies, cream soups, the list goes on...
2. Nutritional Yeast: To create cheesy sauces, add savory flavors, and as an alternative to parmesan. It's also a source of B-12.
3. So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer: For coffee and to add something creamier to dessert recipes than your standard soy/coconut/hemp/almond/rice milk.
4. Seitenbacher Vegetable Broth and Seasoning: It doesn't have crap for ingredients and adds tons of savory flavor to sauces and broths. You can get it at Whole Foods.
5. Wine: Get a vegan variety and use to deglaze pans, pump up sauces, or add more flavor to veggies.
6. EatPastry cookies: I always have tubs of this dough in the fridge to eat raw (you can do that when it's vegan!) or baked. The gluten-free variety is amazing.
7. Coconut Oil: For frosting. Extra virgin if you don't mind the scent or prefer something unrefined. Otherwise you can get unscented.
8. Ener-G Egg Replacer, flax seeds, and/or applesauce: All can be used as egg replacements in baked goods.
9. Vegenaise: As good as non-vegan mayo. Stay away from Nayonaise.
10. Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread: A great butter replacement for cooking, baking, and just on toast. I prefer the soy-free variety.

Best Local Places to Shop for Unique and Standard Vegan Groceries:
Rainbow Grocery (San Francisco)
Berkeley Bowl Marketplace (Berkeley)
Whole Foods (Everywhere)
Farmer Joe's Marketplace (Oakland)
The Food Mill (Oakland)
New Leaf Community Markets (Santa Cruz area)
Veg Food Finder for Stores in the Bay Area

Vegan videos and cooking shows (because Food Network STILL refuses to produce a vegetarian cooking show):
Miyoko’s Kitchen (with Bay Area native and vegan cheese aficionado, Miyoko Schinner)
The Post Punk Kitchen with Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Vegan Blogs/Websites:
The Kind Life: Alicia Silverstone’s blog is just as approachable, smart, and, well, kind, as her book, The Kind Diet.
The Spunky Coconut: A cooking blog that often features gluten-free, casein-free, and sugar-free vegan recipes.
Vegan Good Things
Crazy Sexy Life
My Face is on Fire
What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyways?
I Eat Trees
Vegan.org
Vegan.com: Check out their Ultimate Vegan Guide.
VegWeb : They have over 13,000 recipes and anyone can submit one!

Bay Area Vegan Resources:
vegansaurus
The San Francisco Vegetarian Society
SF Vegan Drinks
VegNews
Bay Area Vegetarians: Veg Food Finder
The Vegan Restaurant Guide to San Francisco & The Bay Area (pdf) by Friends of Animals

Cookbooks (Oh my goodness, there are SO many, but here’s a good variety):
Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine by Dynise Balcavage
The Gluten-Free Vegan: 150 Delicious Gluten-Free, Animal-Free Recipes by Susan O'Brien
Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine by Bryant Terry
The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat by Tal Ronnen

For Parents:
Vegan Lunchbox
Vegan Dad
That's Why We Don't Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things (children’s book)

Meet the Animals:
Farm Sanctuary in Orland, CA
Animal Place Sanctuary in Grass Valley, CA near Vacaville

iPhone apps:
VegOut (powered by the HappyCow Compassionate Eating Guide)
VegWeb Recipe Finder
Vegan is Easy (based on Barnivore’s database)
Animal Free

Worth the Splurge:
Vitamix
It’s not just for smoothies. It’s a must for nut-based cheeses, sour cream and milks, as well as homemade vegan ice cream, pureed soups, and sauces. This is seriously the best purchase I have made in years and it has opened up doors for me in my culinary adventures at home.

The opening of the Happy Girl Kitchen Co.'s cafe in October. Photo: Courtesy of Happy Girl Kitchen

Way back in the dark ages of organic dining -- about 15 or 20 years ago now -- I remember the first time I saw the term "antibiotic- and hormone-free eggs" on the menu. It was at a cafe in the Mission District just at the beginning of the explosion of sustainable eats on those streets, I'm thinking Val21, if memory serves me correctly.

Such terminology was new to me then, and many others I suspect, and it struck me as kind of funny. Despite the slightly higher cost, who in their right mind, I wondered, would knowingly order the eggs with icky additives given the choice?

So I was a little surprised to see a panel on the agenda of the recent EcoFarm Conference about the emerging organic food cafe trend. Emerging seems a bit of a stretch, given the plethora of organic eateries out there that have been in business for some time, in certain cases a couple of decades.

Still, it is worthwhile to take stock of how far we've come in terms of knowing we have a bevy of chophouse choices on the local, natural, sustainable, free-range, hand-made, organic front.

Since serving meat and dairy from contented cows raised in bucolic settings with oceans views, along with greens lovingly grown from heirloom seeds sown tenderly by farmers who have deep, personal relationships with their animals and plants are now made fun of in the local media -- Dan Hoyle's The Real Americans and Chronicle columnist's Jon Carroll's recent column come to mind -- it seems pretty clear that this phenomenon has well and truly hit the mainstream in the Bay Area and beyond.

Talking up this trend on the panel Saturday was Todd Champagne, one half of the team behind Happy Girl Kitchen Co., the pickling and preserving company that opened an organic cafe in October in its new food preservation center in Pacific Grove, site of a former beloved natural food grocery known as The Grannery.

I stopped by the store on my way out of town after the EcoFarm event and the place was buzzing with conference attendees picking up canning supplies and pantry items, including Happy Girl's award-winning Apricot Chili Jam (see Bay Area Bites post on the Good Food Awards.)

I stayed for a simple yet satisfying lunch and it was immediately clear how the cafe complements the company's business philosophy, which has always aligned itself with local, organic farmers.

Also: Super savvy marketing move. What better way to enjoy tea and toast in the morning than slathered with some Strawberry and Lavender Jam (my personal favorite) straight from the kitchen? Likewise, my cheese, pear and salad greens sandwich came with a generous serving of pickled green beans on the side. Smart.

Jordan Champagne, who was teaching a cheese-making class on site in the center's certified kitchen, later confirmed my thinking. "Opening the cafe was such a natural fit for us," she says. "And coming up with a menu was pretty, well, organic, and just flowed from the kinds of products we already make."

Charlie Hong Kong's is a Santa Cruz institution. Photo: Courtesy of Charlie Hong Kong

Earlier in the day at the panel Caroline Rudolf of Charlie Hong Kong's in Santa Cruz explained how she and her husband began, essentially, an affordable fast food joint that just happened to sell healthy, tasty bowls of steaming goodness reminiscent of the street food they ate and loved in their extensive travels. Charlie Hong Kong's is a Santa Cruz institution; the pair opened another store in Marin in December.

Missing from the mix that day: Tanya Holland, the soul food chef behind Brown Sugar Kitchen in West Oakland, whose kitchen combines locally-grown, organic, and seasonal produce with menus that reflect her African American heritage and formal culinary training in France.

Each of these organic entrepreneurs do something a little different with food. What they all have in common: A proven track-record and kudos from critics and consumers alike. Oh, and they seem to be holding their own during a tough economy, in the food field no less, which is not known for its high profit margins.

Other organic cafes and restaurants are sprouting up all over. In Berkeley alone Gather, Saturn Cafe, and Zatar, which serves up hand-selected organic fruits, herbs, and vegetables, many harvested daily from the owners own impressive produce garden, come immediately to mind.

Now it's your turn: I'm curious to hear from readers whether they choose a cafe or restaurant based on where the food comes from and how it was raised. Do you have your own local organic eatery that you frequent?

Share your picks in the comments area.

Many San Francisco restaurants often boast that the fish they serve is "sustainable." But a closer look suggests that might not be the case. Forum talks with restaurant owners and fish wholesalers about the challenges of catching, selling and serving "sustainable" fish -- and what it will take for your conscience to match what's on your plate.

Host: Dave Iverson

Guests:
• Craig Stoll, chef and owner of Delfina restaurant and pizzeria in San Francisco
• Erik Vance, journalist and author of the San Francisco Magazine article, "The New School of Fish"
• Kenny Belov, co-owner of Fish restaurant in Sausalito and the wholesale company 2xsea
• Paul Johnson, founder and president of the Monterey Fish Market, a wholesale and retail fish market in the San Francisco Bay area

Related Information:
• The New School of Fish
• Scoring the top Bay Area restaurant menus for sustainability of the fish they serve
• Monterey Fish Market: Fish Sustainability advisory list
• Fish Restaurant: Truly Sustainable Fish Choices
• Monterey Bay Aquarium: Seafood Watch Program recommendations

Where's the beef? These days, as numerous workshops at the recent EcoFarm Conference revealed, it's on the farm—right alongside the sheep, the chickens, the ducks, and the goats.

From a farming perspective, biodiversity used to mean replacing typical fenceline-to-fenceline monocropping (which you can still still see down in the Central Valley: huge tracts of dirt planted with nothing but straight lines of strawberries or lettuce) with a more photogenic mix of pollinator-feeding flowers, orchards, hedgerows, and assorted vegetables in colorful profusion, all working in sync to make the farm a happier habitat for beneficial bugs, predators, and people.

Now, however, more and more small farms (and vineyards) are getting livestock into the mix. Whether they're providing milk, eggs, meat, or labor, animals and poultry are taking their place again alongside the tractor and the compost pile as integral parts of the contemporary, sustainable organic farm.

The 2011 conference had a much more concentrated interest in horns and hoofs than in years past. At least half a dozen workshops focused on animal issues, ranging from "Ecosystem Services in Livestock Production" and "Cattle and Carbon: Rangeland Conservation & Climate Protection" to "Healthy Herds, Healthy Markets: Raising Heritage Breed Livestock and Poultry" and "Building a Local Meat Supply Chain."

Putting the proof onto the plate was Marin Sun Farms, our own local grass-fed meat company, whose in-kind sponsorship of the conference put excellent local chicken, bacon, and lamb onto the menu of Asilomar's dining room throughout the conference (which made, for the omnivores among us, a welcome alternative to the usual beans, kale, and quinoa).

Why have animals on a farm? Well, as one of the owners of Full Belly Farm pointed out, a productive, diversely-planted organic farm produces a lot of surplus food. Restaurants, retailers, CSA and farmers' market customers all want the good stuff. They'll pay for it, but it has to look and taste the best. And if you're not bathing your produce in pesticides to keep it the boring, munching, scarring bugs at bay, well, you're going to end up culling a whole lot of not-so-pretty, overripe or undersized stuff along the way.

Some of it feeds your family and your workers. Some of it can feed your compost. But if you want to turn oversize zucchini and beat-up tomatoes into usable, high-quality protein (not to mention plenty of fertilizer), well, nothing beats feeding it to pigs, goats, or chickens.

Backyard goats and chickens enjoying some sweet and crunchy discards from Star Route Farm

It's all part of the closed-loop system advocated by Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian polymath who mixed biology and soil science with folk wisdom and time-tested peasant farming practices, codifying it into what we now call biodynamics. Stripped of its more arcane spiritual elements, it's more or less the same down-to-earth, interconnected system advocated by Joel Salatin, the nattily dressed farmer/author of Virginia's Polyface Farm, who gave an impassioned speech last month in Point Reyes Station. Drawing from his latest book, The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer, Salatin turned the hay-lined Toby's Feed Barn into a tent revival for smart pasturing practices and mixed-use farms. Real pork, he insisted, wasn't a "white meat;" instead, if the pig's been raised right, rooting around, living out its full pig-attude, its meat should be iron-rich and consequently rosy pink.

Joel Salatin. Photo by Stephane von Stephane

Even wineries are getting in on the act: at Robert Sinskey, in Napa, part of the vineyards' biodynamic practice involves grazing down the weeds with sweet-faced Romney sheep, whose wool is sold alongside the wine in the tasting room.

But, as much as we might hope to be going back to a more natural practice with grass-fed meat and pastured eggs, few consumers are ready to think of steak and omelets as exclusively seasonal products, dictated by water, daylight, and temperatures just as much as asparagus or raspberries. If you have backyard chickens, you know that laying slows down dramatically as the days get shorter. Grass-fed cows have to be managed according to the ecosystems of their particular pastures.

Rearing animals on grass takes time, and as talk with numerous small farmers and ranchers at the conference proved, no one small farm or ranch can provide a year-round supply of freshly slaughtered meat. The answer? Co-ops and partnerships. As the workshop "Are CSAs Sustainable?" proved, a single farm limited by acreage, climate, and resources can't always produce enough variety to keep customers coming back for a box year-round. Your cool, moist, ocean-fogged farm might produce spectacular greens and kales—but what happens in July, when "greens fatigue" sets in and your members are longing for peaches and tomatoes? You can preach the virtues of chard; scrape up another loan, lease another parcel of land and increase your payroll; or partner with an inland neighbor already dripping in stone fruit and create a box that shares the wealth.

Niman Ranch does this on a large scale; Marin Sun Farms, Straus Family Creamery, and North Coast Meats on a smaller one. Partnering with other ranches helps produce a steady supply, while selling meat through a CSA, like the one described by Tyler Dawley of Barbarosa Ranchers in Red Bluff, insures not only a pre-sold market for the animals, but a chance to familiarize customers with cuts beyond the usual chops and tenderloins.

Cooperatives can also help with the biggest snag in the local-meat supply chain: getting access to a small-scale slaughterhouse, then finding a way through governmental wrapping and packing regulations scaled for the likes of Tyson Foods.

As State Director Dr. Glenda Humiston of USDA Rural Development pointed out, one of the top requests her office gets from rural communities (right after broadband) is access to small-scale slaughterhouses, particularly mobile ones that can move from community to community. Throughout the workshops, farmers with pigs, goats, sheep, and cattle on their land got up to beg for solutions, giving details of sudden shut-downs at nearby slaughterhouses (some affiliated with local ag-training universities) or wrapping/packing facilities.

No one, even the most carnivorous among us, likes to think too hard about how their main course went from animal to ingredient. But with meat moving out of the supermarket and into the farmers' market, thoughtful consumers have more and more chances to find out how their dinner lived, and to put their food dollars towards supporting land-healthy, humane practices.

For more background on the challenges of creating a local meat supply chain, read the report Where's the Local Beef? by Food and Water Watch.

As food justice advocate Joy Moore pointed out to a room full of mostly white folks in food and farming: When you hear "urban" and "youth" in the same headline it's never good news. It's usually something negative associated with drugs, violence, and crime, right?

But at the annual EcoFarm Conference at Asilomar in Pacific Grove on Friday Moore, who teaches cooking and gardening to Berkeley youth, moderated a panel where young city dwellers received top billing to showcase some of the positive programs they're helping to run in their communities.

So we meet Tenise Murphy, a farmers' market coordinator for Farm Fresh Choice, a program of Berkeley’s Ecology Center, begun by Moore and other food activists, to get fresh, organic, sustainable, and affordable food to low-income residents.

We meet Jamila Chandler who walks us through a slideshow of the work done by Urban ReLeaf, a non-profit that has planted and maintains 8,500 trees along median strips and public sidewalks in otherwise barren neighborhoods in Oakland and Richmond.

Chandler gives a shout out to fellow panelist (and her mom) Kemba Shakur, a former corrections officer, who started Urban ReLeaf because she wanted to find ways to both beautify and improve the health and environment in blighted urban enclaves surrounded by freeways and pollution — as well as employ black youth after seeing so many of them in jail in her former job.

And we meet Paul Walker, the self-appointed smoothie maker who helps run the Purple Lawn Cafe in Oakland. Heads up: it’s not purple or a cafe but it is a mobile food booth serving hot, healthy, affordable eats in an an area not known for such offerings.

Walker works with ex-Air Force man Jason Harvey’s non-profit organization Oakland Food Connection, which builds school and community gardens in East Oakland and runs a farmers’ market every Saturday on MacArthur Boulevard in the Laurel District.

Harvey provides a personal perspective on African Americans' roots in both farming and food production. Harvey was raised among elders who knew how to grow food and canned and preserved. And he notes that the Black Panther Party of the mid-1960s and early 70s introduced a free breakfast program for children, which helped spawn the federal government’s school breakfast program that continues to this day.

Fast forward a couple of decades and many urban, low-income communities of color are riddled with corner stores selling mostly junk food or liquor — and their residents are struggling with obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, while also dealing with hunger and malnutrition.

Oakland Food Connection, working in collaboration with like-minded groups such as People’s Grocery, Mandela Marketplace, and City Slicker Farms, is part of a growing movement to bring good grub to so-called food deserts in East and West Oakland.

Murphy is part of an umbrella organization known as Rooted in Community, a national grassroots network that seeks to encourage youth to take up leadership positions in food and farming in their neighborhoods. Kim Allen, the garden program manager for Berkeley Youth Alternatives, was on hand to spread the word about the worthy work of Rooted in Community.

There’s nothing like the enthusiasm, optimism, and idealism of the young to make a room full of adult conference attendees sit up and pay attention.

This is the second conference I've attended in the past few months where urban youth wowed the crowd.

In October last year the Community Food Security Coalition Food, Culture, Justice Conference held in New Orleans highlighted the food and farming work of youth in the town devastated by Hurricane Katrina. We took a tour of school gardens in various stages of development, including a local Edible Schoolyard affiliate where gumbo is on the menu and a line on the kitchen classroom wall marks how high the water rose during the storm.

At a panel discussion we met poised and articulate students from The Rethinkers, who pushed to improve lunch in cafeterias in several schools. And we also heard about a novel education experiment from youth living in the impoverished Lower Ninth Ward who are part of an inspired garden program run out of a former corner store known as Our School at Blair Grocery.

There, Nat Turner and his small team of staff work with youth in an alternative school setting to grow micro-greens that are snapped up by the town’s leading chefs, including John Besh, who owns culinary hot spots Luke, August, Domenica, and La Provence.

It's not just Oakland, Berkeley, and New Orleans. Across the country — as the national membership of Rooted in Community reveals — innovative food and agriculture projects created for and run by the next generation of farmers are sprouting up all over.

And collectively they have a simple message they want to convey about what we eat: Everybody has a right to good food.