Letter from the Editor : Living Culture
When we sat down to brainstorm ways to represent our local food culture, words and ideas began bubbling up like a celebratory sparkling beverage propelled by a good shake.
Story ideas about agriculture, permaculture, horticulture, viticulture, work culture, kitchen culture, aquaculture, fermented foods, fizzy drinks and more filled our idea board. Next to that were the wide range of foods, produce and drink, with a history rich in cultural traditions and tastes, and new books and guides from local authors ready to help readers start their own “cultured” food making journey.
What started as an idea session to create a “word cloud” to help guide Edible Silicon Valley on story assignments for our seasonal editorial plate quickly started to look like a “word salad.” Researching the origin of the word culture, I uncovered a sea of expanding definitions, with important words like nourish, grow, cultivate, preserve shared at their roots. Yet one singular question remained: “Why does culture matter to food?”
Culture brings life to food.
Culture brings food to life.
That’s just it. Cultures are living things, whether found in foods, ecosystems or your heritage. And food feeds and nourishes our local culture. It has history. It has life. It connects us to people and places. And… it makes it challenging to represent in a single magazine issue or story. So, in this issue, we offer a sampling of tastes brought to life through our local food culture with favorite foods, drinks, books and businesses that are alive and rich with cultured flavor. Ideas to nourish good health and punch up nutrition. Stories that just make you want to celebrate the fresh tastes of the fall harvest, and the bounty and cultural diversity of food and drink in the Bay Area.
Food culture is like listening to the Beatles: It’s international, it’s very positive, it’s inventive and creative.
—Alice Waters
Culturally speaking,
