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"slug": "jay-caspian-kang-asian-food-san-jose-hella-hungry",
"title": "Jay Caspian Kang Loves Bay Area Food — But Isn’t Shy About Bashing It",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inside \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://gangnamtofuusa.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gangnam Tofu\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a destination-worthy Korean restaurant in an otherwise unremarkable El Cerrito strip mall, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jay Caspian Kang\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> orders a round of shareable dishes — galbi, honey-cheese fried chicken and budae jjigae (a wartime-era stew of mixed meats and noodles) — for us to split. As the lunch crowd pours in behind him, Kang tells me why he likes Gangnam over most other Asian eateries in the area: “I just want to eat standard Korean food that’s prepared well.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though he surprisingly prefers his spicy food mild, the Korean-born \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://goodbye.substack.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">podcast host\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, novelist and \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">New Yorker \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">staff writer serves plenty of hot takes on everything from the shortcomings of technology (he’s an aspiring luddite) to the most underrated rap albums of the past quarter century (he stands with Mos Def in the internet feud against Drake). And when it comes to the hypocrisies of Bay Area politics, he especially \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/london-breeds-cynical-swing-to-the-right\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">doesn’t hold back\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950802\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950802\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Best known for articles he’s written for national publications such as the New Yorker, Kang has lived in Berkeley since 2019. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having settled in Berkeley after years of living in New York City and Los Angeles, Kang has developed a genuine appreciation for the Bay Area’s microcultures. Despite growing up on the East Coast and often writing about topics of national interest, Kang has in many ways become a quintessential Northern Californian: In his free time, you might find him surfing or wandering the aisles at Berkeley Bowl.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And yet, he’s also someone who brings a worldly outsider’s unflinching perspective to controversial Bay Area topics such as the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-does-californias-homeless-population-actually-look-like\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">housing crisis\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/magazine/where-does-affirmative-action-leave-asian-americans.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">affirmative action\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He’ll even let you know that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1740961971498074151\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the Asian food in Las Vegas is better than the Bay Area’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perhaps \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950363/keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">our region needs that tough love\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> now more than ever.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While talking to the sports-loving dad and low-key hip-hop historian about the highs and lows of Bay Area living, I remembered why I love this quirky region so deeply, despite its complex truths. Here’s what everyone’s favorite \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tyler Hansborough evangelist\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/hos-jay-caspian-kang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">reformed online troll\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has to say about the state of the Bay — and its food offerings — in these precarious times.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: You were born in Korea, grew up in North Carolina and have lived in a ton of places. How long have you been in the Bay Area?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jay Caspian Kang: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I went to college in New England, and then I went to New York for grad school. But after that, I moved out to California and lived here in San Francisco for six, seven years. I was working as a high school teacher. Then I moved to L.A., back to New York, and then right before the pandemic we moved back out here to Berkeley. It’s been four years now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950796\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950796\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt='Hand pointing to the \"honey cheese chicken\" on Korean restaurant menu.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Perusing the menu at GangNam Tofu . \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve written about \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/magazine/writing-the-wave.html\">\u003cb>your passion for surfing\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb> in the Bay. What draws you to that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m not a good surfer, but yeah, I spend most of my time thinking about surfing. For years, I just went to Ocean Beach all the time, and you get used to it and, you know, you learn how to avoid trouble. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I go once or twice a week. That’s the only way you can do it: You have to prioritize it. Or else, if you don’t, then you don’t ever go. If I get a Zoom call, I’ll just cancel that. You have to live with some of the consequences after, but surfing is very necessary for my mental well-being.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>It sounds like you’ve reached some kind of Zen mindstate. Did you achieve that when you were living in Los Angeles?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t really like to drive. And I’ve never liked Hollywood culture. I just find that the people I vibe most with are generally up here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who do you think is a good example of the Bay Area’s creativity and open-mindedness?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Look at MC Hammer. He grew up doing that boogaloo style of dancing in East Oakland. He downloaded that as a kid. He blew it up into worldwide fame in a modified kind of way. Now that he’s old, his presence on social media is just showing all these old videos of guys from his neighborhood dancing. I find it amazing that he’s willing to go back and show these kids from his block who were his influences, and he’s basically showing how that made him who he is. That’s community, music coming out of community. He’s interesting because he’s like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909788/mc-hammer-oakland-redman-too-short-crips-louis-burrell-mc-serch-hit-e40\">most Oakland dude ever\u003c/a>, but he’s not always seen as being affiliated with that (laughs). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950797\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950797\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kang and KQED reporter Alan Chazaro put in their order. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Bay is weird like that. There’s a lot of different characters here.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is weird. It’s interesting how someone like E-40 has become this sort of mascot as a rapper. He’s the dude. He’s like an entire persona. And people love him because he goes to all the games. I’ve never seen Too $hort at a game. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Did you grow up listening to a lot of Bay Area rap out on the East Coast?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I grew up listening to whatever you imagine a 44-year-old man would listen to (laughs). A Tribe Called Quest. Wu-Tang. Mobb Deep. Then you had the Bay Area, so there was like “Blowjob Betty” or whatever, and you would listen to it, and it was crazy because it was just so nasty. Luniz, Del [the Funky Homosapien]. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Del is the one I personally listened to the most. I still listen to him. The Deltron 3030 album is brilliant. The production on that album is \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">fucking\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> crazy. The whole concept is weird. [Bay Area producer] Dan the Automator had been messing with concept albums for a while. That was just a cool kind of rap with enough label support to make weird shit. That was before MF DOOM and all those dudes. It’s like Del imagining the future, and Del is awesome. He kills it. That album is low-key one of the 20 best rap albums ever. I hesitate to put it higher because is it as important as, say, KRS One? I don’t know. Listening to those KRS One albums can feel like you’re just doing your homework. I bet more people enjoyed Deltron 3030.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s more Bay Area than an Asian American producer teaming up with a nerdy Black dude from East Oakland to make a futuristic album about a fictional dystopian society?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Totally. And these guys were getting deeply influenced by the shit that’s happening with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13812554/how-daly-citys-filipino-mobile-dj-scene-changed-hip-hop-forever\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Filipino DJs in Daly City\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Every city has some version of that, but it’s so interesting in the Bay because it really is so multiracial. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I wonder if the Bay Area still represents that as much as it once did. You commented on the whole \u003c/b>\u003cb>fiasco with TikTok food critic Keith Lee’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950363/keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles\">recent Bay Area visit\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cb>. He said the Bay is “not a place for tourists” right now. What do you think about that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s no question that the Bay Area is going through a difficult time right now. If Keith Lee went to the Tenderloin and parts of East Oakland, which it seems like he did — or even if he went to 24th and Mission, which is highly trafficked — people when they come to the Bay Area and see that, it’s shocking to them. You have to be real about it. You don’t see that in New York. You see it in L.A. but it’s mostly in the Skid Row area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Bay Area has had these issues for a long time, but it was more contained and it didn’t feel like it was as big of a problem. When I moved to San Francisco around 2002, I got off BART at 16th Street. I was like, \u003cem>Wow, this is kind of wild\u003c/em>. And now that has really expanded to a lot of places where a lot more people go. So in the Bay, you get these people coming for conferences or just visiting to see Fisherman’s Wharf, and chances are the hotel is going to be in Union Square or directly in the Tenderloin. So when you leave your hotel, you’re seeing really bad shit. That shocks outsiders and contributes to an unfair narrative. If you put all of the hotels in L.A. on Skid Row, everyone would be saying the same thing about L.A. But at the same time, I think it’s good to bring attention to this problem: We have completely out-of-control homelessness in one of the richest cities in America, and that paradox and contradiction is impossible to resolve.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The way out of it is going to be super messy and will create reactionary elements. People like [\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Fransicko \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">author] Michael Shellenberger believe all these \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Michael-Shellenberger-s-narrative-of-California-17172493.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">drug addicts should just be put in jail.\u003c/span>\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://invisiblepeople.tv/san-francisco-mayor-london-breed-joins-calls-to-punish-homeless-people-overturn-martin-v-boise/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">London Breed sometimes feels that way, too\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But I think overall, those people are underestimating that the San Francisco Bay Area is a very progressive place. They will never accept us locking up these people. And that’s a good thing. The idea that you’re going to lock up the poor and throw away the key, it’s just not going to happen. Right now we’re in a period of extremes: of extreme cynicism and despair. And for good reason, because it’s fucking bad, you know? But I still wouldn’t trade places with anyone to live somewhere else in this country. It’s a trade-off.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950799\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950799\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gangnam Tofu’s version of budae jjigae is a soft tofu stew loaded with sausage and noodles. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Despite our struggles, there’s so much to discover here and so many pockets of rich culture. You actually \u003c/b>\u003cb>had a take\u003c/b>\u003cb> that most of the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1740965943998927231\">Asian food in the Bay Area is bad\u003c/a>, outside of in San Jose. I’m not sure many outsiders, or even locals, would voice that.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So here’s the thing. This is just my theory. Immigrant food is only really good in a certain time period after the people who are making it have immigrated here. For example, new Chinese populations in the United States will have much better food in their restaurants, and in those areas where they are living, than older, established Chinese populations. And the reason for that is very simple. It’s that food on the mainland continues to evolve, right? But the immigrants who have been living here for decades don’t. They’re frozen in time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13904835,arts_13950363,arts_13938479']My parents left Korea in 1978, and they never go back except for a little visit throughout 25 years. And by 1999, their understanding of Korean cuisine is basically frozen in 1978, because every single other person who owns a Korean restaurant also came around that same time, because there was a big wave of immigration from ’75 to ’79. I know that in San Francisco you have a multi-generational embedded Chinese population. But at this point, like, what are we even eating? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of Chinese restaurants [in San Francisco] feel like they’re a movie set or something. It’s very charming, but it’s very old school. In the Richmond, there are places you can find that are exceptions to that. But right now, the cradle for the best Chinese food is from Cupertino to Mountain View, all around Silicon Valley. And the reason for that is because there are a lot of new Chinese immigrants that are coming to work there. In addition to that, there’s this \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904913/vietnamese-drinks-boba-che-guide-san-jose\">Vietnamese mall culture in San Jose\u003c/a>. It’s getting a little old-fashioned, but it’s still super vibrant. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jay Caspian Kang\"]‘Food on the mainland continues to evolve, right? But the immigrants who have been living here for decades don’t. They’re frozen in time.’[/pullquote]I just don’t find anything like that out here in the East Bay. We have taqueros in people’s backyards, and that’s very distinct and fully immigrant-driven, so that feels fresh in the cycle. But with Korean food, you have all these restaurants, but the issue is that they’ve all been here for so long that nothing has been updated. They’re basically selling food from the ’80s — but Korean food updates, even the standard dishes. When something comes straight from there and lands here, it feels exciting. That doesn’t happen as much up here as it does around San Jose. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904835/san-jose-immigrant-food\">The restaurants down there are fire\u003c/a>. Unfortunately I can’t go to Cupertino for lunch.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950795\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950795\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two men seated across from each other inside a Korean restaurant.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many Korean restaurants in the Bay Area are selling a version of Korean food that has been frozen in time since the 1980s, Kang says. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So what are you working on next? What’s on your mind as a locally-based journalist with a national platform?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I write a lot about homelessness, so I’d like to continue to write and think about that. There’s tiny amounts of progress finally being made. It’s actually better than it was. For years here, we kind of felt like it could only get worse. But there are tiny indications things are getting a little bit better, that some of these interventions are working. People are just going to have to get used to the idea that the hotel down the street from their house where nobody ever stayed, that’s now a place for the people in the encampment that you didn’t like. They now live there. If you don’t like that, then I’m sorry. Obviously it’s going to take many, many years. And so following that is very interesting to me. They actually are reversing this thing that seems impossible to fix. I’m also going to write a lot about the upcoming election. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve had a decades-long career in this industry, which is currently struggling as \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11973593/l-a-times-layoffs-decimate-journalists-of-color\">\u003cb>layoffs are decimating newsrooms across the country\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>. What keeps you going?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel the need to write a lot. I used to write very infrequently, and I found that I actually enjoyed writing much more. It’s a way to organize one’s life. Having something to put out and putting it out feels good. Sometimes it’s not great, because you might only have a week to do it. But I’m learning to be fine with that and understanding the job is not to make everything perfect. I’ve really embraced that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"wDYxhc\" lang=\"en-US\" data-attrid=\"kc:/local:lu attribute list\" data-md=\"205\" data-hveid=\"CB4QAA\" data-ved=\"2ahUKEwiGt_a2mIOEAxV_LUQIHYdKB3wQ1rkBegQIHhAA\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"TLYLSe MaBy9\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"CJQ04\">\u003cem>Gangnam Tofu Korean Cuisine (11740 San Pablo Ave. Suite C, El Cerrito) is open Mon.–Fri. from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.; Sat. and Sun. from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inside \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://gangnamtofuusa.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gangnam Tofu\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a destination-worthy Korean restaurant in an otherwise unremarkable El Cerrito strip mall, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jay Caspian Kang\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> orders a round of shareable dishes — galbi, honey-cheese fried chicken and budae jjigae (a wartime-era stew of mixed meats and noodles) — for us to split. As the lunch crowd pours in behind him, Kang tells me why he likes Gangnam over most other Asian eateries in the area: “I just want to eat standard Korean food that’s prepared well.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though he surprisingly prefers his spicy food mild, the Korean-born \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://goodbye.substack.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">podcast host\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, novelist and \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">New Yorker \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">staff writer serves plenty of hot takes on everything from the shortcomings of technology (he’s an aspiring luddite) to the most underrated rap albums of the past quarter century (he stands with Mos Def in the internet feud against Drake). And when it comes to the hypocrisies of Bay Area politics, he especially \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/london-breeds-cynical-swing-to-the-right\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">doesn’t hold back\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950802\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950802\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Best known for articles he’s written for national publications such as the New Yorker, Kang has lived in Berkeley since 2019. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having settled in Berkeley after years of living in New York City and Los Angeles, Kang has developed a genuine appreciation for the Bay Area’s microcultures. Despite growing up on the East Coast and often writing about topics of national interest, Kang has in many ways become a quintessential Northern Californian: In his free time, you might find him surfing or wandering the aisles at Berkeley Bowl.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And yet, he’s also someone who brings a worldly outsider’s unflinching perspective to controversial Bay Area topics such as the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-does-californias-homeless-population-actually-look-like\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">housing crisis\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/magazine/where-does-affirmative-action-leave-asian-americans.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">affirmative action\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He’ll even let you know that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1740961971498074151\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the Asian food in Las Vegas is better than the Bay Area’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perhaps \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950363/keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">our region needs that tough love\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> now more than ever.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While talking to the sports-loving dad and low-key hip-hop historian about the highs and lows of Bay Area living, I remembered why I love this quirky region so deeply, despite its complex truths. Here’s what everyone’s favorite \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tyler Hansborough evangelist\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/hos-jay-caspian-kang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">reformed online troll\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has to say about the state of the Bay — and its food offerings — in these precarious times.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: You were born in Korea, grew up in North Carolina and have lived in a ton of places. How long have you been in the Bay Area?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jay Caspian Kang: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I went to college in New England, and then I went to New York for grad school. But after that, I moved out to California and lived here in San Francisco for six, seven years. I was working as a high school teacher. Then I moved to L.A., back to New York, and then right before the pandemic we moved back out here to Berkeley. It’s been four years now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950796\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950796\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt='Hand pointing to the \"honey cheese chicken\" on Korean restaurant menu.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Perusing the menu at GangNam Tofu . \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve written about \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/magazine/writing-the-wave.html\">\u003cb>your passion for surfing\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb> in the Bay. What draws you to that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m not a good surfer, but yeah, I spend most of my time thinking about surfing. For years, I just went to Ocean Beach all the time, and you get used to it and, you know, you learn how to avoid trouble. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I go once or twice a week. That’s the only way you can do it: You have to prioritize it. Or else, if you don’t, then you don’t ever go. If I get a Zoom call, I’ll just cancel that. You have to live with some of the consequences after, but surfing is very necessary for my mental well-being.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>It sounds like you’ve reached some kind of Zen mindstate. Did you achieve that when you were living in Los Angeles?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t really like to drive. And I’ve never liked Hollywood culture. I just find that the people I vibe most with are generally up here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who do you think is a good example of the Bay Area’s creativity and open-mindedness?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Look at MC Hammer. He grew up doing that boogaloo style of dancing in East Oakland. He downloaded that as a kid. He blew it up into worldwide fame in a modified kind of way. Now that he’s old, his presence on social media is just showing all these old videos of guys from his neighborhood dancing. I find it amazing that he’s willing to go back and show these kids from his block who were his influences, and he’s basically showing how that made him who he is. That’s community, music coming out of community. He’s interesting because he’s like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909788/mc-hammer-oakland-redman-too-short-crips-louis-burrell-mc-serch-hit-e40\">most Oakland dude ever\u003c/a>, but he’s not always seen as being affiliated with that (laughs). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950797\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950797\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kang and KQED reporter Alan Chazaro put in their order. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Bay is weird like that. There’s a lot of different characters here.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is weird. It’s interesting how someone like E-40 has become this sort of mascot as a rapper. He’s the dude. He’s like an entire persona. And people love him because he goes to all the games. I’ve never seen Too $hort at a game. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Did you grow up listening to a lot of Bay Area rap out on the East Coast?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I grew up listening to whatever you imagine a 44-year-old man would listen to (laughs). A Tribe Called Quest. Wu-Tang. Mobb Deep. Then you had the Bay Area, so there was like “Blowjob Betty” or whatever, and you would listen to it, and it was crazy because it was just so nasty. Luniz, Del [the Funky Homosapien]. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Del is the one I personally listened to the most. I still listen to him. The Deltron 3030 album is brilliant. The production on that album is \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">fucking\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> crazy. The whole concept is weird. [Bay Area producer] Dan the Automator had been messing with concept albums for a while. That was just a cool kind of rap with enough label support to make weird shit. That was before MF DOOM and all those dudes. It’s like Del imagining the future, and Del is awesome. He kills it. That album is low-key one of the 20 best rap albums ever. I hesitate to put it higher because is it as important as, say, KRS One? I don’t know. Listening to those KRS One albums can feel like you’re just doing your homework. I bet more people enjoyed Deltron 3030.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s more Bay Area than an Asian American producer teaming up with a nerdy Black dude from East Oakland to make a futuristic album about a fictional dystopian society?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Totally. And these guys were getting deeply influenced by the shit that’s happening with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13812554/how-daly-citys-filipino-mobile-dj-scene-changed-hip-hop-forever\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Filipino DJs in Daly City\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Every city has some version of that, but it’s so interesting in the Bay because it really is so multiracial. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I wonder if the Bay Area still represents that as much as it once did. You commented on the whole \u003c/b>\u003cb>fiasco with TikTok food critic Keith Lee’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950363/keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles\">recent Bay Area visit\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cb>. He said the Bay is “not a place for tourists” right now. What do you think about that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s no question that the Bay Area is going through a difficult time right now. If Keith Lee went to the Tenderloin and parts of East Oakland, which it seems like he did — or even if he went to 24th and Mission, which is highly trafficked — people when they come to the Bay Area and see that, it’s shocking to them. You have to be real about it. You don’t see that in New York. You see it in L.A. but it’s mostly in the Skid Row area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Bay Area has had these issues for a long time, but it was more contained and it didn’t feel like it was as big of a problem. When I moved to San Francisco around 2002, I got off BART at 16th Street. I was like, \u003cem>Wow, this is kind of wild\u003c/em>. And now that has really expanded to a lot of places where a lot more people go. So in the Bay, you get these people coming for conferences or just visiting to see Fisherman’s Wharf, and chances are the hotel is going to be in Union Square or directly in the Tenderloin. So when you leave your hotel, you’re seeing really bad shit. That shocks outsiders and contributes to an unfair narrative. If you put all of the hotels in L.A. on Skid Row, everyone would be saying the same thing about L.A. But at the same time, I think it’s good to bring attention to this problem: We have completely out-of-control homelessness in one of the richest cities in America, and that paradox and contradiction is impossible to resolve.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The way out of it is going to be super messy and will create reactionary elements. People like [\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Fransicko \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">author] Michael Shellenberger believe all these \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Michael-Shellenberger-s-narrative-of-California-17172493.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">drug addicts should just be put in jail.\u003c/span>\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://invisiblepeople.tv/san-francisco-mayor-london-breed-joins-calls-to-punish-homeless-people-overturn-martin-v-boise/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">London Breed sometimes feels that way, too\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But I think overall, those people are underestimating that the San Francisco Bay Area is a very progressive place. They will never accept us locking up these people. And that’s a good thing. The idea that you’re going to lock up the poor and throw away the key, it’s just not going to happen. Right now we’re in a period of extremes: of extreme cynicism and despair. And for good reason, because it’s fucking bad, you know? But I still wouldn’t trade places with anyone to live somewhere else in this country. It’s a trade-off.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950799\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950799\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gangnam Tofu’s version of budae jjigae is a soft tofu stew loaded with sausage and noodles. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Despite our struggles, there’s so much to discover here and so many pockets of rich culture. You actually \u003c/b>\u003cb>had a take\u003c/b>\u003cb> that most of the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1740965943998927231\">Asian food in the Bay Area is bad\u003c/a>, outside of in San Jose. I’m not sure many outsiders, or even locals, would voice that.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So here’s the thing. This is just my theory. Immigrant food is only really good in a certain time period after the people who are making it have immigrated here. For example, new Chinese populations in the United States will have much better food in their restaurants, and in those areas where they are living, than older, established Chinese populations. And the reason for that is very simple. It’s that food on the mainland continues to evolve, right? But the immigrants who have been living here for decades don’t. They’re frozen in time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>My parents left Korea in 1978, and they never go back except for a little visit throughout 25 years. And by 1999, their understanding of Korean cuisine is basically frozen in 1978, because every single other person who owns a Korean restaurant also came around that same time, because there was a big wave of immigration from ’75 to ’79. I know that in San Francisco you have a multi-generational embedded Chinese population. But at this point, like, what are we even eating? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of Chinese restaurants [in San Francisco] feel like they’re a movie set or something. It’s very charming, but it’s very old school. In the Richmond, there are places you can find that are exceptions to that. But right now, the cradle for the best Chinese food is from Cupertino to Mountain View, all around Silicon Valley. And the reason for that is because there are a lot of new Chinese immigrants that are coming to work there. In addition to that, there’s this \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904913/vietnamese-drinks-boba-che-guide-san-jose\">Vietnamese mall culture in San Jose\u003c/a>. It’s getting a little old-fashioned, but it’s still super vibrant. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Food on the mainland continues to evolve, right? But the immigrants who have been living here for decades don’t. They’re frozen in time.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>I just don’t find anything like that out here in the East Bay. We have taqueros in people’s backyards, and that’s very distinct and fully immigrant-driven, so that feels fresh in the cycle. But with Korean food, you have all these restaurants, but the issue is that they’ve all been here for so long that nothing has been updated. They’re basically selling food from the ’80s — but Korean food updates, even the standard dishes. When something comes straight from there and lands here, it feels exciting. That doesn’t happen as much up here as it does around San Jose. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904835/san-jose-immigrant-food\">The restaurants down there are fire\u003c/a>. Unfortunately I can’t go to Cupertino for lunch.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950795\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950795\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two men seated across from each other inside a Korean restaurant.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many Korean restaurants in the Bay Area are selling a version of Korean food that has been frozen in time since the 1980s, Kang says. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So what are you working on next? What’s on your mind as a locally-based journalist with a national platform?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I write a lot about homelessness, so I’d like to continue to write and think about that. There’s tiny amounts of progress finally being made. It’s actually better than it was. For years here, we kind of felt like it could only get worse. But there are tiny indications things are getting a little bit better, that some of these interventions are working. People are just going to have to get used to the idea that the hotel down the street from their house where nobody ever stayed, that’s now a place for the people in the encampment that you didn’t like. They now live there. If you don’t like that, then I’m sorry. Obviously it’s going to take many, many years. And so following that is very interesting to me. They actually are reversing this thing that seems impossible to fix. I’m also going to write a lot about the upcoming election. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve had a decades-long career in this industry, which is currently struggling as \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11973593/l-a-times-layoffs-decimate-journalists-of-color\">\u003cb>layoffs are decimating newsrooms across the country\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>. What keeps you going?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel the need to write a lot. I used to write very infrequently, and I found that I actually enjoyed writing much more. It’s a way to organize one’s life. Having something to put out and putting it out feels good. Sometimes it’s not great, because you might only have a week to do it. But I’m learning to be fine with that and understanding the job is not to make everything perfect. I’ve really embraced that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"wDYxhc\" lang=\"en-US\" data-attrid=\"kc:/local:lu attribute list\" data-md=\"205\" data-hveid=\"CB4QAA\" data-ved=\"2ahUKEwiGt_a2mIOEAxV_LUQIHYdKB3wQ1rkBegQIHhAA\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"TLYLSe MaBy9\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"CJQ04\">\u003cem>Gangnam Tofu Korean Cuisine (11740 San Pablo Ave. Suite C, El Cerrito) is open Mon.–Fri. from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.; Sat. and Sun. from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Hang Out With Your Favorite Bay Area Authors at Reem’s Gaza Ceasefire Event",
"headTitle": "Hang Out With Your Favorite Bay Area Authors at Reem’s Gaza Ceasefire Event | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>For months, Bay Area artists have been vocal about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Indie folk singers have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13940325/mixtape-for-palestine-meca-benefit-compilation\">sold mixtapes\u003c/a> to provide aid to Palestinian children, silkscreen artists have distributed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13937170/the-art-of-protest-in-san-francisco-5-messages-from-the-gaza-rally\">hand-printed protest signs\u003c/a>, and queer DJs and drag performers have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11969701/this-is-resistance-how-queer-palestinian-artists-and-activists-in-the-bay-area-are-making-themselves-heard\">organized street protests\u003c/a>. Through it all, members of the local food community and literary scene have been especially outspoken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To wit, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reemscalifornia/?hl=en\">Reem’s\u003c/a>, the much-lauded Mission District Arab bakery, will host a Gaza fundraiser and ceasefire letter-writing event tonight with a notable literary bent: \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C2kvdWhPM7W/?hl=en\">Many of the Bay Area’s most celebrated writers\u003c/a> — including, quite possibly, \u003ci>your\u003c/i> favorite writer — will be on hand to help champion the cause.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among those attending are Pulitzer and National Book Award–nominated memoirist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101890081/ingrid-rojas-contreras-new-memoir-explores-amnesia-family-history-and-ghosts\">Ingrid Rojas Contreras\u003c/a>; acclaimed novelists \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13897684/pandemic-taiwanese-food-liangs-village\">Esmé Weijun Wang\u003c/a>, R.O. Kwon and Jamil Jan Kochai; anti-capitalist thinker \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13855917/in-how-to-do-nothing-a-simple-near-impossible-challenge\">Jenny Odell\u003c/a>; superstar children’s author \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13927861/scholastic-wanted-to-license-her-childrens-book-if-she-cut-a-part-about-racism\">Maggie Takuda-Hall\u003c/a>; and more. It’s a rare opportunity for Bay Area book lovers to hang out in a casual setting with \u003ci>so much\u003c/i> literary talent in one room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13940325,arts_13915986']\u003c/span>The main focus of the event will be for attendees to spend an hour or two writing letters to their state and federal representatives (on postcards provided by City Lights Bookstore), demanding that they push for a ceasefire in Gaza. As an added perk, chef Reem Assil’s team will serve pastries, mezzes and drinks to everyone who attends. (Assil’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.hospitality-for-humanity.com/\">Hospitality for Humanity\u003c/a> — a pledge signed by food and beverage workers calling for a ceasefire in Gaza — is probably the most \u003ca href=\"https://www.eater.com/23942299/hospitality-for-humanity-palestine-israel-hamas-war-interview-reem-assil\">prominent ceasefire advocacy group\u003c/a>, nationally, within the food industry.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter-writing campaign comes as the Israeli military’s siege of Gaza rapidly approaches its fourth month, with a death toll of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/01/21/1225883522/palestinian-death-toll-soars-past-25-000-in-gaza-with-no-end-to-war-in-sight\">more than 25,000 Palestinians\u003c/a> in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which killed approximately \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-01-21-2024-02caafa092668ecc7ff122229c166807\">1,200 Israelis\u003c/a> and took another 250 hostage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tickets can be purchased in the form of a donation of at least $5 to a fundraiser, organized by Rojas Contreras, benefitting World Central Kitchen’s operations to \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C2qdkwev4Pg/\">provide hot meals\u003c/a> to Palestinians on the ground in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C2kvdWhPM7W/\">letter-writing event\u003c/a> at Reem’s (2901 Mission St., San Francisco) takes place on Monday, Jan. 29, from 5–7 p.m. The entry fee is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/ceasefire-fundraising-for-world-central-kitchen?utm_campaign=unknown&utm_content=undefined&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=linktr.ee\">donation of at least $5\u003c/a> to World Central Kitchen’s relief efforts in Gaza.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For months, Bay Area artists have been vocal about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Indie folk singers have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13940325/mixtape-for-palestine-meca-benefit-compilation\">sold mixtapes\u003c/a> to provide aid to Palestinian children, silkscreen artists have distributed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13937170/the-art-of-protest-in-san-francisco-5-messages-from-the-gaza-rally\">hand-printed protest signs\u003c/a>, and queer DJs and drag performers have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11969701/this-is-resistance-how-queer-palestinian-artists-and-activists-in-the-bay-area-are-making-themselves-heard\">organized street protests\u003c/a>. Through it all, members of the local food community and literary scene have been especially outspoken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To wit, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reemscalifornia/?hl=en\">Reem’s\u003c/a>, the much-lauded Mission District Arab bakery, will host a Gaza fundraiser and ceasefire letter-writing event tonight with a notable literary bent: \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C2kvdWhPM7W/?hl=en\">Many of the Bay Area’s most celebrated writers\u003c/a> — including, quite possibly, \u003ci>your\u003c/i> favorite writer — will be on hand to help champion the cause.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among those attending are Pulitzer and National Book Award–nominated memoirist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101890081/ingrid-rojas-contreras-new-memoir-explores-amnesia-family-history-and-ghosts\">Ingrid Rojas Contreras\u003c/a>; acclaimed novelists \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13897684/pandemic-taiwanese-food-liangs-village\">Esmé Weijun Wang\u003c/a>, R.O. Kwon and Jamil Jan Kochai; anti-capitalist thinker \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13855917/in-how-to-do-nothing-a-simple-near-impossible-challenge\">Jenny Odell\u003c/a>; superstar children’s author \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13927861/scholastic-wanted-to-license-her-childrens-book-if-she-cut-a-part-about-racism\">Maggie Takuda-Hall\u003c/a>; and more. It’s a rare opportunity for Bay Area book lovers to hang out in a casual setting with \u003ci>so much\u003c/i> literary talent in one room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>The main focus of the event will be for attendees to spend an hour or two writing letters to their state and federal representatives (on postcards provided by City Lights Bookstore), demanding that they push for a ceasefire in Gaza. As an added perk, chef Reem Assil’s team will serve pastries, mezzes and drinks to everyone who attends. (Assil’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.hospitality-for-humanity.com/\">Hospitality for Humanity\u003c/a> — a pledge signed by food and beverage workers calling for a ceasefire in Gaza — is probably the most \u003ca href=\"https://www.eater.com/23942299/hospitality-for-humanity-palestine-israel-hamas-war-interview-reem-assil\">prominent ceasefire advocacy group\u003c/a>, nationally, within the food industry.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter-writing campaign comes as the Israeli military’s siege of Gaza rapidly approaches its fourth month, with a death toll of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/01/21/1225883522/palestinian-death-toll-soars-past-25-000-in-gaza-with-no-end-to-war-in-sight\">more than 25,000 Palestinians\u003c/a> in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which killed approximately \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-01-21-2024-02caafa092668ecc7ff122229c166807\">1,200 Israelis\u003c/a> and took another 250 hostage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tickets can be purchased in the form of a donation of at least $5 to a fundraiser, organized by Rojas Contreras, benefitting World Central Kitchen’s operations to \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C2qdkwev4Pg/\">provide hot meals\u003c/a> to Palestinians on the ground in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C2kvdWhPM7W/\">letter-writing event\u003c/a> at Reem’s (2901 Mission St., San Francisco) takes place on Monday, Jan. 29, from 5–7 p.m. The entry fee is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/ceasefire-fundraising-for-world-central-kitchen?utm_campaign=unknown&utm_content=undefined&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=linktr.ee\">donation of at least $5\u003c/a> to World Central Kitchen’s relief efforts in Gaza.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Sohla El-Waylly Cements Her Starring Role With a Thrilling Debut Cookbook",
"headTitle": "Sohla El-Waylly Cements Her Starring Role With a Thrilling Debut Cookbook | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Sohla El-Waylly is a culinary maverick of our time: She knows how to deactivate the surface starches of rice for the perfect pilaf, she’s made crudités sexy by sheer force of will and she’s spoken truth to power with lasting impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El-Waylly’s highly-anticipated first cookbook, \u003ci>Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook\u003c/i>, is the this-is-just-the-beginning hat tip of a chef who’s quickly won over the hearts of home cooks all over the world — and who’s already planning her next book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in 2020, El-Waylly said she wasn’t being equitably compensated for her work as an assistant food editor at Bon Appetit, a public statement that became a part of a much larger racial reckoning in food media. It also launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNnBPM0Y9gU&ab_channel=Natalie\">fan-made supercuts\u003c/a> of every time El-Waylly was called over by white colleagues to temper chocolate or give her expert advice on using masa harina, all uncompensated. It’s the classic story of an undervalued woman of color shamelessly confused with the other South Asian woman in the office by her own boss — but onstage at the 92nd Street Y \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sj7L30851Q&ab_channel=LisaPhamFlowers\">for the whole internet to see\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El-Waylly launched herself out of Bon Appetit and into everywhere else: \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i7fVY596mY&t=152s\">Food 52\u003c/a>, the History Channel, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybNex3XsgFc&t=73s&ab_channel=NYTCooking\">New York Times Cooking channel\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXnlVlkkkxM&ab_channel=BabishCulinaryUniverse\">Babish Culinary Universe\u003c/a> and an HBO series that she co-hosted with actor Dan Levy. Her obvious culinary mastery that doesn’t stop at how to cook something but why you cook it that way — on a chemical level — coupled with her punchy witticisms and flaky salt-of-the-earth sincerity has earned her prime time in the pantheon of unmistakably cool internet personalities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always struggled to learn the way I was \u003ci>supposed\u003c/i> to learn, whether in the high school geography class I had to repeat or in a restaurant kitchen following a chef’s blunt commands,” she writes in the book’s introduction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What emerges from El-Waylly’s candid trove of fumbles and failures is a person who really knows what she’s talking about — who can tell you exactly where you went wrong because she’s been there herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of her San Francisco book tour appearances on January 29 and 30, I talked to El-Waylly about how to host a dinner party that will cure winter blues and what she ate the last time she visited the Bay, as a depressed undergrad over 20 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity\u003c/i>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>OLIVIA CRUZ MAYEDA:\u003c/b> Your new cookbook weaves in guidance and anecdotes that feel resonant in the kitchen and outside it, too. What do you hope people take with them from \u003ci>Start Here\u003c/i> as they move through the world?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SOHLA EL-WAYLLY: \u003c/b>I think the biggest message is that you’re going to mess up, and it’s going to be okay — that’s the main thing. I think that a lot of times people don’t even try stuff because they’re afraid of failing or just not being good at it. But I think it’s important to remember that everyone’s terrible at everything in the beginning, and you just have to push through that phase of maybe making a lot of bad food, and it will eventually get good. I think that really applies to everything in life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" style=\"max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px\" cite=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@sohlae/video/7283990481220963626\" data-video-id=\"7283990481220963626\">\n\u003csection>\u003ca title=\"@sohlae\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@sohlae?refer=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@sohlae\u003c/a> Here’s another peek from my cookbook, START HERE! (Have you preordered yet!?) In it, I teach you techniques, so eventually you won’t need recipes any more! Like this method for the best crispy, juicy, seared & braised chicken thighs. Make it like me with salsa verde and zucchini, or make it your own with cauliflower & curry, carrots & bone broth, or however the hell you want! Photos @Laura hi \u003ca title=\"♬ Sweet Dreams - Trinix\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/music/Sweet-Dreams-6795037315535210498?refer=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">♬ Sweet Dreams – Trinix\u003c/a>\u003c/section>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>[tiktok]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The \u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003ci>New York Times\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cb> called your cookbook “the new \u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003ci>Joy of Cooking\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cb>.” What cookbooks or food personalities most influenced you when you were starting out?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every day after school, I’d watch Jacques Torres. He had this show on PBS called “Desert Circus.” It had a really fun intro, and he’d roll around on roller skates. He did a chocolate sculpture once, and he had all these molds. And then he was like, “Anything can be a mold.” And he grabbed that air conditioner filter and molded chocolate on that, so then I went and I grabbed the filter out of the air conditioner! A lot of people can be a little rigid and, especially with pastry, be like, “You have to get this piping tip,” you know, “and you need this cake pan.” But he showed how you can make things work with what you have. And I feel like that really inspired me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are you looking forward to during your visit to the Bay Area? Any foods in particular?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, I haven’t been in a really long time, but I went to school at UC Irvine. And I was really depressed. So the thing to do was to just drive to San Francisco all the way up [the Pacific Coast Highway]. And then get clam chowder at, like, five in the morning. I want to go to that pier that I went to and try to get some clam chowder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I first encountered your work when you were still working at Bon Appetit, where you were part of a racial reckoning at the publication but also in food media at large. Do you feel like any meaningful change has happened since then?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It does feel like there’s more diverse voices that are out there now. But I think that the biggest thing — and I don’t even think this has anything to do with anything I did or anything that happened — is just that people have their own platforms now. With social media, the people are picking who gets to be uplifted. I really like that there’s a lot of cool independent creators who I don’t think would have had a huge voice with traditional media. One of my favorite people is — Black Forager is her handle — \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@alexisnikole?lang=en\">Alexis Nicole\u003c/a>. I love her. I learn so much from her videos. And she’s someone that did it completely on her own, and the people picked her. I just love that there’s more and more voices like that because we don’t need the traditional media anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>I\u003c/i> only exist because of the people who support me. I know that. And it’s really heartwarming that I have this support and this really loving community. And it’s also scary because I hope I’m giving them enough, you know what I mean? I totally exist because of individuals who believe in me, not because of one big, faceless corporation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/CzKW8Xov-Or/?igsh=ZWI2YzEzYmMxYg%3D%3D\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>There’s so much heaviness in the world right now from the Congo to Sudan to Palestine. You signed onto — along with Berkeley chef Samin Nosrat — the \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hospitality-for-humanity.com/\">\u003cb>Hospitality for Humanity\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb> pledge, a coalition of food and beverage workers calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, co-organized by another Bay Area chef, Reem Assil. How do you hope food and chefs can play a role in social justice and political organizing?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s tough. I feel like a lot of what happens is people just repost things, which I also was doing for a while, but I stopped because I saw a lot of prominent people who posted misinformation by accident with the best intentions because we’re not journalists, we’re not politicians. It’s easy to not know exactly what’s a real post.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So I think the better way is just to focus on bringing awareness with what we do best, which is food. And I think it’s really important, especially with what’s happening in Palestine, to humanize the people there by just sharing more of their culture. I like talking about the food and celebrating the positive things that are happening over there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I love the deep dives into food history and food science that feel like throughlines in your work. Is there anything you’ve been nerding out about recently?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13921460,arts_13919177,arts_13926618']\u003c/span>Well, I’m currently working on my next book. The first one, I knew exactly what I wanted the book to accomplish. So for the next book, I don’t really have a plan, and I’m just letting myself learn about things that are interesting to me, and I’m just cooking stuff that I’m into. So I’ve just really been into princess cake lately. I’ve always seen them, but the ones from the grocery store are usually not very good, if we’re being totally honest. That marzipan is a little stale. But making a fresh one kind of blew me away with how delicious it is. So now I just want to learn more about princess cake and marzipan. I want to be someone where anytime you come over to my house — even if it’s a Tuesday — I made you a princess cake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I’m having a small dinner party tomorrow with a few friends. What’s a menu from recipes in your book that you’d recommend for a vibey but not super high-maintenance dinner to cure our winter blues?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think for appetizers, there’s a shrimp cocktail in the book that’s really fun, and broiled oysters. But most of the time when we have people over, I can’t wrap my head around all that. So I’ll make a quick crudités plate. I love having some crunchy veg before a meal because it’s kind of like palate cleanser vibes. Try radishes and some Asian pear. There’s a ranch fun dip recipe in the book using pistachios — that’s fantastic. So put all the veggies on ice and get a nice glass bowl for the fun dip. People don’t give crudités respect, but you can make it really sexy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the main, maybe make those braised short ribs. You can make them the same day, but they are a lot better if you dry-brine them tonight. And then I really like to serve that with steamed vegetables, like some really nice broccolini and carrots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then dessert: I think you should go for the chocolate pudding pie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>El-Waylly will be signing copies of \u003c/i>Start Here\u003ci> at \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://omnivorebooks.myshopify.com/products/sohla-el-waylly-book-signing-start-here-instructions-for-becoming-a-better-cook\">\u003ci>Omnivore Books\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (3885 Cesar Chavez St., San Francisco) at 4 p.m. on January 30, following her \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.jccsf.org/event/sohla-el-waylly-start-here/\">\u003ci>sold-out book event\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on January 29.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Sohla El-Waylly is a culinary maverick of our time: She knows how to deactivate the surface starches of rice for the perfect pilaf, she’s made crudités sexy by sheer force of will and she’s spoken truth to power with lasting impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El-Waylly’s highly-anticipated first cookbook, \u003ci>Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook\u003c/i>, is the this-is-just-the-beginning hat tip of a chef who’s quickly won over the hearts of home cooks all over the world — and who’s already planning her next book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in 2020, El-Waylly said she wasn’t being equitably compensated for her work as an assistant food editor at Bon Appetit, a public statement that became a part of a much larger racial reckoning in food media. It also launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNnBPM0Y9gU&ab_channel=Natalie\">fan-made supercuts\u003c/a> of every time El-Waylly was called over by white colleagues to temper chocolate or give her expert advice on using masa harina, all uncompensated. It’s the classic story of an undervalued woman of color shamelessly confused with the other South Asian woman in the office by her own boss — but onstage at the 92nd Street Y \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sj7L30851Q&ab_channel=LisaPhamFlowers\">for the whole internet to see\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>El-Waylly launched herself out of Bon Appetit and into everywhere else: \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i7fVY596mY&t=152s\">Food 52\u003c/a>, the History Channel, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybNex3XsgFc&t=73s&ab_channel=NYTCooking\">New York Times Cooking channel\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXnlVlkkkxM&ab_channel=BabishCulinaryUniverse\">Babish Culinary Universe\u003c/a> and an HBO series that she co-hosted with actor Dan Levy. Her obvious culinary mastery that doesn’t stop at how to cook something but why you cook it that way — on a chemical level — coupled with her punchy witticisms and flaky salt-of-the-earth sincerity has earned her prime time in the pantheon of unmistakably cool internet personalities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always struggled to learn the way I was \u003ci>supposed\u003c/i> to learn, whether in the high school geography class I had to repeat or in a restaurant kitchen following a chef’s blunt commands,” she writes in the book’s introduction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What emerges from El-Waylly’s candid trove of fumbles and failures is a person who really knows what she’s talking about — who can tell you exactly where you went wrong because she’s been there herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of her San Francisco book tour appearances on January 29 and 30, I talked to El-Waylly about how to host a dinner party that will cure winter blues and what she ate the last time she visited the Bay, as a depressed undergrad over 20 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity\u003c/i>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>OLIVIA CRUZ MAYEDA:\u003c/b> Your new cookbook weaves in guidance and anecdotes that feel resonant in the kitchen and outside it, too. What do you hope people take with them from \u003ci>Start Here\u003c/i> as they move through the world?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SOHLA EL-WAYLLY: \u003c/b>I think the biggest message is that you’re going to mess up, and it’s going to be okay — that’s the main thing. I think that a lot of times people don’t even try stuff because they’re afraid of failing or just not being good at it. But I think it’s important to remember that everyone’s terrible at everything in the beginning, and you just have to push through that phase of maybe making a lot of bad food, and it will eventually get good. I think that really applies to everything in life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" style=\"max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px\" cite=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@sohlae/video/7283990481220963626\" data-video-id=\"7283990481220963626\">\n\u003csection>\u003ca title=\"@sohlae\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@sohlae?refer=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@sohlae\u003c/a> Here’s another peek from my cookbook, START HERE! (Have you preordered yet!?) In it, I teach you techniques, so eventually you won’t need recipes any more! Like this method for the best crispy, juicy, seared & braised chicken thighs. Make it like me with salsa verde and zucchini, or make it your own with cauliflower & curry, carrots & bone broth, or however the hell you want! Photos @Laura hi \u003ca title=\"♬ Sweet Dreams - Trinix\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/music/Sweet-Dreams-6795037315535210498?refer=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">♬ Sweet Dreams – Trinix\u003c/a>\u003c/section>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The \u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003ci>New York Times\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cb> called your cookbook “the new \u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003ci>Joy of Cooking\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cb>.” What cookbooks or food personalities most influenced you when you were starting out?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every day after school, I’d watch Jacques Torres. He had this show on PBS called “Desert Circus.” It had a really fun intro, and he’d roll around on roller skates. He did a chocolate sculpture once, and he had all these molds. And then he was like, “Anything can be a mold.” And he grabbed that air conditioner filter and molded chocolate on that, so then I went and I grabbed the filter out of the air conditioner! A lot of people can be a little rigid and, especially with pastry, be like, “You have to get this piping tip,” you know, “and you need this cake pan.” But he showed how you can make things work with what you have. And I feel like that really inspired me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are you looking forward to during your visit to the Bay Area? Any foods in particular?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, I haven’t been in a really long time, but I went to school at UC Irvine. And I was really depressed. So the thing to do was to just drive to San Francisco all the way up [the Pacific Coast Highway]. And then get clam chowder at, like, five in the morning. I want to go to that pier that I went to and try to get some clam chowder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I first encountered your work when you were still working at Bon Appetit, where you were part of a racial reckoning at the publication but also in food media at large. Do you feel like any meaningful change has happened since then?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It does feel like there’s more diverse voices that are out there now. But I think that the biggest thing — and I don’t even think this has anything to do with anything I did or anything that happened — is just that people have their own platforms now. With social media, the people are picking who gets to be uplifted. I really like that there’s a lot of cool independent creators who I don’t think would have had a huge voice with traditional media. One of my favorite people is — Black Forager is her handle — \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@alexisnikole?lang=en\">Alexis Nicole\u003c/a>. I love her. I learn so much from her videos. And she’s someone that did it completely on her own, and the people picked her. I just love that there’s more and more voices like that because we don’t need the traditional media anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>I\u003c/i> only exist because of the people who support me. I know that. And it’s really heartwarming that I have this support and this really loving community. And it’s also scary because I hope I’m giving them enough, you know what I mean? I totally exist because of individuals who believe in me, not because of one big, faceless corporation.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>There’s so much heaviness in the world right now from the Congo to Sudan to Palestine. You signed onto — along with Berkeley chef Samin Nosrat — the \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hospitality-for-humanity.com/\">\u003cb>Hospitality for Humanity\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb> pledge, a coalition of food and beverage workers calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, co-organized by another Bay Area chef, Reem Assil. How do you hope food and chefs can play a role in social justice and political organizing?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s tough. I feel like a lot of what happens is people just repost things, which I also was doing for a while, but I stopped because I saw a lot of prominent people who posted misinformation by accident with the best intentions because we’re not journalists, we’re not politicians. It’s easy to not know exactly what’s a real post.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So I think the better way is just to focus on bringing awareness with what we do best, which is food. And I think it’s really important, especially with what’s happening in Palestine, to humanize the people there by just sharing more of their culture. I like talking about the food and celebrating the positive things that are happening over there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I love the deep dives into food history and food science that feel like throughlines in your work. Is there anything you’ve been nerding out about recently?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>Well, I’m currently working on my next book. The first one, I knew exactly what I wanted the book to accomplish. So for the next book, I don’t really have a plan, and I’m just letting myself learn about things that are interesting to me, and I’m just cooking stuff that I’m into. So I’ve just really been into princess cake lately. I’ve always seen them, but the ones from the grocery store are usually not very good, if we’re being totally honest. That marzipan is a little stale. But making a fresh one kind of blew me away with how delicious it is. So now I just want to learn more about princess cake and marzipan. I want to be someone where anytime you come over to my house — even if it’s a Tuesday — I made you a princess cake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I’m having a small dinner party tomorrow with a few friends. What’s a menu from recipes in your book that you’d recommend for a vibey but not super high-maintenance dinner to cure our winter blues?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think for appetizers, there’s a shrimp cocktail in the book that’s really fun, and broiled oysters. But most of the time when we have people over, I can’t wrap my head around all that. So I’ll make a quick crudités plate. I love having some crunchy veg before a meal because it’s kind of like palate cleanser vibes. Try radishes and some Asian pear. There’s a ranch fun dip recipe in the book using pistachios — that’s fantastic. So put all the veggies on ice and get a nice glass bowl for the fun dip. People don’t give crudités respect, but you can make it really sexy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the main, maybe make those braised short ribs. You can make them the same day, but they are a lot better if you dry-brine them tonight. And then I really like to serve that with steamed vegetables, like some really nice broccolini and carrots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then dessert: I think you should go for the chocolate pudding pie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>El-Waylly will be signing copies of \u003c/i>Start Here\u003ci> at \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://omnivorebooks.myshopify.com/products/sohla-el-waylly-book-signing-start-here-instructions-for-becoming-a-better-cook\">\u003ci>Omnivore Books\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (3885 Cesar Chavez St., San Francisco) at 4 p.m. on January 30, following her \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.jccsf.org/event/sohla-el-waylly-start-here/\">\u003ci>sold-out book event\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on January 29.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "delirama-pastrami-berkeley-solano-closed",
"title": "The Bay Area’s Top Pastrami Shop Has Closed",
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"headTitle": "The Bay Area’s Top Pastrami Shop Has Closed | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>New York has Katz’s. L.A. has Langer’s. The Bay Area, on the other hand, has never really had a true destination pastrami spot — at least not until \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13917120/delirama-pastrami-berkeley-opening-hella-hungry\">Delirama opened\u003c/a> its cheery Solano Avenue storefront in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/berkeley\">Berkeley\u003c/a> two summers ago. Biting into the restaurant’s “OG” sandwich for the first time, I could imagine a future, 10 or 20 years from now, when Delirama would be exactly that: the kind of beloved neighborhood institution that out-of-towners would plan road trips around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, that pastrami-scented fever dream has been put on hold, as the deli has closed, according to an announcement posted on \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C2cvTALxHyy/\">Instagram\u003c/a> today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delirama was a labor of love for Cash Caris and Anahita Cann, who started the pop-up \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pyrospastrami/?hl=en\">Pyro’s Pastrami\u003c/a> in 2020 as a vehicle for Caris’ lifelong love affair with the Jewish deli smoked meat staple. The couple opened their brick-and-mortar storefront in August of 2022, with an all-things-pastrami menu — pastrami pizza! pastrami tacos! pastrami-fat potato chips! — that drew lines around the block from day one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950839\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950839\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line.jpg\" alt=\"A long line of customers wait outside Delirama restaurant.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In its early days, Delirama often attracted long lines during the lunch rush. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This was a rare instance where reality lived up to hype. A pastrami sandwich at Delirama became my go-to leisurely “island day” lunch, for those rare occasions when, say, my family was out of town and I had no responsibilities to attend to. I’d snag a seat at the window and luxuriate over one of Caris’ two-handed sandwiches: thick slices of butter-griddled rye bread, a swipe of mustard and a big pile of lusciously fatty, crisp-edged pastrami.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13917120,arts_13921917']\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>\u003c/b>\u003c/span>Keeping a small restaurant afloat is always a precarious enterprise, but Delirama was pushed to the brink by a particularly disastrous turn of events: Last March, a \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/delirama-berkeley-bay-area-power-outages-gofundme-pg-e/13038723/\">four-day power outage\u003c/a> caused all of the food in their walk-in fridge to spoil, including 2,000 pounds of the brisket Caris brines and smokes to make the restaurant’s pastrami. At the time, Caris told the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/spoiled-pastrami-delirama-17858366.php\">\u003ci>Chronicle\u003c/i>\u003c/a> they’d been counting on that pastrami to generate $100,000 of revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delirama held on for another 10 months after that, diversifying its menu with additional non-pastrami items and, more recently, rolling out a budget version of its signature pastrami sandwich bulked up by a layer of those pastrami-fat chips. In the end, it wasn’t enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The truth is that what I was trying to do was impossible and the longer I did it the more apparent it became,” Caris wrote in the Instagram post announcing the closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13921981\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13921981\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og.jpg\" alt=\"A massive sandwich overflowing with pastrami and slaw.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another view of the OG. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Which isn’t to say that his dream of a pastrami empire is necessarily over. The deli’s planned expansion into Oakland, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/delirama-oakland-18375892.php\">Delirama Jr.\u003c/a>, appears to still be on track for later this year. For now, Caris and Cann haven’t given up the Solano Avenue space either, but are instead planning to transition it into some\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C2cvTALxHyy/c/17972485691662429/r/18018311552012808/\"> new, non-deli restaurant concept\u003c/a>. And who knows? In the past, Caris has said he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13917120/delirama-pastrami-berkeley-opening-hella-hungry\">would love to bring Delirama to San Jose\u003c/a>, where he grew up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s clear, however, is that Delirama was a successful proof of concept in at least one sense: Its popularity — along with the sizable local followings for established pastrami institutions like Saul’s in Berkeley and The Refuge on the Peninsula — showed that there’s a real hunger for high-quality pastrami in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, a bit of good news: Until Caris and Cann finalize their new plans for the space, the Solano Avenue spot will continue to sell fresh rye bread and pastrami by the pound, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Delirama’s pastrami sandwiches were the closest thing the Bay Area had to a Katz’s or Langer’s.",
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"title": "Delirama, the Bay Area’s Top Pastrami Shop, Has Closed | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>New York has Katz’s. L.A. has Langer’s. The Bay Area, on the other hand, has never really had a true destination pastrami spot — at least not until \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13917120/delirama-pastrami-berkeley-opening-hella-hungry\">Delirama opened\u003c/a> its cheery Solano Avenue storefront in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/berkeley\">Berkeley\u003c/a> two summers ago. Biting into the restaurant’s “OG” sandwich for the first time, I could imagine a future, 10 or 20 years from now, when Delirama would be exactly that: the kind of beloved neighborhood institution that out-of-towners would plan road trips around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, that pastrami-scented fever dream has been put on hold, as the deli has closed, according to an announcement posted on \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C2cvTALxHyy/\">Instagram\u003c/a> today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delirama was a labor of love for Cash Caris and Anahita Cann, who started the pop-up \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pyrospastrami/?hl=en\">Pyro’s Pastrami\u003c/a> in 2020 as a vehicle for Caris’ lifelong love affair with the Jewish deli smoked meat staple. The couple opened their brick-and-mortar storefront in August of 2022, with an all-things-pastrami menu — pastrami pizza! pastrami tacos! pastrami-fat potato chips! — that drew lines around the block from day one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950839\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950839\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line.jpg\" alt=\"A long line of customers wait outside Delirama restaurant.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/delirama-line-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In its early days, Delirama often attracted long lines during the lunch rush. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This was a rare instance where reality lived up to hype. A pastrami sandwich at Delirama became my go-to leisurely “island day” lunch, for those rare occasions when, say, my family was out of town and I had no responsibilities to attend to. I’d snag a seat at the window and luxuriate over one of Caris’ two-handed sandwiches: thick slices of butter-griddled rye bread, a swipe of mustard and a big pile of lusciously fatty, crisp-edged pastrami.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>\u003c/b>\u003c/span>Keeping a small restaurant afloat is always a precarious enterprise, but Delirama was pushed to the brink by a particularly disastrous turn of events: Last March, a \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/delirama-berkeley-bay-area-power-outages-gofundme-pg-e/13038723/\">four-day power outage\u003c/a> caused all of the food in their walk-in fridge to spoil, including 2,000 pounds of the brisket Caris brines and smokes to make the restaurant’s pastrami. At the time, Caris told the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/spoiled-pastrami-delirama-17858366.php\">\u003ci>Chronicle\u003c/i>\u003c/a> they’d been counting on that pastrami to generate $100,000 of revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delirama held on for another 10 months after that, diversifying its menu with additional non-pastrami items and, more recently, rolling out a budget version of its signature pastrami sandwich bulked up by a layer of those pastrami-fat chips. In the end, it wasn’t enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The truth is that what I was trying to do was impossible and the longer I did it the more apparent it became,” Caris wrote in the Instagram post announcing the closure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13921981\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13921981\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og.jpg\" alt=\"A massive sandwich overflowing with pastrami and slaw.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/delirama_og-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another view of the OG. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Which isn’t to say that his dream of a pastrami empire is necessarily over. The deli’s planned expansion into Oakland, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/delirama-oakland-18375892.php\">Delirama Jr.\u003c/a>, appears to still be on track for later this year. For now, Caris and Cann haven’t given up the Solano Avenue space either, but are instead planning to transition it into some\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C2cvTALxHyy/c/17972485691662429/r/18018311552012808/\"> new, non-deli restaurant concept\u003c/a>. And who knows? In the past, Caris has said he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13917120/delirama-pastrami-berkeley-opening-hella-hungry\">would love to bring Delirama to San Jose\u003c/a>, where he grew up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s clear, however, is that Delirama was a successful proof of concept in at least one sense: Its popularity — along with the sizable local followings for established pastrami institutions like Saul’s in Berkeley and The Refuge on the Peninsula — showed that there’s a real hunger for high-quality pastrami in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, a bit of good news: Until Caris and Cann finalize their new plans for the space, the Solano Avenue spot will continue to sell fresh rye bread and pastrami by the pound, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "edible-insects-don-bugito-crickets-mealworms-snacks-san-mateo-hella-hungry",
"title": "This San Mateo ‘Snackeria’ Wants to Popularize Edible Insects",
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"headTitle": "This San Mateo ‘Snackeria’ Wants to Popularize Edible Insects | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you live in the Bay Area, you probably don’t think of crickets and mealworms as snacks. That’s because munching on insects isn’t particularly accessible or socially commonplace for most Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with her snack company, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/donbugito/?hl=en\">Don Bugito\u003c/a>, Monica Martinez is modernizing the Mesoamerican insect diet for today’s eaters — and it’s more delicious than you might imagine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the founder of one of the region’s only edible insect companies, Martinez has steadily grown her vision to expand North America’s palate. After immigrating from Mexico City to attend design school on the East Coast, Martinez anchored herself along San Francisco’s shores over a decade ago, teaching courses on industrial design and insect-based alternative diets at the California College of Arts. She currently operates the only mealworm (i.e., dark beetle larva) farm in the Bay Area — in Oakland — where her small team cultivates insects to produce snacks like toasted mealworms, coconut brittle crickets with amaranth, chile-lime crickets with pumpkin seeds and chocolate-covered crickets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950661\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950661\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martinez has been an innovator in the edible insect movement for over a decade. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Martinez’s innovative approach has attracted attention from outlets like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22bug.html\">\u003ci>New York Times\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>, \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/eating-insects-to-save-the-world/60dcaea6c0270c3fe86479b1\">\u003ci>VICE\u003c/i>\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/14/bug-protein-how-entrepreneurs-are-persuading-americans-to-eat-insects.html\">\u003ci>CNBC\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, but she says the Bay Area hasn’t fully caught on yet — ironically, most of her business comes from outside this region. But that lack of local awareness hasn’t prevented her from distributing her culinary passion from her chic food innovation space in San Mateo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You may not be used to seeing your housemates munch on a chile-doused cricket yet. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a viable option — one report predicts that \u003ca href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/eating-insects-set-to-become-8-billion-business-barclays-2019-6#:~:text=Edible%20insects%20are%20set%20to,sustainable%20alternatives%20to%20traditional%20meat.\">the edible bug business could be worth $8 billion by 2030\u003c/a>. It isn’t about the profit for Martinez, though. She’s more concerned with providing an alternative to the planet’s current, unsustainable food sources. In Mexico, for example, chapulines (large grasshoppers) have long been a prevalent botana. The tradition just hasn’t migrated across the border in the same way that tamales, tostadas, tortas and other forms of Mexican cuisine have. Martinez wants to change that. And I’m all for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the New Year underway, I visited the madly creative, ever-hungry insect advocate at her production plant to learn more about the joys and challenges of convincing Bay Area eaters to snack on toasted crickets instead of Hot Cheetos. The former professor schooled me on all of that — and so much more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ALAN CHAZARO: Where does the name Don Bugito come from? And how do you explain what you do as a foodmaker?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MONICA MARTINEZ:\u003c/b> Don Bugito, as a name, is a play on words. It comes from “don.” In Mexico, that’s how you address an elder with respect. Bugito comes from bug and “ito,” which means small in Spanish. It’s like the big little guy — it’s little but is such a big, powerful food. We’re a business trying to bring diversity into our food systems. Reviving native American ingredients and celebrating the tradition of entomophagy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sorry, ento-what?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Entomophagy. There’s a line of academia that studies the culture of eating insects. In Mexico, it’s very common. We want to revive that — pre-Columbian, pre-Hispanic cuisines that aren’t well known in the United States. [U.S. residents] are not aware of indigenous Mexican culinary traditions outside of tacos and tamales. There’s also venison, rabbit, fish, insects — all these proteins that were here before we had pork, cows, chicken. That includes North American Native people. We’re celebrating that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950669\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950669\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack.jpg\" alt=\"a foodmaker displays edible insects in her hands\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martinez shows a piece of coconut brittle baked with crickets. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I don’t know any other edible insect food companies in the Bay Area. How did you start out? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We launched in 2011 at the SF Street Food Festival. I was a street food vendor making tacos and tostadas with chile-lime crickets, larvae tacos and mealworm vanilla ice cream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Do you still serve insect-based dinners?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I sometimes host private dinners, but it’s a lot of work. That’s how I started out though. It was a great way to test if Americans were ready for insects, and we sold out. It made me realize Americans will eat insects (laughs). When I worked as a street vendor, I was one of the only ones selling organic [insect-based meals] at the time, competing with fried chicken. It wasn’t easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How did your upbringing influence your food making?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I moved from Mexico City to Boston for school, the first thing I felt was homesick for food. No avocados, no Mexican restaurants. There was just one outside of the city, and it was owned by Indians. It wasn’t even Mexican food. I remember the cafe on campus and had culture shock because the food was horrible. I asked the chef why it was so bad and where it came from. He pointed at the freezer. That made me realize like, wait a minute, there’s a disconnect where our food comes from in New England versus Mexico. My practice started to evolve from there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13925233,arts_13903531,arts_13922141']\u003c/span>When I went back to Mexico to visit, I would go to markets and ask about everything. I’ve been going to farmers markets since growing up. There’s people giving you fresh crema and tostadas, smelling fresh cilantro, preparing fresh meat. That was growing up in Mexico City, an immense city with incredibly fresh, fast-moving food. There is so much demand that the freshness there can’t be replicated anywhere. So I was feeling miserable with the frozen foods in Boston. I was thinking about how food moves in a city. How many tons of product come in and get distributed to supply millions?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a super large market in Mexico City called Central de Abasto. They have a school, a hospital; it’s like a city that’s probably bigger than San Francisco (laughs). That’s where I started to get an understanding. When I decided to do Don Bugito, I didn’t have a culinary background. I only had memories from childhood, and that was the flavors I grew up with in Mexico. I knew crunchy things: chile, lime, amaranth, nuts, chocolate, paletas, alegrias. That’s sold on every corner in the city. Don Bugito started with that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950671\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950671\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos.jpg\" alt=\"a plate of two tacos topped with edible insects\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martinez started out by selling insect-topped tacos around San Francisco as a graduate of La Cocina. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of La Cocina)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How has being in the Bay Area shaped Don Bugito, and how has your business model changed in the past 13 years?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We went from street vending to packaging online deliveries in an organic way. There was no Shopify when I started. But that’s huge now for businesses. We were one of the first to do that. Square, too. I remember talking to three engineers at Square when they first started out about getting into their system. They invited me and gave lessons on how to use their gadget to charge people, step by step. Being in the Bay Area helped with that. It was a smooth process and in our backyard. I see how big it’s all grown since then. Everything moves way faster now. There was Amazon, but you couldn’t sell edible insect snacks 13 years ago. It wasn’t that kind of platform. Now I can’t imagine my business without any of those.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t come here to run a food business. But here, I can celebrate local farming. Support local systems. Create jobs. It does suit me very well to be here. Now we have a farm in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tell me more about your insect farm.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have an urban farm in shipping containers. Our goal is not to replicate industrial farming practices. We use modular systems for small batches. No hormones or antibiotics. We allow the insects to follow their natural life cycles. We respect that. We tap into that to save resources. We call our farm a “holistic farm.” We are an organic farm, zero waste. Nothing gets thrown out. The poop is fertilizer. We are the only insect farm around here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are the challenges of running the only urban edible insect farm in the Bay Area, and how has it helped your business grow?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A challenge for us has always been sourcing insects. I worked with a couple insect farms in Texas at the beginning, but I was concerned with sustainability. They supplied crickets. I wanted non-GMO and organic insects, but it wasn’t offered back then. In 2017, I launched Mighty Bugito Farms — we just finally launched the domain and are developing the brand. We farm organic crickets and organic mealworms. Don Bugito will become a smaller brand within that. We also make fertilizer from insect poop. We’re also launching a pet food line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950670\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950670\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages.jpg\" alt=\"Insect snacks in colorful packaging displayed on a table.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don Bugito distributes a range of insect-based snacks nationally. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You have a background in visual art and also taught design at the California College of Arts for nearly a decade. How does that influence your culinary art?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don Bugito came out as a project for alternative farming — for farms to cultivate their own insects for alternative kitchens. I presented that at a gallery in New York when I was an artist. Next door, there was a place called Brooklyn Kitchen. Now it’s super famous. They found out about the edible insects exhibit and hosted a dinner. The\u003ci> New York Times\u003c/i> found out, and we did an exclusive during the beginning of the edible insect movement in the U.S., around 2009, 2010. Andrew Zimmern from Food Network’s \u003ci>Bizarre Foods\u003c/i> read the story and asked me to cook lunch for him. We cooked for him in our apartment in San Francisco. I told him I wanted to launch a food truck. I felt like I had to deliver, since it was on national TV (laughs). I joined La Cocina and enrolled. They were like “What? Edible insects?” And that’s how we became a business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Monica Martinez\"]‘We don’t preach about only eating insects. … But if you have one cricket salad a week, that makes an impact in the long run.’[/pullquote]But it hasn’t been easy. I never left art. My career is an artistic endeavor, not always about making money. I still feel like an artist. I have a good friend [who is] a designer, and I told her I don’t have studio practice, so I’m not an artist. And she told me my studio is my insect farm. Before Don Bugito, I wasn’t in an industrial kitchen, and so I burned my hand in a steamer. I was used to being in shops and galleries. So I switched my mindset and started to treat my business like an art design project. I’ve been teaching classes on food systems the whole time: the future of foods, biodesign, everything related to the environment, agriculture, food. Agriculture. It goes beyond having a snack package. How does it affect us? Our health? Our environment?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Why are insects the right solution for our future in food?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t want the world to start eating only insects because that can be catastrophic. We don’t preach about only eating insects. We want a balanced diet and respect for the environment. You can eat meat — go for it. But if you have one cricket salad a week, that makes an impact in the long run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insects are the future of food because they’re sustainable. They use little energy to yield large amounts of protein. You can replace conventional protein with insects. Again, we don’t preach only that, but it’s possible. If the world collapses tomorrow, I have an insect farm that barely uses any resources to create protein. Insects don’t need water. Very little amounts. The amount of food they need is very little in comparison to a cow. They eat a diet of cereals and can even eat waste if needed. We have thousands of mealworms in a small amount of space. They’re easy to store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950672\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950672\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms.jpg\" alt=\"A plastic bin full of thousands of frozen mealworms.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A freshly frozen batch of mealworms arrive for preparation at Don Bugito’s San Mateo facility. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When we were cooking at the SF Street Food Festival, we used to arrive with a few boxes, but my neighbors carried large containers of heavy meat. How far do you transport that? How much energy does that take? Insects can be cultivated anywhere, in small spaces, and moved easily. Genetically, they are far more removed from humans so there’s less risk of cross contamination. You’ve heard of avian flu, mad cow disease. That affects humans. There is less risk of that with bugs. That’s all very positive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/donbugito/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Don Bugito\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is based in San Mateo and \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.donbugito.com/collections/all\">\u003ci>available online\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Its products can also be purchased locally at Berkeley Bowl (Berkeley), Foodhall (SF), Casa Lucas (SF), the Ferry Building (SF), Mandela (Oakland) and Rancho Gordo (Napa).\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you live in the Bay Area, you probably don’t think of crickets and mealworms as snacks. That’s because munching on insects isn’t particularly accessible or socially commonplace for most Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with her snack company, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/donbugito/?hl=en\">Don Bugito\u003c/a>, Monica Martinez is modernizing the Mesoamerican insect diet for today’s eaters — and it’s more delicious than you might imagine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the founder of one of the region’s only edible insect companies, Martinez has steadily grown her vision to expand North America’s palate. After immigrating from Mexico City to attend design school on the East Coast, Martinez anchored herself along San Francisco’s shores over a decade ago, teaching courses on industrial design and insect-based alternative diets at the California College of Arts. She currently operates the only mealworm (i.e., dark beetle larva) farm in the Bay Area — in Oakland — where her small team cultivates insects to produce snacks like toasted mealworms, coconut brittle crickets with amaranth, chile-lime crickets with pumpkin seeds and chocolate-covered crickets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950661\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950661\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_monica-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martinez has been an innovator in the edible insect movement for over a decade. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Martinez’s innovative approach has attracted attention from outlets like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22bug.html\">\u003ci>New York Times\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>, \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/eating-insects-to-save-the-world/60dcaea6c0270c3fe86479b1\">\u003ci>VICE\u003c/i>\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/14/bug-protein-how-entrepreneurs-are-persuading-americans-to-eat-insects.html\">\u003ci>CNBC\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, but she says the Bay Area hasn’t fully caught on yet — ironically, most of her business comes from outside this region. But that lack of local awareness hasn’t prevented her from distributing her culinary passion from her chic food innovation space in San Mateo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You may not be used to seeing your housemates munch on a chile-doused cricket yet. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a viable option — one report predicts that \u003ca href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/eating-insects-set-to-become-8-billion-business-barclays-2019-6#:~:text=Edible%20insects%20are%20set%20to,sustainable%20alternatives%20to%20traditional%20meat.\">the edible bug business could be worth $8 billion by 2030\u003c/a>. It isn’t about the profit for Martinez, though. She’s more concerned with providing an alternative to the planet’s current, unsustainable food sources. In Mexico, for example, chapulines (large grasshoppers) have long been a prevalent botana. The tradition just hasn’t migrated across the border in the same way that tamales, tostadas, tortas and other forms of Mexican cuisine have. Martinez wants to change that. And I’m all for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the New Year underway, I visited the madly creative, ever-hungry insect advocate at her production plant to learn more about the joys and challenges of convincing Bay Area eaters to snack on toasted crickets instead of Hot Cheetos. The former professor schooled me on all of that — and so much more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>ALAN CHAZARO: Where does the name Don Bugito come from? And how do you explain what you do as a foodmaker?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>MONICA MARTINEZ:\u003c/b> Don Bugito, as a name, is a play on words. It comes from “don.” In Mexico, that’s how you address an elder with respect. Bugito comes from bug and “ito,” which means small in Spanish. It’s like the big little guy — it’s little but is such a big, powerful food. We’re a business trying to bring diversity into our food systems. Reviving native American ingredients and celebrating the tradition of entomophagy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sorry, ento-what?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Entomophagy. There’s a line of academia that studies the culture of eating insects. In Mexico, it’s very common. We want to revive that — pre-Columbian, pre-Hispanic cuisines that aren’t well known in the United States. [U.S. residents] are not aware of indigenous Mexican culinary traditions outside of tacos and tamales. There’s also venison, rabbit, fish, insects — all these proteins that were here before we had pork, cows, chicken. That includes North American Native people. We’re celebrating that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950669\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950669\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack.jpg\" alt=\"a foodmaker displays edible insects in her hands\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-snack-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martinez shows a piece of coconut brittle baked with crickets. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I don’t know any other edible insect food companies in the Bay Area. How did you start out? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We launched in 2011 at the SF Street Food Festival. I was a street food vendor making tacos and tostadas with chile-lime crickets, larvae tacos and mealworm vanilla ice cream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Do you still serve insect-based dinners?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I sometimes host private dinners, but it’s a lot of work. That’s how I started out though. It was a great way to test if Americans were ready for insects, and we sold out. It made me realize Americans will eat insects (laughs). When I worked as a street vendor, I was one of the only ones selling organic [insect-based meals] at the time, competing with fried chicken. It wasn’t easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How did your upbringing influence your food making?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I moved from Mexico City to Boston for school, the first thing I felt was homesick for food. No avocados, no Mexican restaurants. There was just one outside of the city, and it was owned by Indians. It wasn’t even Mexican food. I remember the cafe on campus and had culture shock because the food was horrible. I asked the chef why it was so bad and where it came from. He pointed at the freezer. That made me realize like, wait a minute, there’s a disconnect where our food comes from in New England versus Mexico. My practice started to evolve from there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>When I went back to Mexico to visit, I would go to markets and ask about everything. I’ve been going to farmers markets since growing up. There’s people giving you fresh crema and tostadas, smelling fresh cilantro, preparing fresh meat. That was growing up in Mexico City, an immense city with incredibly fresh, fast-moving food. There is so much demand that the freshness there can’t be replicated anywhere. So I was feeling miserable with the frozen foods in Boston. I was thinking about how food moves in a city. How many tons of product come in and get distributed to supply millions?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a super large market in Mexico City called Central de Abasto. They have a school, a hospital; it’s like a city that’s probably bigger than San Francisco (laughs). That’s where I started to get an understanding. When I decided to do Don Bugito, I didn’t have a culinary background. I only had memories from childhood, and that was the flavors I grew up with in Mexico. I knew crunchy things: chile, lime, amaranth, nuts, chocolate, paletas, alegrias. That’s sold on every corner in the city. Don Bugito started with that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950671\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950671\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos.jpg\" alt=\"a plate of two tacos topped with edible insects\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-tacos-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Martinez started out by selling insect-topped tacos around San Francisco as a graduate of La Cocina. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of La Cocina)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How has being in the Bay Area shaped Don Bugito, and how has your business model changed in the past 13 years?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We went from street vending to packaging online deliveries in an organic way. There was no Shopify when I started. But that’s huge now for businesses. We were one of the first to do that. Square, too. I remember talking to three engineers at Square when they first started out about getting into their system. They invited me and gave lessons on how to use their gadget to charge people, step by step. Being in the Bay Area helped with that. It was a smooth process and in our backyard. I see how big it’s all grown since then. Everything moves way faster now. There was Amazon, but you couldn’t sell edible insect snacks 13 years ago. It wasn’t that kind of platform. Now I can’t imagine my business without any of those.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t come here to run a food business. But here, I can celebrate local farming. Support local systems. Create jobs. It does suit me very well to be here. Now we have a farm in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tell me more about your insect farm.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have an urban farm in shipping containers. Our goal is not to replicate industrial farming practices. We use modular systems for small batches. No hormones or antibiotics. We allow the insects to follow their natural life cycles. We respect that. We tap into that to save resources. We call our farm a “holistic farm.” We are an organic farm, zero waste. Nothing gets thrown out. The poop is fertilizer. We are the only insect farm around here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are the challenges of running the only urban edible insect farm in the Bay Area, and how has it helped your business grow?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A challenge for us has always been sourcing insects. I worked with a couple insect farms in Texas at the beginning, but I was concerned with sustainability. They supplied crickets. I wanted non-GMO and organic insects, but it wasn’t offered back then. In 2017, I launched Mighty Bugito Farms — we just finally launched the domain and are developing the brand. We farm organic crickets and organic mealworms. Don Bugito will become a smaller brand within that. We also make fertilizer from insect poop. We’re also launching a pet food line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950670\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950670\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages.jpg\" alt=\"Insect snacks in colorful packaging displayed on a table.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito_packages-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don Bugito distributes a range of insect-based snacks nationally. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You have a background in visual art and also taught design at the California College of Arts for nearly a decade. How does that influence your culinary art?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Don Bugito came out as a project for alternative farming — for farms to cultivate their own insects for alternative kitchens. I presented that at a gallery in New York when I was an artist. Next door, there was a place called Brooklyn Kitchen. Now it’s super famous. They found out about the edible insects exhibit and hosted a dinner. The\u003ci> New York Times\u003c/i> found out, and we did an exclusive during the beginning of the edible insect movement in the U.S., around 2009, 2010. Andrew Zimmern from Food Network’s \u003ci>Bizarre Foods\u003c/i> read the story and asked me to cook lunch for him. We cooked for him in our apartment in San Francisco. I told him I wanted to launch a food truck. I felt like I had to deliver, since it was on national TV (laughs). I joined La Cocina and enrolled. They were like “What? Edible insects?” And that’s how we became a business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We don’t preach about only eating insects. … But if you have one cricket salad a week, that makes an impact in the long run.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But it hasn’t been easy. I never left art. My career is an artistic endeavor, not always about making money. I still feel like an artist. I have a good friend [who is] a designer, and I told her I don’t have studio practice, so I’m not an artist. And she told me my studio is my insect farm. Before Don Bugito, I wasn’t in an industrial kitchen, and so I burned my hand in a steamer. I was used to being in shops and galleries. So I switched my mindset and started to treat my business like an art design project. I’ve been teaching classes on food systems the whole time: the future of foods, biodesign, everything related to the environment, agriculture, food. Agriculture. It goes beyond having a snack package. How does it affect us? Our health? Our environment?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Why are insects the right solution for our future in food?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t want the world to start eating only insects because that can be catastrophic. We don’t preach about only eating insects. We want a balanced diet and respect for the environment. You can eat meat — go for it. But if you have one cricket salad a week, that makes an impact in the long run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insects are the future of food because they’re sustainable. They use little energy to yield large amounts of protein. You can replace conventional protein with insects. Again, we don’t preach only that, but it’s possible. If the world collapses tomorrow, I have an insect farm that barely uses any resources to create protein. Insects don’t need water. Very little amounts. The amount of food they need is very little in comparison to a cow. They eat a diet of cereals and can even eat waste if needed. We have thousands of mealworms in a small amount of space. They’re easy to store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950672\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950672\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms.jpg\" alt=\"A plastic bin full of thousands of frozen mealworms.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/don-bugito-mealworms-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A freshly frozen batch of mealworms arrive for preparation at Don Bugito’s San Mateo facility. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When we were cooking at the SF Street Food Festival, we used to arrive with a few boxes, but my neighbors carried large containers of heavy meat. How far do you transport that? How much energy does that take? Insects can be cultivated anywhere, in small spaces, and moved easily. Genetically, they are far more removed from humans so there’s less risk of cross contamination. You’ve heard of avian flu, mad cow disease. That affects humans. There is less risk of that with bugs. That’s all very positive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/donbugito/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Don Bugito\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is based in San Mateo and \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.donbugito.com/collections/all\">\u003ci>available online\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Its products can also be purchased locally at Berkeley Bowl (Berkeley), Foodhall (SF), Casa Lucas (SF), the Ferry Building (SF), Mandela (Oakland) and Rancho Gordo (Napa).\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Richmond Gas Station Slings Some of the Tastiest Yemeni Food in the Bay",
"headTitle": "A Richmond Gas Station Slings Some of the Tastiest Yemeni Food in the Bay | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The Kwik Serv on Carlson Boulevard in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/richmond\">Richmond\u003c/a> isn’t likely to make any local guidebooks, unless they’re curating for niche interests like “Inexpensive Gas Just off the Freeway” or “Bitcoin ATM Access.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lately, however, the gas station convenience store has drawn visitors for something a bit more unexpected: \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@halalkingkitchen\">Halal King Kitchen\u003c/a>, a takeout window that serves some of the Bay Area’s tastiest Yemeni food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One could make the case that this scrappy intersection marks the apex of fine gas station and liquor store cuisine. Just across the street, amid shelves lined with Hot Cheetos and six-packs of Modelo Especial, the Carlson Food Market houses a combination taqueria and Krispy Krunchy Chicken (i.e., the people’s choice for gas station fried chicken). Then, last spring, Halal King opened inside the Kwik Serv and began hawking even rarer delicacies — saucy, aromatic stews infused with fenugreek; a full Yemeni breakfast menu; and the crowd favorite, chicken mendi, one of the most sublime versions of takeout chicken and rice I’ve had in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950583\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950583\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade.jpg\" alt='The facade of a gas station convenience store, with a big sign for \"Halal King Kitchen.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Halal King has been inspiring gas station customers to do a double-take since it opened in the spring of 2023. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The restaurant is a joint effort between owner Ali Mused and his uncle, Hamdan Mousa, who is the head chef. After immigrating from Yemen to Oakland eight years ago, Mousa cut his teeth cooking at Yemen Kitchen, a staple in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. Last year, Mousa’s friend, the owner of the Kwik Serv, asked if he’d like to take over the convenience store kitchen. Mused came on to run the business side of things, and before long, the big “Halal King” sign on the store’s facade — and the tantalizing smell of cumin and roast chicken — started causing gas station customers to do a double-take as they pulled up to the pumps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yemeni food shares a number of dishes in common with other Arabic cuisines, and some of our region’s best-loved \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/p/Salam-Halal-Market-Restaurant-100051575176191/\">halal markets\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/oasis-grill-open-on-grand-avenue-2-1/\">shawarma-and-kebab shops\u003c/a> have Yemeni roots, even if they don’t advertise themselves as such. What sets Halal King apart from the crowd is its focus on the cuisine’s homier, more distinct dishes. As Mused puts it, “Every Yemeni dish is home food. You’ll never leave the restaurant without feeling full.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13931303,arts_13931115,arts_13928345']\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>\u003c/b>\u003c/span>Part of what that entails is a kind of generosity and hospitality not typically associated with gas station food — for instance, the cup of hot, sweet Yemeni tea that Mousa hands you after taking your order. By far the most popular dish among Halal King’s Yemeni customers is the chicken mendi (often spelled “mandi”), which comes with a half roast chicken, dusted with cumin, that has taut, crispy skin and meat so tender and succulent that it falls apart at the slightest touch. This is served over a bed of seasoned rice, with a tub of the zippy, tomato and cilantro–based Yemeni hot sauce known as zahawiq on the side — “basically salsa with no onions,” Mused explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It \u003ci>is\u003c/i> a lot of food, but it’s also supremely difficult to stop yourself from devouring the whole thing in one sitting. By the time I was done, there was nothing left but a neat pile of bones, completely picked clean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mousa also makes a fantastic version of salta (aka “saltah”), the fenugreek stew often described as Yemen’s national dish. It’s a cozy, soupy stew, loaded with shredded chicken and faintly medicinal in its herbaceousness — the perfect thing to sop up with rounds of pita on a blustery winter night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950579\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950579\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast.jpg\" alt=\"Two round plastic takeout containers on a picnic table. To the left is foul, a soupy, orange-hued bean stew. To the right is the shakshouka eggs, a kind of chunky vegetable scramble.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two of Halal King’s traditional Yemeni breakfast dishes — foul and shakshouka eggs — on the picnic table outside the restaurant. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This is almost certainly also the only gas station in the Bay that serves a full Yemeni breakfast menu — and, with traditional offerings like sautéed liver, one that doesn’t make any concessions to the Western palate. On a recent morning, I enjoyed Mousa’s pleasantly spicy Yemeni version of foul — the classic Arabic bean stew — and an order of shakshouka eggs, which turned out not to be the tomato sauce–poached eggs I expected. Instead, it was a kind of chunky scramble, studded with onions, tomatoes and peppers. All together, it made for one of the most satisfying breakfasts I’d eaten in months — all the heartier because it came with an entire bag of pita.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mused estimates that Halal King’s customer base is about “50% Yemeni and 50% American,” with many of the Yemeni customers traveling a long distance for his uncle’s food, having followed him from his Yemen Kitchen days. In that way, this Richmond gas station has become a destination restaurant for chicken mendi and salta devotees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For locals who just stumble on this food because they happen to be low on gas at the right time and place? It’s the very best kind of surprise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950582\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950582\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-scaled.jpg\" alt='Sign advertising the \"Kwik Serv\" gas station, with sign for \"Halal King Kitchen\" underneath. In the background, the sign for Carlson Food Market advertises Krispy Krunchy Chicken.' width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The apex of fine gas station cuisine. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@halalkingkitchen\">\u003ci>Halal King Kitchen\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open at the Kwik Serv gas station convenience store (1503 Carlson Blvd., Richmond) Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"headline": "A Richmond Gas Station Slings Some of the Tastiest Yemeni Food in the Bay",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The Kwik Serv on Carlson Boulevard in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/richmond\">Richmond\u003c/a> isn’t likely to make any local guidebooks, unless they’re curating for niche interests like “Inexpensive Gas Just off the Freeway” or “Bitcoin ATM Access.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lately, however, the gas station convenience store has drawn visitors for something a bit more unexpected: \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@halalkingkitchen\">Halal King Kitchen\u003c/a>, a takeout window that serves some of the Bay Area’s tastiest Yemeni food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One could make the case that this scrappy intersection marks the apex of fine gas station and liquor store cuisine. Just across the street, amid shelves lined with Hot Cheetos and six-packs of Modelo Especial, the Carlson Food Market houses a combination taqueria and Krispy Krunchy Chicken (i.e., the people’s choice for gas station fried chicken). Then, last spring, Halal King opened inside the Kwik Serv and began hawking even rarer delicacies — saucy, aromatic stews infused with fenugreek; a full Yemeni breakfast menu; and the crowd favorite, chicken mendi, one of the most sublime versions of takeout chicken and rice I’ve had in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950583\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950583\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade.jpg\" alt='The facade of a gas station convenience store, with a big sign for \"Halal King Kitchen.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-facade-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Halal King has been inspiring gas station customers to do a double-take since it opened in the spring of 2023. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The restaurant is a joint effort between owner Ali Mused and his uncle, Hamdan Mousa, who is the head chef. After immigrating from Yemen to Oakland eight years ago, Mousa cut his teeth cooking at Yemen Kitchen, a staple in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. Last year, Mousa’s friend, the owner of the Kwik Serv, asked if he’d like to take over the convenience store kitchen. Mused came on to run the business side of things, and before long, the big “Halal King” sign on the store’s facade — and the tantalizing smell of cumin and roast chicken — started causing gas station customers to do a double-take as they pulled up to the pumps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yemeni food shares a number of dishes in common with other Arabic cuisines, and some of our region’s best-loved \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/p/Salam-Halal-Market-Restaurant-100051575176191/\">halal markets\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/oasis-grill-open-on-grand-avenue-2-1/\">shawarma-and-kebab shops\u003c/a> have Yemeni roots, even if they don’t advertise themselves as such. What sets Halal King apart from the crowd is its focus on the cuisine’s homier, more distinct dishes. As Mused puts it, “Every Yemeni dish is home food. You’ll never leave the restaurant without feeling full.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>\u003c/b>\u003c/span>Part of what that entails is a kind of generosity and hospitality not typically associated with gas station food — for instance, the cup of hot, sweet Yemeni tea that Mousa hands you after taking your order. By far the most popular dish among Halal King’s Yemeni customers is the chicken mendi (often spelled “mandi”), which comes with a half roast chicken, dusted with cumin, that has taut, crispy skin and meat so tender and succulent that it falls apart at the slightest touch. This is served over a bed of seasoned rice, with a tub of the zippy, tomato and cilantro–based Yemeni hot sauce known as zahawiq on the side — “basically salsa with no onions,” Mused explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It \u003ci>is\u003c/i> a lot of food, but it’s also supremely difficult to stop yourself from devouring the whole thing in one sitting. By the time I was done, there was nothing left but a neat pile of bones, completely picked clean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mousa also makes a fantastic version of salta (aka “saltah”), the fenugreek stew often described as Yemen’s national dish. It’s a cozy, soupy stew, loaded with shredded chicken and faintly medicinal in its herbaceousness — the perfect thing to sop up with rounds of pita on a blustery winter night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950579\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950579\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast.jpg\" alt=\"Two round plastic takeout containers on a picnic table. To the left is foul, a soupy, orange-hued bean stew. To the right is the shakshouka eggs, a kind of chunky vegetable scramble.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-breakfast-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two of Halal King’s traditional Yemeni breakfast dishes — foul and shakshouka eggs — on the picnic table outside the restaurant. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This is almost certainly also the only gas station in the Bay that serves a full Yemeni breakfast menu — and, with traditional offerings like sautéed liver, one that doesn’t make any concessions to the Western palate. On a recent morning, I enjoyed Mousa’s pleasantly spicy Yemeni version of foul — the classic Arabic bean stew — and an order of shakshouka eggs, which turned out not to be the tomato sauce–poached eggs I expected. Instead, it was a kind of chunky scramble, studded with onions, tomatoes and peppers. All together, it made for one of the most satisfying breakfasts I’d eaten in months — all the heartier because it came with an entire bag of pita.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mused estimates that Halal King’s customer base is about “50% Yemeni and 50% American,” with many of the Yemeni customers traveling a long distance for his uncle’s food, having followed him from his Yemen Kitchen days. In that way, this Richmond gas station has become a destination restaurant for chicken mendi and salta devotees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For locals who just stumble on this food because they happen to be low on gas at the right time and place? It’s the very best kind of surprise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950582\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950582\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-scaled.jpg\" alt='Sign advertising the \"Kwik Serv\" gas station, with sign for \"Halal King Kitchen\" underneath. In the background, the sign for Carlson Food Market advertises Krispy Krunchy Chicken.' width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/halal-king-gas-station-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The apex of fine gas station cuisine. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@halalkingkitchen\">\u003ci>Halal King Kitchen\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open at the Kwik Serv gas station convenience store (1503 Carlson Blvd., Richmond) Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles",
"title": "What Keith Lee’s Sudden Exit From the Bay Area Says About Our Struggles",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]I[/dropcap] didn’t want to start the year like this. I’m not the type of person who likes to feed into negativity, and I want to be clear: I absolutely love the Bay, where I was born and raised since 1987. I have the old Bay Bridge tattooed on my right arm to remind me where I come from — a symbol of what we’ve long stood for as an interconnected region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13927875\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Alan.Chazaro.headshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"207\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Alan.Chazaro.headshot.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Alan.Chazaro.headshot-160x184.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\">But at times, I hate it here, too. And after viral TikTok influencer \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@keith_lee125\">Keith Lee\u003c/a> suddenly cut his visit to the Bay Area short on Thursday, just twelve days into 2024, I can’t help but wonder: Are the Bay Area’s struggles actually worse than we’ve been telling ourselves?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee, a former MMA fighter from Detroit, has built up a national following for his blunt, plainspoken food review videos, which he films inside his car. With more than 15 million followers on TikTok, the young tastemaker can completely change a restaurant’s fortunes with a single positive mention — especially the largely unknown, mostly Black-owned mom-and-pop businesses that he reviews. He’s been dubbed “\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/keith-lee-bay-area-restaurants-18592120.php\">the internet’s most famous food critic\u003c/a>,” and there’s even a term to describe a restaurant he’s visited: It’s been “Keith Lee-d.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, when Lee announced that his first review tour of 2024 would be a trip to the Bay Area, local food lovers were positively giddy. But less than a week after he arrived, Lee unexpectedly cut his visit short, citing lackluster food, an allergic reaction and general shock and dismay at the living conditions he found in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By all accounts, it’s unlike Lee. He’s generally seen as conscientious, with no history of mindlessly tarnishing small businesses, let alone diminishing an entire region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Bay Area unsettled him. This is the first time Lee has ended a trip on short notice, explaining, in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@keith_lee125/video/7323079692276288798?lang=en\">farewell video\u003c/a>, that he “[doesn’t] believe the Bay is a place for tourists right now… the people of the Bay are just focused on \u003cem>surviving\u003c/em>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" style=\"max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px\" cite=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@keith_lee125/video/7323079692276288798\" data-video-id=\"7323079692276288798\">\n\u003csection>\u003ca title=\"@keith_lee125\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@keith_lee125?refer=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@keith_lee125\u003c/a> Bay Area taste test 💕 would you try it ? 💕 \u003ca title=\"foodcritic\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/foodcritic?refer=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#foodcritic\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"♬ original sound - Keith Lee\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7323079767438871327?refer=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">♬ original sound – Keith Lee\u003c/a>\u003c/section>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>[tiktok][dropcap]A[/dropcap]lthough I’m a food writer by title, I practically never watch food videos online, and I generally don’t care if Lee — or any other critic or influencer — thinks a greasy pouch of French fries should be scored a 7.2 or a 6.7. Ironically, I don’t really want to hear in detail about the food itself. Food either smacks, or it doesn’t. Rather, it’s the people, and the contexts — social, racial, economic, cultural — that feed my sense of wholeness, and which requires nuance and perspective to appreciate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps there’s something to be said for why, despite the Bay Area’s sparkling reputation as a food destination, Lee seemed unable to find very much that was even half-decent to eat. But when he implied, for basically the first time in his career, that the Bay Area is too out of pocket, too distressed, too dysfunctional, too disarrayed, too unsafe, too \u003cem>everything\u003c/em> except whatever trendy food-take people wanted to hear, I felt him. His seeming dissatisfaction with the Bay Area wasn’t even mostly about the food. It was about our living conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was born in the Bay to immigrant parents, raised in the Bay with hella types of friends and have seen a lot of shit here. But you can’t tell me that right now, in 2024, the Bay Area isn’t more overpriced, overcrowded and unlivable than it has been at any other point in my lifetime — even the food is often outrageously expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Check the housing prices. The other day, my dad genuinely asked me why I don’t consider buying a mobile home for my family because it’s “still affordable.” My wife and I have a son, and we both have master’s degrees. We’ve worked tremendously hard as first-generation college graduates. And we can’t afford much more than a room or two here. Many people here don’t have the time or money to chase after the most trending meal. They don’t even have regular access to meals. Period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13939383,arts_13907726,arts_13906384']How many more people living in tents do we have to pass by before we reach a collective tipping point? I know I’m not alone in feeling a sense of dystopia, even as a proud local. Neither is Lee in feeling that way as a curious outsider. And his comments are bringing that to light in a compassionate way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thursday night’s social media feeds provided ample evidence that Lee struck a nerve. I’ve never seen a piece of food content stir up more debate among Bay Area thought leaders, particularly in the local hip-hop community. Oakland lyricist Tajai from the mighty Souls of Mischief chimed in, agreeing with Lee: “This is not to be a doomsayer or be negative about the Bay, but I think we’ve gotten used to some shit, y’all, that is not normal.” In a \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/RapNoir/status/1745696413043093755\">brief video\u003c/a>, he references a major Latin American city that’s twice the size of the Bay Area — and how we have a “600% higher homeless rate” than a “developing nation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Popular San Francisco artist Stunnaman02 \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/stunnaman02/status/1745694988510679086\">got in on it as well\u003c/a>: “Keith Lee’s synopsis of The Bay was necessary. Humbling, environmentally The Bay is a shell of itself. Overpriced, not as crackin as it has been in the past, and economically Oakland is being stripped unfortunately.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>East Oakland rapper ALLBLACK said he was “\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/22NDWAYS/status/1745653462811935223\">embarrassed\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, other people made jokes about it all. Some posted clips from movies like \u003cem>Next Friday\u003c/em> (“\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Numbah1/status/1745688458960728386\">we live raw\u003c/a>”); others affirmed Lee’s synopsis but with extra spice (“I 100% agree. This mf [Bay Area] is \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/marismenu/status/1745699350146421210\">raggedy\u003c/a>!”); more than a few called out his poor choices (“respectfully \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/paocarisweat/status/1745731992350781515\">keith lee kinda be eating anywhere\u003c/a>”); and some just playfully owned the crappiness of it all (“\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/KhadijahTaine/status/1745692611636343262\">Bay Area can’t never keep anything\u003c/a>, the Raiders, The A’s, The Warriors, Keith Lee. Nothing.”).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Dr. Ameer Hasan Loggins, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, pointed out that “\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/LeftSentThis/status/1745710522077716604\">some of y’all are focused on the food, when Lee was focused on the effects of structural inequality\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/RunJuly/status/1745692576274145790\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are all valid takes. And they all speak to a certain part of my Bay Area soul, upbringing and loyalty. There’s even a part of me that is like, \u003cem>man, who even is Keith Lee, and what does he know about us and our food scene?\u003c/em> And there’s been no shortage of Bay Area defenders hopping online to lightly condemn, or at minimum question, Lee’s take.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rexx Life Raj’s manager, Ari Simon, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/RexxLifeAri/status/1745691709479223314\">stuck his chest out for the Bay\u003c/a>: “I fw Keith Lee but I think him cutting early reflects more on him than us… Sounds like bro bought into doomloop narrative and psyched himself out / was doin anything with not a lot of help lol (that sf burger spot).” Ari concluded that the issue is with Lee’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/RexxLifeAri/status/1745694175482486874\">poor taste\u003c/a>, rather than the Bay Area’s shortcomings (“I’m either blaming lack of palette [sic] or lack of planning”).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were plenty of comments along those lines — those who took up arms for our zip codes and were, to a degree, unwilling to hear Lee’s polite criticisms. But what many upset folks are missing is that Lee wasn’t necessarily saying the food here is trash. Instead, he’s fixated on something more important. He’s saying that the state of our day-to-day living — crime, safety, congestion, cost, tents, burned-out cars — is, in his eyes, precariously unwell, and bordering on social crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he also gave the Bay some deserved props, too. How could you not?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The people from the Bay were absolutely amazing, and I’ll never forget the hospitality and the love that y’all showed me,” he said. Facts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13902366\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13902366\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1.jpg\" alt=\"Women laugh and smile at a street fair in Oakland.\" width=\"1560\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1.jpg 1560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1-800x547.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1-1020x698.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1-768x525.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1-1536x1051.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1560px) 100vw, 1560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Festival-goers attend First Friday in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Oakland First Fridays/\u003ca href=\"https://www.aliciarphoto.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Alicia Rodriguez\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Bay is special. It is diverse, flavorful and full of sauce. We dance a little different. This is the home of where game recognizes game. But the Bay Area is also struggling, and that’s okay to admit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m glad Keith Lee used his platform to bring attention to what really matters. It’s not just about what dish makes a good Instagram story. It’s not just about the succulence of those adobo wings at your favorite Filipino joint. It’s also about the conditions in which we are living — the amount of hours we’re working, the rent we’re paying, all while seeing our friends get pushed out, watching our parents and siblings sacrifice and make that longer commute just to stay on the edges of it all, having new neighbors move in and old ones get evicted, dodging a weaving car on the freeway, constantly generating side hustles, hoping that your window doesn’t get bipped even when there’s nothing in your car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lately, more than ever, I’ve been wondering: Is the Bay Area going to be okay? The gas and housing prices will come back down, right? People in need will receive care and support services, right? We can’t just keep running around and speeding through red lights while it’s all getting harder to sustain our families everyday, right? I guess we are all just either ignoring the madness, or participating in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least for one food influencer, who’s extensively traveled the country and seen his fair share of both struggling and thriving areas, the Bay Area in its current state doesn’t seem to be living up to its full potential and has become unwelcoming to many outsiders. And right now, maybe we should stop biting into a burger for a moment — no matter how good we think it is — and chew on that instead.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp> didn’t want to start the year like this. I’m not the type of person who likes to feed into negativity, and I want to be clear: I absolutely love the Bay, where I was born and raised since 1987. I have the old Bay Bridge tattooed on my right arm to remind me where I come from — a symbol of what we’ve long stood for as an interconnected region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13927875\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Alan.Chazaro.headshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"207\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Alan.Chazaro.headshot.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Alan.Chazaro.headshot-160x184.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\">But at times, I hate it here, too. And after viral TikTok influencer \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@keith_lee125\">Keith Lee\u003c/a> suddenly cut his visit to the Bay Area short on Thursday, just twelve days into 2024, I can’t help but wonder: Are the Bay Area’s struggles actually worse than we’ve been telling ourselves?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee, a former MMA fighter from Detroit, has built up a national following for his blunt, plainspoken food review videos, which he films inside his car. With more than 15 million followers on TikTok, the young tastemaker can completely change a restaurant’s fortunes with a single positive mention — especially the largely unknown, mostly Black-owned mom-and-pop businesses that he reviews. He’s been dubbed “\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/keith-lee-bay-area-restaurants-18592120.php\">the internet’s most famous food critic\u003c/a>,” and there’s even a term to describe a restaurant he’s visited: It’s been “Keith Lee-d.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, when Lee announced that his first review tour of 2024 would be a trip to the Bay Area, local food lovers were positively giddy. But less than a week after he arrived, Lee unexpectedly cut his visit short, citing lackluster food, an allergic reaction and general shock and dismay at the living conditions he found in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By all accounts, it’s unlike Lee. He’s generally seen as conscientious, with no history of mindlessly tarnishing small businesses, let alone diminishing an entire region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Bay Area unsettled him. This is the first time Lee has ended a trip on short notice, explaining, in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@keith_lee125/video/7323079692276288798?lang=en\">farewell video\u003c/a>, that he “[doesn’t] believe the Bay is a place for tourists right now… the people of the Bay are just focused on \u003cem>surviving\u003c/em>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" style=\"max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px\" cite=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@keith_lee125/video/7323079692276288798\" data-video-id=\"7323079692276288798\">\n\u003csection>\u003ca title=\"@keith_lee125\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@keith_lee125?refer=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@keith_lee125\u003c/a> Bay Area taste test 💕 would you try it ? 💕 \u003ca title=\"foodcritic\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/tag/foodcritic?refer=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#foodcritic\u003c/a> \u003ca title=\"♬ original sound - Keith Lee\" href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7323079767438871327?refer=embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">♬ original sound – Keith Lee\u003c/a>\u003c/section>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>lthough I’m a food writer by title, I practically never watch food videos online, and I generally don’t care if Lee — or any other critic or influencer — thinks a greasy pouch of French fries should be scored a 7.2 or a 6.7. Ironically, I don’t really want to hear in detail about the food itself. Food either smacks, or it doesn’t. Rather, it’s the people, and the contexts — social, racial, economic, cultural — that feed my sense of wholeness, and which requires nuance and perspective to appreciate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps there’s something to be said for why, despite the Bay Area’s sparkling reputation as a food destination, Lee seemed unable to find very much that was even half-decent to eat. But when he implied, for basically the first time in his career, that the Bay Area is too out of pocket, too distressed, too dysfunctional, too disarrayed, too unsafe, too \u003cem>everything\u003c/em> except whatever trendy food-take people wanted to hear, I felt him. His seeming dissatisfaction with the Bay Area wasn’t even mostly about the food. It was about our living conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was born in the Bay to immigrant parents, raised in the Bay with hella types of friends and have seen a lot of shit here. But you can’t tell me that right now, in 2024, the Bay Area isn’t more overpriced, overcrowded and unlivable than it has been at any other point in my lifetime — even the food is often outrageously expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Check the housing prices. The other day, my dad genuinely asked me why I don’t consider buying a mobile home for my family because it’s “still affordable.” My wife and I have a son, and we both have master’s degrees. We’ve worked tremendously hard as first-generation college graduates. And we can’t afford much more than a room or two here. Many people here don’t have the time or money to chase after the most trending meal. They don’t even have regular access to meals. Period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>How many more people living in tents do we have to pass by before we reach a collective tipping point? I know I’m not alone in feeling a sense of dystopia, even as a proud local. Neither is Lee in feeling that way as a curious outsider. And his comments are bringing that to light in a compassionate way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thursday night’s social media feeds provided ample evidence that Lee struck a nerve. I’ve never seen a piece of food content stir up more debate among Bay Area thought leaders, particularly in the local hip-hop community. Oakland lyricist Tajai from the mighty Souls of Mischief chimed in, agreeing with Lee: “This is not to be a doomsayer or be negative about the Bay, but I think we’ve gotten used to some shit, y’all, that is not normal.” In a \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/RapNoir/status/1745696413043093755\">brief video\u003c/a>, he references a major Latin American city that’s twice the size of the Bay Area — and how we have a “600% higher homeless rate” than a “developing nation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Popular San Francisco artist Stunnaman02 \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/stunnaman02/status/1745694988510679086\">got in on it as well\u003c/a>: “Keith Lee’s synopsis of The Bay was necessary. Humbling, environmentally The Bay is a shell of itself. Overpriced, not as crackin as it has been in the past, and economically Oakland is being stripped unfortunately.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>East Oakland rapper ALLBLACK said he was “\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/22NDWAYS/status/1745653462811935223\">embarrassed\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, other people made jokes about it all. Some posted clips from movies like \u003cem>Next Friday\u003c/em> (“\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Numbah1/status/1745688458960728386\">we live raw\u003c/a>”); others affirmed Lee’s synopsis but with extra spice (“I 100% agree. This mf [Bay Area] is \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/marismenu/status/1745699350146421210\">raggedy\u003c/a>!”); more than a few called out his poor choices (“respectfully \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/paocarisweat/status/1745731992350781515\">keith lee kinda be eating anywhere\u003c/a>”); and some just playfully owned the crappiness of it all (“\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/KhadijahTaine/status/1745692611636343262\">Bay Area can’t never keep anything\u003c/a>, the Raiders, The A’s, The Warriors, Keith Lee. Nothing.”).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Dr. Ameer Hasan Loggins, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, pointed out that “\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/LeftSentThis/status/1745710522077716604\">some of y’all are focused on the food, when Lee was focused on the effects of structural inequality\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>These are all valid takes. And they all speak to a certain part of my Bay Area soul, upbringing and loyalty. There’s even a part of me that is like, \u003cem>man, who even is Keith Lee, and what does he know about us and our food scene?\u003c/em> And there’s been no shortage of Bay Area defenders hopping online to lightly condemn, or at minimum question, Lee’s take.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rexx Life Raj’s manager, Ari Simon, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/RexxLifeAri/status/1745691709479223314\">stuck his chest out for the Bay\u003c/a>: “I fw Keith Lee but I think him cutting early reflects more on him than us… Sounds like bro bought into doomloop narrative and psyched himself out / was doin anything with not a lot of help lol (that sf burger spot).” Ari concluded that the issue is with Lee’s \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/RexxLifeAri/status/1745694175482486874\">poor taste\u003c/a>, rather than the Bay Area’s shortcomings (“I’m either blaming lack of palette [sic] or lack of planning”).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were plenty of comments along those lines — those who took up arms for our zip codes and were, to a degree, unwilling to hear Lee’s polite criticisms. But what many upset folks are missing is that Lee wasn’t necessarily saying the food here is trash. Instead, he’s fixated on something more important. He’s saying that the state of our day-to-day living — crime, safety, congestion, cost, tents, burned-out cars — is, in his eyes, precariously unwell, and bordering on social crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he also gave the Bay some deserved props, too. How could you not?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The people from the Bay were absolutely amazing, and I’ll never forget the hospitality and the love that y’all showed me,” he said. Facts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13902366\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13902366\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1.jpg\" alt=\"Women laugh and smile at a street fair in Oakland.\" width=\"1560\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1.jpg 1560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1-800x547.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1-1020x698.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1-768x525.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/202001-Oakff-AliciaRodriguez-082-1-1536x1051.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1560px) 100vw, 1560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Festival-goers attend First Friday in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Oakland First Fridays/\u003ca href=\"https://www.aliciarphoto.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Alicia Rodriguez\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>he Bay is special. It is diverse, flavorful and full of sauce. We dance a little different. This is the home of where game recognizes game. But the Bay Area is also struggling, and that’s okay to admit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m glad Keith Lee used his platform to bring attention to what really matters. It’s not just about what dish makes a good Instagram story. It’s not just about the succulence of those adobo wings at your favorite Filipino joint. It’s also about the conditions in which we are living — the amount of hours we’re working, the rent we’re paying, all while seeing our friends get pushed out, watching our parents and siblings sacrifice and make that longer commute just to stay on the edges of it all, having new neighbors move in and old ones get evicted, dodging a weaving car on the freeway, constantly generating side hustles, hoping that your window doesn’t get bipped even when there’s nothing in your car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lately, more than ever, I’ve been wondering: Is the Bay Area going to be okay? The gas and housing prices will come back down, right? People in need will receive care and support services, right? We can’t just keep running around and speeding through red lights while it’s all getting harder to sustain our families everyday, right? I guess we are all just either ignoring the madness, or participating in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least for one food influencer, who’s extensively traveled the country and seen his fair share of both struggling and thriving areas, the Bay Area in its current state doesn’t seem to be living up to its full potential and has become unwelcoming to many outsiders. And right now, maybe we should stop biting into a burger for a moment — no matter how good we think it is — and chew on that instead.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "One of the Bay Area’s Best Oyster Shacks Is Reopening in Oakland",
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"content": "\u003cp>During its brief heyday on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/richmond\">Richmond\u003c/a> waterfront, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rockyislandoysterco/?hl=en\">Rocky Island Oyster Co\u003c/a>. offered one of the most gorgeous outdoor dining experiences in the entire Bay. You’d sit outside at a picnic table slurping up a big tray of bracingly briny Massachusetts oysters, with a picture-perfect panoramic view of the Bay in front of you and a string of twinkle lights casting their little spell overhead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was, as they say, a whole vibe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13909648,arts_13921917']\u003c/span>And, unfortunately, it turned out to be short-lived, when Rocky Island and all of the other restaurants that shared the \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/p/Assemble-Marketplace-100083072865350/?paipv=0&eav=AfYNFMuhq2g6gSGS9gJiBhUggidkFdo7U4PKHl130lqtQTzzLZQdBQaiVBJ5-V8WiME&_rdr\">Craneway Pavilion’s food hall\u003c/a> were pushed out last summer in favor of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/pickleball-craneway-pavilion-richmond-18201808.php\">45,000-foot private pickleball club\u003c/a> with an attached restaurant claiming to offer a more “\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=242759525169808&set=pcb.242759641836463\">elevated dining experience\u003c/a>.” (Now, the future of said pickleball club is up in the air, after the city of Richmond rejected its \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbdevgroup.com/pbccraneway\">Orange County-based developer’s\u003c/a> plans for being \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/pickleball-center-nixed-east-bay-18289756.php\">insufficiently beneficial to the general public\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was pretty dark for a little while,” Rocky Island owner Danny Pirello says about suddenly being forced to close up shop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news is that it didn’t take Pirello too long to find a new home for his business. This weekend, his new restaurant, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thesalty_pearl/?hl=en\">The Salty Pearl\u003c/a>, will open in Oakland, just a block away from the Jack London waterfront in a space that Pirello and his team will sublease from a longtime \u003ca href=\"https://plantedtable.com/\">vegan catering company\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13940512\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13940512\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo.jpg\" alt=\"Seafood crudo topped with capers and red onions, served in a shallow white bowl.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Italian-style fish crudo at Rocky Island — now The Salty Dog — is a knockout. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.saltypearl.us/menus\">menu\u003c/a> will be largely the same as Rocky Island’s. The oysters — mostly varieties that Pirello ships in overnight from New England, where he grew up — and the stunning, Swan Oyster Depot–inspired fish crudo are the headliners. There won’t be fish and chips until the restaurant installs a deep fryer, and in the meantime Pirello has added a burger, clams casino and a couple of additional salads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, most of the seating is indoors, but by the summertime, when the weather gets nicer, he hopes to set up seven or eight tables outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Pirello puts it, “We want The Salty Pearl to be a cute date spot version of what we were doing at Rocky Island.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13940519\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13940519\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter.jpg\" alt=\"A big tray of oysters, crudo, and shrimp cocktail.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Like Rocky Island before it, The Salty Dog will specialize in abundant trays of fresh seafood. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In many ways, however, Pirello’s heart is still in Richmond, where \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909648/rocky-island-oyster-bar-richmond-waterfront-view-lobster-roll\">his dream of bringing a New England–style oyster shack to the East Bay\u003c/a> first came to fruition. It was amazing, he says, to have the local community so wholeheartedly embrace that vision, even if the restaurant was only able to stay open for a year and a half. As a result, Pirello says he’s committed to doing whatever it takes to open a new iteration of Rocky Island in Richmond someday down the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Rich City oyster lovers haven’t been left entirely in the lurch: Not long after the restaurant closed, Pirello started operating Rocky Island as a weekend food truck pop-up at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/windchaserwineco/?hl=en\">Windchaser Wine Co.\u003c/a>, just a little further down the Richmond waterfront, with live music and dollar oyster specials. Those pop-ups will start up again on Sundays in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s become this cool Richmond hang,” Pirello says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.saltypearl.us/\">The Salty Pearl’s\u003c/a> grand opening will be held on Friday, Jan. 12, 4–9 p.m., and Saturday, Jan. 13, 5–9 p.m. Moving forward the restaurant will be open at 550 2nd St. in Oakland Thursdays and Fridays, 4–9 p.m., and Saturdays from 5–9 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "One of the Best Oyster Bars In the Bay Area Reopens in Oakland | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>During its brief heyday on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/richmond\">Richmond\u003c/a> waterfront, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rockyislandoysterco/?hl=en\">Rocky Island Oyster Co\u003c/a>. offered one of the most gorgeous outdoor dining experiences in the entire Bay. You’d sit outside at a picnic table slurping up a big tray of bracingly briny Massachusetts oysters, with a picture-perfect panoramic view of the Bay in front of you and a string of twinkle lights casting their little spell overhead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was, as they say, a whole vibe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>And, unfortunately, it turned out to be short-lived, when Rocky Island and all of the other restaurants that shared the \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/p/Assemble-Marketplace-100083072865350/?paipv=0&eav=AfYNFMuhq2g6gSGS9gJiBhUggidkFdo7U4PKHl130lqtQTzzLZQdBQaiVBJ5-V8WiME&_rdr\">Craneway Pavilion’s food hall\u003c/a> were pushed out last summer in favor of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/pickleball-craneway-pavilion-richmond-18201808.php\">45,000-foot private pickleball club\u003c/a> with an attached restaurant claiming to offer a more “\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=242759525169808&set=pcb.242759641836463\">elevated dining experience\u003c/a>.” (Now, the future of said pickleball club is up in the air, after the city of Richmond rejected its \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbdevgroup.com/pbccraneway\">Orange County-based developer’s\u003c/a> plans for being \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/pickleball-center-nixed-east-bay-18289756.php\">insufficiently beneficial to the general public\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was pretty dark for a little while,” Rocky Island owner Danny Pirello says about suddenly being forced to close up shop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news is that it didn’t take Pirello too long to find a new home for his business. This weekend, his new restaurant, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thesalty_pearl/?hl=en\">The Salty Pearl\u003c/a>, will open in Oakland, just a block away from the Jack London waterfront in a space that Pirello and his team will sublease from a longtime \u003ca href=\"https://plantedtable.com/\">vegan catering company\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13940512\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13940512\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo.jpg\" alt=\"Seafood crudo topped with capers and red onions, served in a shallow white bowl.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-crudo-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Italian-style fish crudo at Rocky Island — now The Salty Dog — is a knockout. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.saltypearl.us/menus\">menu\u003c/a> will be largely the same as Rocky Island’s. The oysters — mostly varieties that Pirello ships in overnight from New England, where he grew up — and the stunning, Swan Oyster Depot–inspired fish crudo are the headliners. There won’t be fish and chips until the restaurant installs a deep fryer, and in the meantime Pirello has added a burger, clams casino and a couple of additional salads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, most of the seating is indoors, but by the summertime, when the weather gets nicer, he hopes to set up seven or eight tables outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Pirello puts it, “We want The Salty Pearl to be a cute date spot version of what we were doing at Rocky Island.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13940519\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13940519\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter.jpg\" alt=\"A big tray of oysters, crudo, and shrimp cocktail.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/rocky-island-platter-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Like Rocky Island before it, The Salty Dog will specialize in abundant trays of fresh seafood. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In many ways, however, Pirello’s heart is still in Richmond, where \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909648/rocky-island-oyster-bar-richmond-waterfront-view-lobster-roll\">his dream of bringing a New England–style oyster shack to the East Bay\u003c/a> first came to fruition. It was amazing, he says, to have the local community so wholeheartedly embrace that vision, even if the restaurant was only able to stay open for a year and a half. As a result, Pirello says he’s committed to doing whatever it takes to open a new iteration of Rocky Island in Richmond someday down the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Rich City oyster lovers haven’t been left entirely in the lurch: Not long after the restaurant closed, Pirello started operating Rocky Island as a weekend food truck pop-up at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/windchaserwineco/?hl=en\">Windchaser Wine Co.\u003c/a>, just a little further down the Richmond waterfront, with live music and dollar oyster specials. Those pop-ups will start up again on Sundays in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s become this cool Richmond hang,” Pirello says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.saltypearl.us/\">The Salty Pearl’s\u003c/a> grand opening will be held on Friday, Jan. 12, 4–9 p.m., and Saturday, Jan. 13, 5–9 p.m. Moving forward the restaurant will be open at 550 2nd St. in Oakland Thursdays and Fridays, 4–9 p.m., and Saturdays from 5–9 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Cult Favorite Filipino Dessert Pop-Up Opens First Storefront in Union City",
"headTitle": "Cult Favorite Filipino Dessert Pop-Up Opens First Storefront in Union City | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>If any food craze has grown since the start of the pandemic, it’s the deliciously colorful injection of everyone’s favorite Filipino ingredient: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13912001/ube-festival-filipino-kapwa-gardens-yum-yams-san-francisco-marleys-treats\">ube\u003c/a>. In recent years, the yam has made its purply splash in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11963721/how-sfs-rize-up-sourdough-puts-black-bakers-on-the-map\">sourdough bread\u003c/a>, lemonade, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13926618/mayumu-abi-balingit-filipino-desserts-cookbook-bay-area-san-jose\">tres leches cake\u003c/a>, cookies, grilled cheese sandwiches and good old-fashioned American holiday \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13938798/filipino-christmas-pies-sweet-condesa-sf-pinay-pie-lady\">pies\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As writer Jessica Reyes put it in a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.pastemagazine.com/food/ube/ube-just-keeps-getting-more-popular\">\u003cem>Paste \u003c/em>article\u003c/a>, “Ube isn’t exactly the newest food trend anymore, but it’s getting more popular by the year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among local foodmakers serving the sweet treat, \u003ca href=\"http://link\">Macs By Icky’s\u003c/a> creativity has stood out. The modest Union City pop-up has set trends with out-of-pocket desserts like its ube cannoli, ube muddy mix and — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13929263/ube-choco-taco-macs-by-icky-filipino-union-city\">its biggest viral creation\u003c/a> — the ube choco taco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the shop’s Filipino purveyors have been rewarded for their culinary ingenuity and community amplification with their first brick and mortar: Macs By Icky Cafe. The new storefront will have its grand opening in Union City on Saturday, Jan. 13, after a limited test run at the end of December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929323\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929323\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco.jpg\" alt=\"Three ice cream tacos in assorted flavors.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Macs by Icky is known for its Bay Area take on the famous Klondike’s Choco Taco. The frozen treats are available in several flavors — including, most strikingly, a version that features crushed pistachios and ube ice cream (right). \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Macs by Icky)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Macs By Icky began as a home kitchen project when Victoria Sablan casually made a batch of ube-infused treats to give to her pharmacy staff during National Nurses Week. After an explosion of requests for more, she launched the business as a side hustle with her husband, Frank, in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We couldn’t keep up with the demand at first. People [would] hunt us down at pop-up events,” Sablan says. Eventually, her passion grew into a regular pop-up series at Union City’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/birdhausbeergarden/\">Birdhaus\u003c/a> dubbed “UC The Vibes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The menu at the new cafe will feature many of the sugary items that initially put Macs By Icky on the map, including the aforementioned choco tacos. But the Sablans are also adding new desserts, beverages and even savory bites to the mix. New items include calamansi iced tea, cinnamon sugar croissant waffles, ube-vanilla swirl soft serve, dragon fruit lemonade, espresso drinks and tocino Spam sliders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13940210\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13940210\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop.jpg\" alt=\"a breakfast sandwich with melting cheese displayed on a table\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">For the first time, Macs By Icky will be serving breakfast sandwiches and other savory items. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Victoria Sablan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Of course, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13919707/ellis-creamery-filipino-ice-cream-bakery-halo-halo-gas-station-tracy\">traditional Filipino favorites like halo-halo and pandasal\u003c/a> will be copiously supplied as well. And for hypebeasts who enjoy being well fed, there will be a commemorative merch drop from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/whocaressupplyco/?hl=en\">Who Cares? Supply Co.\u003c/a> (the prótegés of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13935114/everybody-eats-streetwear-food-festival-savs-sf\">Bay Area Filipino streetwear savant, Mike Liwang\u003c/a>) on opening day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13929263,arts_13938479']\u003c/span>The cafe is poetically located inside the Loyola Building, \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2006/12/30/exhibit-honors-first-mayor-of-alvarado-prominent-filipino-wwii-vet-owned-auto-shop-and-restaurant/\">a historic building for local Filipinos\u003c/a> that formerly housed Paddy’s Coffee Shop, which Sablan frequented as a teenager. The Sablans first pursued the space on a whim in September of 2023, after being encouraged by friends. The couple didn’t anticipate starting the New Year with a new storefront, but when one thing led to another, they found themselves signing a lease on the same exact day as their dating anniversary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a time when restaurants and small businesses seem to be struggling more than ever, it’s an encouraging sign to see Macs By Icky — a homegrown, DIY operation in an overlooked East Bay suburb — taking a major step forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13940209\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13940209\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop.jpg\" alt=\"a young Filipino couple stands in their newly opened cafe\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Victoria Sablan and her husband, Frank, celebrate their opening of Macs By Icky Cafe in Union City. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Victoria Sablan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Perhaps the only thing sweeter than ube right now is the Sablans’ commitment to giving their hometown something to be proud of. They’ve already received tremendous community support throughout their announcement and soft opening, and they’re grateful for the love they’ve gotten from their diaspora and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels right because it’s what we know, what we grew up around,” Sablan says. “We are grateful for the community that stands behind us. [The Loyola Building] is truly a gem in Union City. It’s a historic Filipino building in our city and we wanted to keep that history going.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://link\">Macs By Icky Cafe\u003c/a> (3900 Smith St., Union City) will host its grand opening on Sat., Jan. 13, from noon to 5 p.m. \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/macs-by-icky-cafe-grand-opening-tickets-767839046257\">RSVP here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED Live’s “Desserts and DJs” event on Wednesday, Feb. 14, will feature Macs By Icky, as well as other Filipino food makers and DJs. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/event/3948\">Tickets here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If any food craze has grown since the start of the pandemic, it’s the deliciously colorful injection of everyone’s favorite Filipino ingredient: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13912001/ube-festival-filipino-kapwa-gardens-yum-yams-san-francisco-marleys-treats\">ube\u003c/a>. In recent years, the yam has made its purply splash in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11963721/how-sfs-rize-up-sourdough-puts-black-bakers-on-the-map\">sourdough bread\u003c/a>, lemonade, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13926618/mayumu-abi-balingit-filipino-desserts-cookbook-bay-area-san-jose\">tres leches cake\u003c/a>, cookies, grilled cheese sandwiches and good old-fashioned American holiday \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13938798/filipino-christmas-pies-sweet-condesa-sf-pinay-pie-lady\">pies\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As writer Jessica Reyes put it in a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.pastemagazine.com/food/ube/ube-just-keeps-getting-more-popular\">\u003cem>Paste \u003c/em>article\u003c/a>, “Ube isn’t exactly the newest food trend anymore, but it’s getting more popular by the year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among local foodmakers serving the sweet treat, \u003ca href=\"http://link\">Macs By Icky’s\u003c/a> creativity has stood out. The modest Union City pop-up has set trends with out-of-pocket desserts like its ube cannoli, ube muddy mix and — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13929263/ube-choco-taco-macs-by-icky-filipino-union-city\">its biggest viral creation\u003c/a> — the ube choco taco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the shop’s Filipino purveyors have been rewarded for their culinary ingenuity and community amplification with their first brick and mortar: Macs By Icky Cafe. The new storefront will have its grand opening in Union City on Saturday, Jan. 13, after a limited test run at the end of December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929323\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929323\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco.jpg\" alt=\"Three ice cream tacos in assorted flavors.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-choco-taco-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Macs by Icky is known for its Bay Area take on the famous Klondike’s Choco Taco. The frozen treats are available in several flavors — including, most strikingly, a version that features crushed pistachios and ube ice cream (right). \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Macs by Icky)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Macs By Icky began as a home kitchen project when Victoria Sablan casually made a batch of ube-infused treats to give to her pharmacy staff during National Nurses Week. After an explosion of requests for more, she launched the business as a side hustle with her husband, Frank, in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We couldn’t keep up with the demand at first. People [would] hunt us down at pop-up events,” Sablan says. Eventually, her passion grew into a regular pop-up series at Union City’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/birdhausbeergarden/\">Birdhaus\u003c/a> dubbed “UC The Vibes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The menu at the new cafe will feature many of the sugary items that initially put Macs By Icky on the map, including the aforementioned choco tacos. But the Sablans are also adding new desserts, beverages and even savory bites to the mix. New items include calamansi iced tea, cinnamon sugar croissant waffles, ube-vanilla swirl soft serve, dragon fruit lemonade, espresso drinks and tocino Spam sliders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13940210\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13940210\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop.jpg\" alt=\"a breakfast sandwich with melting cheese displayed on a table\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-sandwich_crop-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">For the first time, Macs By Icky will be serving breakfast sandwiches and other savory items. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Victoria Sablan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Of course, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13919707/ellis-creamery-filipino-ice-cream-bakery-halo-halo-gas-station-tracy\">traditional Filipino favorites like halo-halo and pandasal\u003c/a> will be copiously supplied as well. And for hypebeasts who enjoy being well fed, there will be a commemorative merch drop from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/whocaressupplyco/?hl=en\">Who Cares? Supply Co.\u003c/a> (the prótegés of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13935114/everybody-eats-streetwear-food-festival-savs-sf\">Bay Area Filipino streetwear savant, Mike Liwang\u003c/a>) on opening day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>The cafe is poetically located inside the Loyola Building, \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2006/12/30/exhibit-honors-first-mayor-of-alvarado-prominent-filipino-wwii-vet-owned-auto-shop-and-restaurant/\">a historic building for local Filipinos\u003c/a> that formerly housed Paddy’s Coffee Shop, which Sablan frequented as a teenager. The Sablans first pursued the space on a whim in September of 2023, after being encouraged by friends. The couple didn’t anticipate starting the New Year with a new storefront, but when one thing led to another, they found themselves signing a lease on the same exact day as their dating anniversary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a time when restaurants and small businesses seem to be struggling more than ever, it’s an encouraging sign to see Macs By Icky — a homegrown, DIY operation in an overlooked East Bay suburb — taking a major step forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13940209\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13940209\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop.jpg\" alt=\"a young Filipino couple stands in their newly opened cafe\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/macs-by-icky-owners_crop-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Victoria Sablan and her husband, Frank, celebrate their opening of Macs By Icky Cafe in Union City. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Victoria Sablan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Perhaps the only thing sweeter than ube right now is the Sablans’ commitment to giving their hometown something to be proud of. They’ve already received tremendous community support throughout their announcement and soft opening, and they’re grateful for the love they’ve gotten from their diaspora and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels right because it’s what we know, what we grew up around,” Sablan says. “We are grateful for the community that stands behind us. [The Loyola Building] is truly a gem in Union City. It’s a historic Filipino building in our city and we wanted to keep that history going.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://link\">Macs By Icky Cafe\u003c/a> (3900 Smith St., Union City) will host its grand opening on Sat., Jan. 13, from noon to 5 p.m. \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/macs-by-icky-cafe-grand-opening-tickets-767839046257\">RSVP here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED Live’s “Desserts and DJs” event on Wednesday, Feb. 14, will feature Macs By Icky, as well as other Filipino food makers and DJs. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/event/3948\">Tickets here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Stinky Tofu Is the Unlikely Star of a New Children’s Book",
"headTitle": "Stinky Tofu Is the Unlikely Star of a New Children’s Book | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In my years as the Bay Area’s most dedicated stinky tofu evangelist, I have preached the pungent virtues of fermented bean curd to anyone who would listen — in blog posts and glossy magazine features, on obscure internet \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13910817/chowhound-shutting-down-rip\">discussion forums\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101893028/all-you-can-eat-funky-foods-we-arent-supposed-to-love-but-do\">live public radio\u003c/a>. And in real life, I’ve wheedled friends, family members and random Taipei night market strangers into at least giving the dish a fair shake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I never expected, though, was for stinky tofu to be the subject — and the unlikely hero — of a children’s book published here in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s precisely what East Bay author Ying Chang Compestine has created with \u003ca href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/710497/ra-pu-zel-and-the-stinky-tofu-by-ying-chang-compestine-illustrated-by-crystal-kung/\">\u003ci>Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, her new riff on the classic Rapunzel fairy tale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13940137\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13940137\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover.jpg\" alt=\"Cover of the children's book 'Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu' shows a princess with a long, black braid surrounded by many bowls of Chinese food.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1995\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover-800x798.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover-1020x1017.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover-768x766.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover-1536x1532.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover-1920x1915.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Compestine’s book is a retelling of ‘Rapunzel.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Penguin Random House)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Compestine is no stranger to writing about Chinese food: She’s a seasoned cookbook author who used to be a food editor for Martha Stewart’s \u003ci>Whole Living\u003c/i>, and her more recent pivot to writing \u003ca href=\"https://www.yingc.com/picture-books.html\">stories for children\u003c/a> has been almost entirely food-centric\u003ci>.\u003c/i> And fried stinky tofu, specifically, was one of Compestine’s favorite childhood treats, sold by street vendors throughout her hometown of Wuhan, China.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compestine explains that when she was growing up in Wuhan during the Cultural Revolution in the late ’60s and early ’70s, the Communist Party had banned all Western books, including fairy tales like “Rapunzel.” But Compestine and her friends would read the stories in secret, then regale each other with their own retellings. She remembers especially loving Rapunzel’s dress: “We all had to wear Mao’s uniform,” she recalls. “I never had colorful clothes or long hair.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Compestine found boring, however, even as a young girl, was the standard storyline about a princess falling for a handsome prince. In the “Rapunzel” stories that she improvised as a child, the prince was only ever able to win over his beloved through her belly, with a steady supply of candy and snacks — including, of course, stinky tofu, which remains a popular local delicacy in Wuhan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Food was on my mind at the time,” Compestine says. “I was hungry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13937806,arts_13924997,arts_13897272']\u003c/span>In many ways, then, \u003ci>Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu\u003c/i> is just a more fully realized version of those early retellings, brought to vivid life through Pixar character designer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/crystaleatsyourbrain/?hl=en\">Crystal Kung\u003c/a>’s delightfully expressive, watercolor-like illustrations. In Compestine’s version of “Rapunzel,” Pu Zel, the princess heroine, isn’t kidnapped by an evil witch. Instead, she locks \u003ci>herself\u003c/i> in the high tower because it’s the only place where she isn’t burdened by the demands and expectations of the imperial court — and where she’s free to cook and eat what she likes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for the young street vendor who (spoiler alert) finally entices the spunky princess to come down again? Let’s just say that it’s a refreshing change from most portrayals of stinky tofu here in the West, where the pungent dish is still largely relegated to some category of extreme eating — something so gross and funky that only the most adventurous eaters would dare to give it a try.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for Taiwanese Americans like myself, in particular, the night market staple is a point of national pride and, more simply, just a delicious everyday food. I often talk about what a radicalizing moment it was for me when a surprisingly \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjGZg4gHOJw\">weak-sauce Andrew Zimmern\u003c/a> was so disgusted by stinky tofu on \u003ci>Bizarre Foods\u003c/i> that he couldn’t swallow a single bite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I love, then, about \u003ci>Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu \u003c/i>is how little Compestine dwells on the strangeness or stinkiness of the dish. “It smells like a sweaty ox!” exclaims one old man. But within the span of a few sentences, Pu Zel is admiring how delicious and “irresistible” the tofu is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13940138\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13940138\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223.jpg\" alt=\"A spread from a picture book shows a young chef cooking a big pot of stinky tofu, as birds and squirrels flee from the dish's strong odor.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223-800x400.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223-1020x510.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223-160x80.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223-768x384.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223-1920x960.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the end, a delicious pot of stinky tofu is what saves the day. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Penguin Random House)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, Compestine says her goal wasn’t necessarily to convince every child who reads the book to eat stinky tofu. She finished the book during the pandemic, right around the time when Wuhan was receiving so much \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-20/hundreds-gather-in-san-francisco-for-rally-against-anti-asian-attacks-racism\">negative publicity\u003c/a> — and when there was a wave of anti-Asian sentiment here in the U.S. “Through my book, I want people to understand my hometown,” she says. “And I wanted to portray a very strong female character. I wanted to change the perception that Asians are weak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if readers feel inspired to eat a big plate of tofu after they finish the book? There’s a (non-stinky) recipe in the back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/710497/ra-pu-zel-and-the-stinky-tofu-by-ying-chang-compestine-illustrated-by-crystal-kung/\">Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu\u003c/a> is available where books are sold. Compestine and Kung, the illustrator, will appear at Hicklebee’s (1378 Lincoln Ave., San José) on Saturday, Jan. 13, for storytime and a drawing demonstration.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In my years as the Bay Area’s most dedicated stinky tofu evangelist, I have preached the pungent virtues of fermented bean curd to anyone who would listen — in blog posts and glossy magazine features, on obscure internet \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13910817/chowhound-shutting-down-rip\">discussion forums\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101893028/all-you-can-eat-funky-foods-we-arent-supposed-to-love-but-do\">live public radio\u003c/a>. And in real life, I’ve wheedled friends, family members and random Taipei night market strangers into at least giving the dish a fair shake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I never expected, though, was for stinky tofu to be the subject — and the unlikely hero — of a children’s book published here in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that’s precisely what East Bay author Ying Chang Compestine has created with \u003ca href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/710497/ra-pu-zel-and-the-stinky-tofu-by-ying-chang-compestine-illustrated-by-crystal-kung/\">\u003ci>Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, her new riff on the classic Rapunzel fairy tale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13940137\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13940137\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover.jpg\" alt=\"Cover of the children's book 'Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu' shows a princess with a long, black braid surrounded by many bowls of Chinese food.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1995\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover-800x798.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover-1020x1017.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover-768x766.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover-1536x1532.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/ra-pu-zel-cover-1920x1915.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Compestine’s book is a retelling of ‘Rapunzel.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Penguin Random House)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Compestine is no stranger to writing about Chinese food: She’s a seasoned cookbook author who used to be a food editor for Martha Stewart’s \u003ci>Whole Living\u003c/i>, and her more recent pivot to writing \u003ca href=\"https://www.yingc.com/picture-books.html\">stories for children\u003c/a> has been almost entirely food-centric\u003ci>.\u003c/i> And fried stinky tofu, specifically, was one of Compestine’s favorite childhood treats, sold by street vendors throughout her hometown of Wuhan, China.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compestine explains that when she was growing up in Wuhan during the Cultural Revolution in the late ’60s and early ’70s, the Communist Party had banned all Western books, including fairy tales like “Rapunzel.” But Compestine and her friends would read the stories in secret, then regale each other with their own retellings. She remembers especially loving Rapunzel’s dress: “We all had to wear Mao’s uniform,” she recalls. “I never had colorful clothes or long hair.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What Compestine found boring, however, even as a young girl, was the standard storyline about a princess falling for a handsome prince. In the “Rapunzel” stories that she improvised as a child, the prince was only ever able to win over his beloved through her belly, with a steady supply of candy and snacks — including, of course, stinky tofu, which remains a popular local delicacy in Wuhan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Food was on my mind at the time,” Compestine says. “I was hungry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>In many ways, then, \u003ci>Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu\u003c/i> is just a more fully realized version of those early retellings, brought to vivid life through Pixar character designer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/crystaleatsyourbrain/?hl=en\">Crystal Kung\u003c/a>’s delightfully expressive, watercolor-like illustrations. In Compestine’s version of “Rapunzel,” Pu Zel, the princess heroine, isn’t kidnapped by an evil witch. Instead, she locks \u003ci>herself\u003c/i> in the high tower because it’s the only place where she isn’t burdened by the demands and expectations of the imperial court — and where she’s free to cook and eat what she likes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for the young street vendor who (spoiler alert) finally entices the spunky princess to come down again? Let’s just say that it’s a refreshing change from most portrayals of stinky tofu here in the West, where the pungent dish is still largely relegated to some category of extreme eating — something so gross and funky that only the most adventurous eaters would dare to give it a try.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for Taiwanese Americans like myself, in particular, the night market staple is a point of national pride and, more simply, just a delicious everyday food. I often talk about what a radicalizing moment it was for me when a surprisingly \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjGZg4gHOJw\">weak-sauce Andrew Zimmern\u003c/a> was so disgusted by stinky tofu on \u003ci>Bizarre Foods\u003c/i> that he couldn’t swallow a single bite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I love, then, about \u003ci>Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu \u003c/i>is how little Compestine dwells on the strangeness or stinkiness of the dish. “It smells like a sweaty ox!” exclaims one old man. But within the span of a few sentences, Pu Zel is admiring how delicious and “irresistible” the tofu is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13940138\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13940138\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223.jpg\" alt=\"A spread from a picture book shows a young chef cooking a big pot of stinky tofu, as birds and squirrels flee from the dish's strong odor.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223-800x400.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223-1020x510.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223-160x80.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223-768x384.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/9780593533055_Interior_Image_5_495223-1920x960.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the end, a delicious pot of stinky tofu is what saves the day. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Penguin Random House)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, Compestine says her goal wasn’t necessarily to convince every child who reads the book to eat stinky tofu. She finished the book during the pandemic, right around the time when Wuhan was receiving so much \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-20/hundreds-gather-in-san-francisco-for-rally-against-anti-asian-attacks-racism\">negative publicity\u003c/a> — and when there was a wave of anti-Asian sentiment here in the U.S. “Through my book, I want people to understand my hometown,” she says. “And I wanted to portray a very strong female character. I wanted to change the perception that Asians are weak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if readers feel inspired to eat a big plate of tofu after they finish the book? There’s a (non-stinky) recipe in the back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/710497/ra-pu-zel-and-the-stinky-tofu-by-ying-chang-compestine-illustrated-by-crystal-kung/\">Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu\u003c/a> is available where books are sold. Compestine and Kung, the illustrator, will appear at Hicklebee’s (1378 Lincoln Ave., San José) on Saturday, Jan. 13, for storytime and a drawing demonstration.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Mari Jacobson’s eyes fill with tears when she talks about the wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_11969701']Decades before Jacobson was born, her great-grandmother used to perform miracles with the cold dry winds that flooded the valley in her mountainous prefecture in central Japan. They were her accomplice as she strung peeled persimmons from the eaves of her green-tiled roof. Together, she and the wind bloomed the natural sugars of the persimmons from the inside out until the fruits had preserved themselves in their own sweetness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really nice to think that someone else in my lineage was sitting there, peeling persimmons,” Jacobson says, some 60 years later. “I think it takes a very specific kind of patience to engage in this practice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a damp December morning in Berkeley, the 31-year-old is carrying on the centuries-old technique for drying persimmons, something she first began doing last winter. But now, she’s doing it for a purpose much larger than herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13939721\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13939721 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"a close-up of hands touching dried persimmons\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mari Jacobson massages Hachiya persimmons in her home in Berkeley. The process of drying persimmons is called hoshigaki, a centuries-old Japanese practice during the fall season. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In early November, Jacobson announced through her pop-up \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/setsunai_snack/?hl=en\">Setsunai Snack\u003c/a> that she would be selling dried persimmons for $10 to $20 each, and sending 100% of the proceeds to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.mecaforpeace.org/\">Middle East Children’s Alliance\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that serves young Palestinians and Syrian refugees. She received $1,050 in orders over the course of 12 hours, for a total of 60 persimmons that would need to travel as far as Pennsylvania, she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been deeply affected by all the news of the genocide in Palestine as a human, but also as someone who grew up in the Jewish community,” says Jacobson, whose dad is Jewish and whose mom is Japanese. “I wanted to mobilize my very negative feelings towards a small action and the creation of something that I consider very beautiful.”[aside postID='arts_13938450']But after the rain set in, Jacobson worried over the persimmons, strung up by their T-shaped stems from clothes hangers in her kitchen. Weeks after she’d spiraled the peels off the first batch with a knife — leaving the persimmons disrobed and vulnerable — a few dropped off their stems in moldy defeat and were stolen away by Jacobson’s cats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyone who’s tried \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/01/09/682936866/ancient-japanese-food-craft-brings-persimmons-to-american-palates\">hoshigaki\u003c/a> will tell you it’s a delicate and complicated process. It’s nothing like dumping citrus peels into a pot of bubbling sugar, or sun-drying grapes — unless you’re individually massaging each grape for over a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hachiya persimmons need certain conditions to become sweet: frequent massages, lots of time and a cold, dry place to do their thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels like taking care of a living creature,” Jacobson says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13939722\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13939722 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"a woman with bleach blonde hair and red lipstick cares for drying persimmons hanging from clothes hangers\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mari Jacobson massages Hachiya persimmons in her home in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Persimmons are a fall and winter fruit, and the Bay Area is generally a nurturing place for young persimmons as they come of age on the branch. But with a winter climate that’s been flip-flopping between weirdly warm days and rainy ones, this season hasn’t provided what hachiya persimmons need to transcend to caramelly excellence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Battling the rain, I had to buy this net enclosure for the persimmons, and then I had to move them inside,” Jacobson says. Instead of dry gusts rushing through an ancient valley, she had a large box fan plugged into her kitchen wall, angled towards clothing racks dangling with fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But seven weeks out from when she peeled the very first batch, the surviving fruit had miraculously surrendered its moisture and crinkled inward, just as they were supposed to, around their now crystallized hearts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacobson’s constant attention — and weeks of worry — had paid off, even if she’d lost a few in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re all I think about,” she says with a laugh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13939723\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13939723 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"dried persimmons hanging from clothes hangers\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hachiya persimmons hang from twine to dry in Mari Jacobson’s home. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On her kitchen countertop, Jacobson slices one of last year’s dried persimmons, a shriveled nugget of its former self, and offers a taste. A persimmon’s equivalent of powdered sugar dusts the surface of the sliver, and tastes just as sweet but more nuanced than the stuff you’d find in boxes at the store. The innermost layer is its own world of brown sugary goodness, and only gets deeper in flavor with each chew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s sublime — and even better with some tea, bread and a soft cheese, Jacobson says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Food and freedom\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As Jacobson attends to each fruit this December morning, she handles them according to where each one is on their journey. Some get a firm squeeze, others the delicate pressure of hugging a great-grandparent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fruit takes on a life of its own,” she says, softly pinching a persimmon between her thumb and forefinger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13939725\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13939725 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"a close-up of a woman's neck, wearing a white sweater and a gold chain with small persimmon baubles\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mari Jacobson wears a necklace showing the different stages of hoshigaki. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lately, Jacobson has been thinking about how food — and lack thereof — can be a tool of oppression. According to the NGO Human Rights Watch, \u003ca href=\"https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/18/israel-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza\">the Israeli government is using starvation\u003c/a> as a method of warfare, blocking the delivery of food, fuel and water to Palestinian civilians — a war crime, under international humanitarian law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The connection between food and culture is precious, she says. It isn’t lost on her that hoshigaki brought Jacobson and her great-grandmother into harmony with their ecosystem; she sees the Israeli government’s actions as an attempt to sever that bond between Palestinians and their land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very heavy to think about food sovereignty right now,” she said. “To think about how much Palestine is struggling with starvation right now and how violating it can be to not have access to important cultural foods that provide vibrancy to your life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon, Jacobson will be packaging the candied fruits to be shipped out all over the U.S. She hopes that people who encounter her effort will use their own gifts to express their solidarity with Palestinians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s always going to be some way that you can take a localized action to support a cause,” she said. “Even if it’s geographically very far.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Mari Jacobson is selling sweet hoshigaki, just like her great-grandmother made, to benefit kids in the Middle East.",
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"title": "Persimmons for Palestine: The Berkeley Pop-Up Turning a Japanese Tradition Into Activism | KQED",
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"headline": "Persimmons for Palestine: The Berkeley Pop-Up Turning a Japanese Tradition Into Activism",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Mari Jacobson’s eyes fill with tears when she talks about the wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Decades before Jacobson was born, her great-grandmother used to perform miracles with the cold dry winds that flooded the valley in her mountainous prefecture in central Japan. They were her accomplice as she strung peeled persimmons from the eaves of her green-tiled roof. Together, she and the wind bloomed the natural sugars of the persimmons from the inside out until the fruits had preserved themselves in their own sweetness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really nice to think that someone else in my lineage was sitting there, peeling persimmons,” Jacobson says, some 60 years later. “I think it takes a very specific kind of patience to engage in this practice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a damp December morning in Berkeley, the 31-year-old is carrying on the centuries-old technique for drying persimmons, something she first began doing last winter. But now, she’s doing it for a purpose much larger than herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13939721\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13939721 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"a close-up of hands touching dried persimmons\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-007-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mari Jacobson massages Hachiya persimmons in her home in Berkeley. The process of drying persimmons is called hoshigaki, a centuries-old Japanese practice during the fall season. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In early November, Jacobson announced through her pop-up \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/setsunai_snack/?hl=en\">Setsunai Snack\u003c/a> that she would be selling dried persimmons for $10 to $20 each, and sending 100% of the proceeds to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.mecaforpeace.org/\">Middle East Children’s Alliance\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that serves young Palestinians and Syrian refugees. She received $1,050 in orders over the course of 12 hours, for a total of 60 persimmons that would need to travel as far as Pennsylvania, she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been deeply affected by all the news of the genocide in Palestine as a human, but also as someone who grew up in the Jewish community,” says Jacobson, whose dad is Jewish and whose mom is Japanese. “I wanted to mobilize my very negative feelings towards a small action and the creation of something that I consider very beautiful.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But after the rain set in, Jacobson worried over the persimmons, strung up by their T-shaped stems from clothes hangers in her kitchen. Weeks after she’d spiraled the peels off the first batch with a knife — leaving the persimmons disrobed and vulnerable — a few dropped off their stems in moldy defeat and were stolen away by Jacobson’s cats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyone who’s tried \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/01/09/682936866/ancient-japanese-food-craft-brings-persimmons-to-american-palates\">hoshigaki\u003c/a> will tell you it’s a delicate and complicated process. It’s nothing like dumping citrus peels into a pot of bubbling sugar, or sun-drying grapes — unless you’re individually massaging each grape for over a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hachiya persimmons need certain conditions to become sweet: frequent massages, lots of time and a cold, dry place to do their thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels like taking care of a living creature,” Jacobson says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13939722\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13939722 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"a woman with bleach blonde hair and red lipstick cares for drying persimmons hanging from clothes hangers\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-009-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mari Jacobson massages Hachiya persimmons in her home in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Persimmons are a fall and winter fruit, and the Bay Area is generally a nurturing place for young persimmons as they come of age on the branch. But with a winter climate that’s been flip-flopping between weirdly warm days and rainy ones, this season hasn’t provided what hachiya persimmons need to transcend to caramelly excellence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Battling the rain, I had to buy this net enclosure for the persimmons, and then I had to move them inside,” Jacobson says. Instead of dry gusts rushing through an ancient valley, she had a large box fan plugged into her kitchen wall, angled towards clothing racks dangling with fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But seven weeks out from when she peeled the very first batch, the surviving fruit had miraculously surrendered its moisture and crinkled inward, just as they were supposed to, around their now crystallized hearts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacobson’s constant attention — and weeks of worry — had paid off, even if she’d lost a few in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re all I think about,” she says with a laugh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13939723\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13939723 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"dried persimmons hanging from clothes hangers\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-020-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hachiya persimmons hang from twine to dry in Mari Jacobson’s home. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On her kitchen countertop, Jacobson slices one of last year’s dried persimmons, a shriveled nugget of its former self, and offers a taste. A persimmon’s equivalent of powdered sugar dusts the surface of the sliver, and tastes just as sweet but more nuanced than the stuff you’d find in boxes at the store. The innermost layer is its own world of brown sugary goodness, and only gets deeper in flavor with each chew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s sublime — and even better with some tea, bread and a soft cheese, Jacobson says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Food and freedom\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As Jacobson attends to each fruit this December morning, she handles them according to where each one is on their journey. Some get a firm squeeze, others the delicate pressure of hugging a great-grandparent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fruit takes on a life of its own,” she says, softly pinching a persimmon between her thumb and forefinger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13939725\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13939725 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"a close-up of a woman's neck, wearing a white sweater and a gold chain with small persimmon baubles\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/20231219-HOSHIGAKI-031-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mari Jacobson wears a necklace showing the different stages of hoshigaki. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lately, Jacobson has been thinking about how food — and lack thereof — can be a tool of oppression. According to the NGO Human Rights Watch, \u003ca href=\"https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/18/israel-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza\">the Israeli government is using starvation\u003c/a> as a method of warfare, blocking the delivery of food, fuel and water to Palestinian civilians — a war crime, under international humanitarian law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The connection between food and culture is precious, she says. It isn’t lost on her that hoshigaki brought Jacobson and her great-grandmother into harmony with their ecosystem; she sees the Israeli government’s actions as an attempt to sever that bond between Palestinians and their land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very heavy to think about food sovereignty right now,” she said. “To think about how much Palestine is struggling with starvation right now and how violating it can be to not have access to important cultural foods that provide vibrancy to your life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon, Jacobson will be packaging the candied fruits to be shipped out all over the U.S. She hopes that people who encounter her effort will use their own gifts to express their solidarity with Palestinians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s always going to be some way that you can take a localized action to support a cause,” she said. “Even if it’s geographically very far.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As long as there have been scratchy throats, runny noses, and hacking coughs, there have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2012/11/29/166186751/tried-and-true-trick-for-beating-a-cold\">home remedies\u003c/a> different cultures have turned to hoping to feel better. Chicken soup, ginger tea, mustard plasters. And for those with family roots in Eastern Europe \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> a drink known as gogl-mogl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also called goggle-moggle, kogel mogel, guggle muggle, גאָגל-מאָגל, the drink is basically like a hot eggnog, or sabayon, thinned out to be drinkable. It’s widely been used as a remedy in Ashkenazi Jewish communities. While the drink exists in non-Jewish communities as well, it’s usually seen as more of a dessert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.circle.org/yiddish-instructor-profiles/eve-jochnowitz\">Eve Jochnowitz\u003c/a>, a Yiddish teacher and Jewish culinary ethnographer, jokes that gogl-mogl “seems to be one of those things like chicken soup \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> it’s always been there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bubbe's Remedy For the Common Cold\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/qdY6hDm65sQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jochnowitz says the most common version begins with sugar or honey mixed with egg yolks, and then beaten into hot milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are slightly different versions \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> sometimes a shot of brandy or slivovitz was thrown in; sometimes chocolate or butter was added. Jochnowitz says gogl-mogl was found across Europe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13939138']“Over the entire Yiddish-speaking world \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> from Czechoslovakia in the West, as far as the borders of the Russian Empire in the East, I would say.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with immigration, gogl-mogl made its way into America. The late New York City Mayor Ed Koch \u003ca href=\"https://www.wnyc.org/story/265827-ed-kochs-cold-remedy/\">gave out \u003c/a>his version at a press conference in 1987. A unique version, it should be noted, that forgoes the eggs and milk, and instead mixes the honey and booze into some fresh-squeezed citrus (he notes that as an elected official he wouldn’t drink alcohol on the job, but would have gogl-mogl to recuperate overnight).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/08/1197958402/fresh-air-draft-11-08-2023\">recent interview on WHYY’s Fresh Air\u003c/a>, singer Barbra Streisand recalled her mother recommending it after her first real gig.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The first thing she said, I remember, was ‘Your voice needs eggs. You have to use a gogl-mogl, cause your voice needs to be stronger.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/oral-histories/excerpts/woh-ex-0001038/cantor-father-s-guggle-muggle-kol-nidre\">an oral history with the Yiddish Book Center\u003c/a>, Al Rosen, a WWII veteran, remembers how his father would also prepare gogl-mogl to coat his throat before his role chanting Kol Nidre, the melodic service ushering in the high holiday of Yom Kippur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now some people have sweet memories of parents and grandparents bringing a gogl-mogl to their sickbed. But a lot of people dreaded it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What the people who have negative recollections seem to have in common is that the egg yolk was not beaten with the sugar,” observes Eve Jochnowitz. “You would put in a whole egg yolk, and the idea was that you would swallow the whole egg yolk while you drank the hot beverage. And that doesn’t sound quite as fabulous.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/kirshenblatt-gimblett-barbara\">Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett\u003c/a>, curator at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, remembers being given gogl-mogl for chest colds during the harsh winters of her Toronto childhood. And it was \u003cem>not\u003c/em> a pleasant experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh no, hell no,” she laughs. “No, no.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she does acknowledge it had a soothing warmth. And she wonders about its future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m curious to what extent gogl-mogl persists among an American-born generation \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> especially people who were born, let’s say, 20, 30 years ago. And to what extent it’s a legacy of mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers from Europe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Culinary ethnographer Eve Jochnowitz says the steepest decline probably came in the 1970s, as the immigrant generation aged. Access to over-the-counter medicines, and a lower tolerance for giving raw eggs and alcohol to children also may have played a role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/michal_korkosz/?hl=en\">Michał Korkosz\u003c/a>, a food writer in Poland, you can still find the dessert version of gogl-mogl in Eastern Europe. Though even then, it’s seen as a relic of the past, hearkening back to Communist times when you couldn’t find any sweets in the stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Polish version is more like an egg foam \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> a cloud of just whipped eggs and sugar, like the beginning of a sponge cake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so fluffy, it’s so creamy,” waxes Korkosz. “It has its richness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Korkosz notes that sometimes, when someone was sick, his grandmother would pour in a little hot milk \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> turning this dessert into a remedy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sweet treat, but somehow milk makes it a medicine, right?” he laughs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which raises the question \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> does gogl-mogl actually do anything, medicinally? \u003ca href=\"https://uvahealth.com/findadoctor/Diane-Pappas-1548339179\">Dr. Diane Pappas\u003c/a> is a pediatrician at the University of Virginia who researches cough management in kids. She says… meh?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have any really good evidence that honey does a whole lot for cough,” explains Pappas. “There’s a few studies that say it might help a little bit. They’re not great quality, but it’s really all we have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it might not be anything special about the honey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is some suggestion that just the fact that you have some kind of viscous liquid kind of coating and calming and soothing your throat and increasing saliva and whatever, that those things can also help comfort someone with a cough or cold symptoms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pappas says if you want a gogl-mogl, go for it. Calories and warm fluids always help. And as long as the egg is fully cooked, and you’re not giving honey to infants, it’s fine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that there are downsides \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> unless you put the alcohol in it,” says Pappas. “Don’t know that there’s a huge upside either.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pappas says while she can’t ethically \u003cem>prescribe \u003c/em>placebos \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> that effect can play a role in all sorts of things people take hoping to feel better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Polish food writer Michał Korkosz says there’s also the comfort of tradition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always compare dishes from our childhood as like a warm blanket. They’re so cozy, and so delicious, and they remind you when you were the happiest in your life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which may be the perfect thing, when you’re feeling crummy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\">visit NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Gogl-mogl%3A+old+world+home+remedy+that+may+comfort+%E2%80%94+even+if+it+doesn%27t+cure+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As long as there have been scratchy throats, runny noses, and hacking coughs, there have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2012/11/29/166186751/tried-and-true-trick-for-beating-a-cold\">home remedies\u003c/a> different cultures have turned to hoping to feel better. Chicken soup, ginger tea, mustard plasters. And for those with family roots in Eastern Europe \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> a drink known as gogl-mogl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also called goggle-moggle, kogel mogel, guggle muggle, גאָגל-מאָגל, the drink is basically like a hot eggnog, or sabayon, thinned out to be drinkable. It’s widely been used as a remedy in Ashkenazi Jewish communities. While the drink exists in non-Jewish communities as well, it’s usually seen as more of a dessert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.circle.org/yiddish-instructor-profiles/eve-jochnowitz\">Eve Jochnowitz\u003c/a>, a Yiddish teacher and Jewish culinary ethnographer, jokes that gogl-mogl “seems to be one of those things like chicken soup \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> it’s always been there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bubbe's Remedy For the Common Cold\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/qdY6hDm65sQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jochnowitz says the most common version begins with sugar or honey mixed with egg yolks, and then beaten into hot milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are slightly different versions \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> sometimes a shot of brandy or slivovitz was thrown in; sometimes chocolate or butter was added. Jochnowitz says gogl-mogl was found across Europe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Over the entire Yiddish-speaking world \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> from Czechoslovakia in the West, as far as the borders of the Russian Empire in the East, I would say.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with immigration, gogl-mogl made its way into America. The late New York City Mayor Ed Koch \u003ca href=\"https://www.wnyc.org/story/265827-ed-kochs-cold-remedy/\">gave out \u003c/a>his version at a press conference in 1987. A unique version, it should be noted, that forgoes the eggs and milk, and instead mixes the honey and booze into some fresh-squeezed citrus (he notes that as an elected official he wouldn’t drink alcohol on the job, but would have gogl-mogl to recuperate overnight).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/08/1197958402/fresh-air-draft-11-08-2023\">recent interview on WHYY’s Fresh Air\u003c/a>, singer Barbra Streisand recalled her mother recommending it after her first real gig.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The first thing she said, I remember, was ‘Your voice needs eggs. You have to use a gogl-mogl, cause your voice needs to be stronger.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/oral-histories/excerpts/woh-ex-0001038/cantor-father-s-guggle-muggle-kol-nidre\">an oral history with the Yiddish Book Center\u003c/a>, Al Rosen, a WWII veteran, remembers how his father would also prepare gogl-mogl to coat his throat before his role chanting Kol Nidre, the melodic service ushering in the high holiday of Yom Kippur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now some people have sweet memories of parents and grandparents bringing a gogl-mogl to their sickbed. But a lot of people dreaded it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What the people who have negative recollections seem to have in common is that the egg yolk was not beaten with the sugar,” observes Eve Jochnowitz. “You would put in a whole egg yolk, and the idea was that you would swallow the whole egg yolk while you drank the hot beverage. And that doesn’t sound quite as fabulous.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/kirshenblatt-gimblett-barbara\">Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett\u003c/a>, curator at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, remembers being given gogl-mogl for chest colds during the harsh winters of her Toronto childhood. And it was \u003cem>not\u003c/em> a pleasant experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh no, hell no,” she laughs. “No, no.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she does acknowledge it had a soothing warmth. And she wonders about its future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m curious to what extent gogl-mogl persists among an American-born generation \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> especially people who were born, let’s say, 20, 30 years ago. And to what extent it’s a legacy of mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers from Europe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Culinary ethnographer Eve Jochnowitz says the steepest decline probably came in the 1970s, as the immigrant generation aged. Access to over-the-counter medicines, and a lower tolerance for giving raw eggs and alcohol to children also may have played a role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/michal_korkosz/?hl=en\">Michał Korkosz\u003c/a>, a food writer in Poland, you can still find the dessert version of gogl-mogl in Eastern Europe. Though even then, it’s seen as a relic of the past, hearkening back to Communist times when you couldn’t find any sweets in the stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Polish version is more like an egg foam \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> a cloud of just whipped eggs and sugar, like the beginning of a sponge cake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so fluffy, it’s so creamy,” waxes Korkosz. “It has its richness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Korkosz notes that sometimes, when someone was sick, his grandmother would pour in a little hot milk \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> turning this dessert into a remedy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sweet treat, but somehow milk makes it a medicine, right?” he laughs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which raises the question \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> does gogl-mogl actually do anything, medicinally? \u003ca href=\"https://uvahealth.com/findadoctor/Diane-Pappas-1548339179\">Dr. Diane Pappas\u003c/a> is a pediatrician at the University of Virginia who researches cough management in kids. She says… meh?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have any really good evidence that honey does a whole lot for cough,” explains Pappas. “There’s a few studies that say it might help a little bit. They’re not great quality, but it’s really all we have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it might not be anything special about the honey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is some suggestion that just the fact that you have some kind of viscous liquid kind of coating and calming and soothing your throat and increasing saliva and whatever, that those things can also help comfort someone with a cough or cold symptoms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pappas says if you want a gogl-mogl, go for it. Calories and warm fluids always help. And as long as the egg is fully cooked, and you’re not giving honey to infants, it’s fine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that there are downsides \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> unless you put the alcohol in it,” says Pappas. “Don’t know that there’s a huge upside either.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pappas says while she can’t ethically \u003cem>prescribe \u003c/em>placebos \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/i> that effect can play a role in all sorts of things people take hoping to feel better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Polish food writer Michał Korkosz says there’s also the comfort of tradition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always compare dishes from our childhood as like a warm blanket. They’re so cozy, and so delicious, and they remind you when you were the happiest in your life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which may be the perfect thing, when you’re feeling crummy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\">visit NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Gogl-mogl%3A+old+world+home+remedy+that+may+comfort+%E2%80%94+even+if+it+doesn%27t+cure+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
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