Food
Deep in West Oakland, behind a big gray façade, is one of the most lauded soymilk, tofu and yuba factories in the Bay Area—Hodo Soy Beanery. Inside, Minh Tsai, tofu master and co-founder of Hodo, runs around wearing tall white rubber boots and a striped railroad hat while checking on each steaming batch of soy milk.
This weekend, hundreds of hungry people turned up the East Bay’s first Underground Market, a food event somewhat akin to a farmer’s market except it’s only for members, and –- more significantly –- it doesn’t require vendors to have permits or to use commercial kitchens.
In the shade of large, leafy lettuce and kale and tall stalks of beans, approximately 150 Bay Area residents met Saturday at the Saint Martin de Porres Elementary School garden to show their support for the nonprofit organization that planted it to give Oakland students a chance to learn about nutrition.
Seoul on Wheels is not your typical taco truck—the tacos being served up are more Far East than south of the border. In addition to kimchee burritos, aka “korritos,” Julia Yoon, the owner of Seoul on Wheels, sells barbeque tacos, barbeque sandwiches, traditional barbeque rice plates and more—all of which have Korean ingredients, spices and flourish.
Are you just about done with all the summer squash coming out of your garden? Or been eyeing the neighbor’s plum tree, wishing you had some of your own? There’s a bench in North Oakland’s Mosswood Park where you can trade away your excess harvest and pick up something else you like.
On randomly-selected afternoons a couple hundred people gather in a big brick building on Martin Luther King Jr. Way to shop, browse and taste ready-made food from top chefs from all over the Bay Area. It’s not a farmers market, food fair or co-op—it’s the Pop-Up General Store, a place where people can buy pre-made food that can’t normally be found outside of an expensive restaurant.
What do you get when you mix an outdoor market, workshops on healthy eating and food justice? A Phat Beets farmers’ market. This new North Oakland weekly farmers’ market, which debuted on Saturday, is more than just buying food locally—it’s about education, health and the community.
One or two days a week, a little before noon, a crowd of people begins to line up in downtown Oakland, right off Broadway near City Hall. It’s unclear what they’re waiting for though, because there’s nothing there. Shortly, a big white truck painted with colorful polka dots rounds the corner. Stenciled on the side of the truck, it says “Cupkates—a mobile cupcakery.”
Jon’s Street Eats is one of a new series of food trucks popping up all over the East Bay serving innovative street food — in this case, gourmet grub like grilled asparagus, butterscotch pudding and panko-coated mac and cheese. As Oakland-based chef Jon Kosorek puts it: “There’s not a lot of places where you can get hand-pulled mozzarella. I would never be able to do a hot dog cart with just boiled hot dogs. I’d go crazy.”