Food
On Saturday, animals at the Oakland Zoo will suspend their diet plans and indulge in what could easily be this year’s largest animal party, feasting on servings of produce donated by Oakland residents, many of whom will come and watch the animals eat their hearts out between 8 am and 6 pm.
Every Wednesday between 10 a.m and 2 p.m., an organic farmer’s market appears, tucked between the Cathedral of Christ the Light and the Kaiser Permanente offices near Lake Merritt. Operating since May, the Ordway Organic Farmer’s Market, a petite selection of just over a half dozen booths selling fruits, veggies, plants and other fare, is the new kid on the block on an array of farmer’s markets that dot Oakland. However, it is unique because it is among the few that take place midweek, mid-day and and are all-organic.
Summer is the time for cooling drinks, frozen concoctions and delicious bite-sized treats, and Oakland North hit the streets to find some of the tastiest and most original summer snacks in town. Check out the best of our finds this weekend, before summer is (almost) over! Summer treat series: Check our our search for the most refreshing drinks where you’ll find mint lemonade, Italian sodas, Thai iced coffees and diablitos. Summer treat series: Our survey of Latin treats in Fruitvale where you’ll find cream-filled…
Books weren’t the only things flying off the tables at the Temescal branch of the Oakland library on Saturday. In the backyard, boxes full of succulent plums gleamed in the sunshine at the library’s North Oakland crop swap. Gardeners bring their excess yield and set them on the table for others to take. While there, they are free to choose from items on the table that their fellow gardeners have brought to share. Meanwhile, Moms in the basement were giving and getting new ensembles for their kiddos.
This year’s Free Summer Lunch Program for kids and teens begins this week in locations throughout the city of Oakland. The program was established to provide breakfast and lunch to people age 18 and under to fill in the gap that is often left in the number of meals kids receive once the school semester ends.
Festival celebrates Juneteenth, location of new Phat Beets market and plans for a collective kitchen
Saturday’s celebration combined the re-opening of Phat Beets Produce farmers market at its new location, the opening of a new on-site community kitchen collective and the observance of Juneteenth, a US holiday honoring African American heritage and commemorating June 19, 1865, the day many slaves in Texas learned they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
The Oakland Unified School District has proposed a new plan that will expand its healthy meals program by updating meal service facilities on campuses throughout the district, allowing schools to increase the number of campuses that can serve freshly prepared food.
As part of a program called Rethinking School Lunch in Oakland, OUSD Nutrition Services Director Jennifer LeBarre and Zenobia Barlow, executive director of the Center for Ecoliteracy, created an outline of options to expand and improve the overall district-wide food service
From Tuesday through Friday, Oliveto Café and Restaurant in Rockridge will offer four nights of notable seafood dishes for its 11th Annual Oceanic Dinner. The meals will include historic San Francisco seafood recipes like cioppino made from local fish and shellfish, Crab Louie, Hog Island Oyster Po’Boys and salt-roasted black sea bass with Romano beans. The focus on seafood is a part of the restaurant’s continued interest in expanding the use of locally sourced products. The large menu, with over 20 options, is transparent, listing where every fish was caught and how.
The ladles were out at Issues—a magazine store known for its comprehensive international selections—for their 5th year anniversary party that featured a chili cook-off.