Umami Mart

It’s been forever since we’ve organized an Umamiventure in its purely old-school, meet-up spirit. Remember, when I would randomly announce an event, a little bit out of the neighborhood, and we would meet up at said location no matter how long it took to get there? Well, this is the event! Kristyn Leach, managing farmer […]

If any of you are lucky enough to have a friend who is a farmer in Northern California, you know what I mean when I say that they are the rockstars around these parts — the Beyoncé’s of the food game. Meet my friend Kristyn as she holds a Mexican gherkin, a tiny cucumber berry […]

Kitazawa Seed Company will be unable to join our event this Saturday. But Kristyn Leach of Namu Farm will be here to talk about planting, and garden upkeep. Please join us! Spring is rapidly approaching, and that means seed season! What would you like to plant this year? How will you best maintain your plants? […]

I recently had a dream assignment for Edible San Francisco Magazine in which I followed one ingredient literally from farm to table in a single afternoon! I took a gorgeous drive up the coast to Bolinas, CA, where I met Annabelle Lenderink, owner of La Tercera farm. She picked a head of puntarella (a bitter chicory) she’d grown and gave […]

As the saying goes: you can learn a lot about someone when you walk a day in their shoes. I like to think the same goes for when you eat in someone’s home. I have had the honor to be invited to Tatão’s home — the beautiful Santa Albertina ranch in Campininha, three hours from […]

*This is a part of an ongoing exclusive series on Umamimart, Radiation + Japan. Please check out these other posts and videos for more: Testing of Food in Japan, By Yoko Kumano Interview with Washio, Bar Owner (Tokyo), By Yoko Kumano Testing Report and Thoughts, By Howie Correa Interview with Satoshi Imai, Rice Farmer (Niigata), […]

Frostopia Farm. Saitama, Japan. Photo by Kelly Ishikawa, a San Francisco-based photographer and the co-owner of The Perish Trust.

At 5am on a Thursday morning, groggy and jetlagged, 20 of us OPENharvest participants, with Food Light Project members piled into three vans headed for Niigata prefecture. As we drove through the quiet morning streets of Tokyo, we eagerly anticipated the adventures ahead. Three hours and several rest stops later, we made it to Uonuma, […]

By Kayoko Akabori Photos by Erin Gleeson I met Erin in 1998. We were both freshmen at UC Santa Barbara, and I was immediately drawn to her warmth, and soft spoken, laid-back ease. She is the epitome of a California Girl, and for as long as I had known her, she was a vegetarian. She […]