Food

White House celebrates Oakland food champion

Last week Dana Harvey, the executive director of Mandela Marketplace, a West Oakland-based nonprofit that helps residents create businesses that sell produce grown by local farmers, received a White House award for her efforts to make healthy foods accessible in Oakland.

Piedmont Avenue residents and merchants debate new BevMo! store

Ever since the Blockbuster on Oakland’s Piedmont Avenue went out of business in April, the building that housed the video rental store has remained empty. Recently, though, a prospective new tenant appeared: a sign on the door notified passersby that the liquor franchise Beverages and More (BevMo!) has applied for a permit to move into the former movie rental store.

At Oakland International High School, an edible forest begins to bloom

Banana and apples trees, pomegranate, pear, and plum. Blackberries and strawberries, lemons and persimmons. Thyme, sage, and a host of other herbs. This isn’t a supermarket produce section or a busy Saturday farmer’s market—it’s an edible forest, two of them in fact, planted by students in the courtyard of Oakland International High School.