Food

I have a friend who has a blog (called Recipes for Trouble), that intertwines life and food in a really cool way. Sometimes, since I love to discover new foods to cook, I think I'll share them here, but I never have. Until today. Ruth and I had a friend over for lunch, so we took the occasion as an opportunity to go to the farmer's market that happens in downtown Oakland (at Jack London Square) on Sundays.

For those of you who have lived in Berkeley, you know the Berkeley Bowl. I knew about it, but it was always so crowded, and impossible to find parking, that I avoided it. But then, one Monday morning at 10:00 (perfect time to go) I went shopping. And I was a happy camper. I finally found a way to get good, wholesome food without breaking the (at this point tiny little) bank, like I would by going to Whole Foods (commonly nicknamed whole paycheck, or whole checkbook).

Remember my post about my drive from Berkeley down to Santa Barbara? Well, the drive up from Idyllwild back to Berkeley was even more instructive in the 'where we get food' department.

First, my image of the San Fernando Valley, as this lush, garden of eden like place where all our vegetables come from has been utterly shattered. I don't know where I got that image, but I guess I must have figured if all this great stuff comes from there, then it must be like a garden of eden.

One of the things that I often do before a meal (at least when I'm being conscious) is think about where the food came from. When I was driving down to Santa Barbara from Berkeley yesterday, I passed fields and fields of food crops, some of which were being picked. At one field, there was a semi, with a flat bed with lots and lots of boxes of cabbage. I recognized the boxes as ones I'd seen in the supermarket - when the folks were stocking the vegetable tables with varied kinds of vegetables.