Eats

It’s not the hand sanitizer, the E.T. hazmat suit, the sci-fi mask, or the fast-tracked frankenvaccine that’s going to be the super-forcefield to protect us from COVID-19. Most of the natural defenses we need are right at our fingertips. Besides, we always need to be on guard. According to the American Society for Microbiology, there […]

It’s awfully quiet outside. But farmers have not stopped the plows.  Checking in with our local food growers, many reported a huge increase in CSA boxes and farm stand sales. And local farmers’ markets are seeing increased visitors. Kathy McNay, who organizes farmers’ markets in Northern Santa Barbara County, said more people seem to be […]

While the Cuyama Joint Unified School District is providing meals for students every weekday during the COVID-19 school closures, community members are working to ensure those students get a second meal during the week. Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to noon, any child 18 years of age or younger can pick up a meal […]

It’s a gray, rainy afternoon, the day after a national emergency’s been declared because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I’m seeking comfort in my kitchen. I’ve got the bones of two roasted chickens from earlier in the week, some fresh veggies, garlic, and a big pot. It’s time to make stock. The creative act of […]

Women are often left out of clinical trials and studies in fields from medicine to city planning. The result is a world with buildings, cars, and medical procedures built with men in mind, making it generally less convienent for women to function in daily life.  One big reason for this, according to Kari Pilolla, an […]

The Chef Showdown started out like something on one of those Food Network competition shows: four top chefs creating gorgeous masterpieces in a studio kitchen. But this was on the Central Coast, at the Paso Robles Event Center before locals’ very eyes. The audience even participated in judging after visiting the tables of small bites […]

In her bakery, Melissa Sorongon bakes naturally leavened loaves in a wood-fired oven, bread she’s crafted from American heritage grains that she mills fresh.  She’s the only one doing the work she does at Piedrasassi Wine and Bread. The Lompoc tasting room is open by appointment only, and Sorongon sells her bread online and on […]

Sonya Ela keeps her pad thai recipe close to her chest. So close, in fact, that she hasn’t taught her chefs at Baan Thai how to make it yet—and probably never will.  Ela comes in an hour before everyone else does to make the special sauce. Her restaurant off South Broadway in Santa Maria has […]

I learned just how fascinated I was with etiquette when I bought a copy of Emily Post’s Etiquette, 19th Edition, Manners for Today for my niece, an aspiring baker and future food biz entrepreneur. She’s a senior in high school and plans to pursue a hospitality major in college. The almost 700-page book is a […]

Half deck, half tasting room, Kalyra Winery’s thin, long building overlooks the Santa Ynez Valley. The walls smell faintly of fresh paint, but the venue is hopping on Feb. 1. The walls smell faintly of fresh paint, but the venue is hopping on Feb. 1.  Every table is full, and there isn’t space at the […]

The ghosts of Prohibition still linger in the cool warehouse distribution rooms of our Central Coast wineries. Constitutional amendments of Prohibition enacted 100 years ago—the 18th and 21st specifically—continue to affect the production, distribution, and commerce of wine and other alcoholic beverages throughout the 50 states and abroad. And according to the folks at the […]