Grist for the Mill

GRIST FOR THE MILL edible

monterey bay

Someone once summed up the whole Buddhist tradition in three short sentences: Everything changes. Everything is connected. Pay attention!

These words also describe the Monterey Bay foodshed and our thriving local food community. First, there is always change. Farmers, purveyors, restaurants (especially restaurants!) come and go. Also, the land and the sea provide a different bounty with each change of season. Next, the deeper we look, the more connected we realize everything is. We don’t feed ourselves in a vacuum. What we eat affects the lives of others, not to mention the planet; what a joy it is when you get to eat a delicious meal and you know the farmer or fisherman or chef who made it possible. And finally, it is up to us to pay attention to these connections. Perhaps our most important goal at Edible Monterey Bay is to highlight these connections between our land, our food and the people in our local food community. The more we unveil, the richer it becomes.

In this winter’s issue, inspiring connections abound. We learn of people providing nutritious food for the shockingly great number of people who are food insecure in our three counties. We travel to a monastery in Big Sur where the monks are rediscovering the glory of food, and to the coast where there is an abundance of wild seafood for adventurous foragers who know what to look for. Local farmer Jamie Collins demystifies the persimmon, and preservationist Jordan Champagne takes us on a local citrus hunt—and provides recipes for preserving your own haul. Speaking of Champagne, we also found in our midst, Equinox Champagne Cellars, a local boutique sparkling wine maker that expertly employs the traditional méthode Champenoise—right in time for the holidays. And if you haven’t discovered them already, you’ll find much more to connect you with great local food and wonderful local people through our blog and e-newsletter; sign up to receive both at www.ediblemontereybay.com.

Edible Monterey Bay celebrated its one-year anniversary in recent months. One of our greatest rewards since starting the magazine has been to see how it has deepened the connections within our local good food community, and we held many events that brought the community out to celebrate.

We feel very fortunate to bring you this issue, and we’d like to thank everyone who contributed to it. Please enjoy the magazine, share it and don’t forget to support the wonderful folks who advertise in these pages.

Happy holidays!

Sarah Wood and Rob Fisher

PUBLISHER AND EDITOR Sarah Wood Sarah@ediblemontereybay.com 831.238.1217

CO-PUBLISHER AND ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rob Fisher

COPY EDITOR Doresa Banning DESIGNER Melissa Petersen WEB DESIGNER Mary Ogle

CONTRIBUTORS FOR THIS ISSUE Melissa Barnes • Jordan Champagne Jamie Collins • Bradley Dunbaugh Kurt Foeller • Philip Geiger Elaine Hesser • Ted Holladay Geneva Liimatta • Elizabeth Limbach Deborah Luhrman • Camilla M. Mann George McCullough• April M. Short Amber Turpin • Patrice Ward Lisa Crawford Watson

ADVERTISING SALES Monterey County: Shelby Lambert • 831.238.7101 Shelby@ediblemontereybay.com Santa Cruz County: Kate Robbins • 831.588.4577 Kate@ediblemontereybay.com

DESIGN AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA ASSOCIATE Katie Reeves

DISTRIBUTION Mitch Freeman

CONTACT US: Edible Monterey Bay, 24C Virginia Way, Carmel Valley, CA 93924 www.ediblemontereybay.com 831.238.1217 or 831.298.7117 info@ediblemontereybay.com

Edible Monterey Bay is published quarterly. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without written permission of the publisher. Subscriptions are $28 per year at www.ediblemontereybay.com. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please accept our apologies and notify us. Thank you.