Occupy the Farm advocates clear Gill Tract in Albany. Photo: Subconscious Collective

Stranger things have happened: Maybe six months down the track a crop of winter greens will occupy a stretch of land on San Pablo Avenue along the Berkeley-Albany border known as Gill Tract, site of a nearly two week standoff between the University of California, Berkeley and Occupy the Farm.

And everyone in this growing controversy might be happy. The saga over an often overlooked but special patch of earth began, aptly, on Earth Day. Now, both sides in this brouhaha in the normally quiet enclave of Albany appear to be making noises about having “meaningful dialogue” to facilitate a resolution that could include “shared custody” — though the situation resembles more of a spurned suitor (urban ag activists argue the university has repeatedly ignored requests to use this land for farming) than a marriage gone bad.

At stake: UC-owned land on the last parcel of Class 1 soil (considered the best for growing food) left in the East Bay that, except for a few months every summer when it’s used for corn research, lies largely vacant — aside from a proliferation of wild mustard, wind-carried trash, (often fast food wrappers), and, reportedly, the odd hypodermic needle.

Indeed, a private meeting between Cal representatives, Occupy the Farm advocates, and attorneys for both sides was slated for last Thursday night at an undisclosed location to dig into their differences and come to a compromise over the 15-acre plot, the remaining remnant of a 104-acre area that UC Berkeley bought for $400,000 in 1928. It is named for the family that once owned he land.(No settlement was reached, UC spokesman Dan Mogulof said at 9:20 am last Friday.)

Last week, Berkeleyside talked with representatives from Occupy the Farm, UC, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about the contested property. All seemed to see the merit in using some of this land for urban farming purposes — including teaching students about soil and plant crops and feeding hungry residents in nearby Richmond or South and West Berkeley.

So far so good. How to get there, however, seems up for debate. Yesterday, as reported here, the Dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources, J. Keith Gilless, who in principle is willing to engage with the Occupy the Farm folk who took over the lot April 22, stated that such a constructive dialogue could only happen if Occupy the Farm inhabitants peacefully departed their recently planted plots.

“I firmly believe that biology research and a well-organized metropolitan agriculture program could ultimately not just co-exist on the site, but benefit from interaction…” noted Gilles in a message to faculty. “It’s possible for us to achieve something wonderful together at the Gill Tract. The politics of confrontation also make it possible for us to fail completely.”

Agroecologist Miguel Altieri

Both parties accused the other side of slinging mud. Occupy the Farm organizers aren’t just a bunch of hippie agitators, argued Miguel Altieri, a professor in the college’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management. Many in the movement are former students from UC with an abiding interest in food security, social justice, and sustainable agriculture.

For more than 30 years, Altieri, an internationally-recognized expert in the science of agro-ecology, has conducted research on this land as part of his field work growing crops without external inputs. Working next to him for roughly the same period of time: Sarah Hake, an adjunct professor at UC’s College of Natural Resources and a U.S. Department of Agriculture employee, who studies basic plant biology by growing corn, which is grown on the site during the summer.

Hake noted that all her work is financed through federal grants — not multinational Big Ag companies — and none of her research involves working with genetically modified corn. Both accusations have been levied her way during this showdown over soil, she said. Despite their long history on the same land and their collegial affiliations, the two agricultural researchers keep to themselves.

Hake, who lives on an organic, family farm in West Marin known as Gospel Flat Farm, said she is empathetic to the Occupy the Farm movement’s agenda to feed more needy people. At the same time she’s concerned her research — and the work of her graduate students — won’t get started on time this summer due to their actions.

Corn researcher Sarah Hake

“In the short term these people have made their point,” said Hake, who noted that her dealings with Occupy the Farm representatives have been civil and polite. “But illegally staying on this land is the wrong tactic as a long-term measure and could very well jeopardize the kinds of programs they’d like to see implemented,” said Hake, a member of the National Academy of Sciences who maintains a small edible garden in front of her USDA office.

Meanwhile, Altieri maintained that the university has had no real interest up until the occupation of exploring using this “idle and abandoned” land for urban agricultural purposes. In an op-ed piece for the Daily Cal campus paper, Altieri and his colleague Claudia Carr argued that as a land-grant university, UC has a mandate to educate students, undertake research, and share that research with the public. An urban farm that taught undergraduate classes, conducted graduate level research, and produced food for the greater good would fulfill all of those functions.

The takeover of the tract is a wake up call, in the East Bay and beyond, of growing support for urban farming and local agriculture to feed people close to home, explained Altieri. The university administration has expressed alarm at Occupy the Farm’s tactics — ignoring property rights and illegal encampment for starters — and countered that the young farmers are trying to bulldoze their demands through without consideration for other community interests (Little League, student housing, and retail space, the three most commonly voiced alternative users for the space to date).

Gopal Dayaneni, a spokesperson for Occupy the Farm, pointed out widespread support for their cause from food justice advocates such as Raj Patel, author of Stuffed & Starved, Yoni Landeau, a leader in the campus cooperative movement, and the Ecology Center.  For the record, Dayaneni noted that while some occupiers remain on site overnight to keep the land in their control, this is not a tent-city situation akin to the recent Occupy camps that sprung up in Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco.

“This land is supposed to be used for agricultural purposes and we’re just trying to ensure that that remains the case,” said Dayaneni, an Oakland resident whose wife teaches in the Berkeley public schools and whose children attend Berkeley schools. He described the protest as simply a measure to protect a precious resource.

The group has planted herbs, tomatoes, beans, leafy greens, and even corn. UC responded by cutting off the water. The nascent farmers have been keeping their veggies alive with water donations from supportive local residents. Proving, perhaps, that it’s possible to sow seeds (or at least starters) of change, one plant at a time.

This post originally appeared on Berkeleyside.

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Thumbs up: The BUSD votes to provide temporary funding to threatened school gardening and cooking programs. Photo: Rivka Mason

Late last Wednesday night, the Berkeley Unified School District School Board voted to authorize funding up to $350,000 for three elementary schools — Malcolm X,  Rosa Parks, and Washington — that were in danger of losing their gardening and cooking programs for the next school year.

The move came as welcome news for all those involved in the programs and anyone who champions teaching children to eat, grow, and cook their greens.

“The Board showed a remarkable commitment to edible education by continuing to fund the garden and cooking programs at Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and Washington next year,” said Leah Sokolofski, who supervises the program for the district. “The decision is dependent on the district receiving Network for a Healthy California funding. We are still waiting for more information to be released about the Network funding. The district’s current Network contract continues through September 30, 2012.”

Board member Leah Wilson made the motion and the final vote was 4-1, with the no vote cast by Josh Daniels, who wanted the Board to explore funding the programs at a scaled-down level, as a cost-saving measure, while still maintaining the core components of the program.

“I was also concerned that the decision would put the long-term health of the District’s meals program in jeopardy,” Daniels told Berkeleyside, as funds for the program will come from the Meal for the Needy surplus budget. “The $350,000 is being taken from funds that would go to our meals program, potentially forcing the meals programs to use up to almost half of its reserves in 2012-13.”

The cooking and gardening programs at the three schools, whose combined budgets are $372,000, were threatened because, under existing guidelines, they no longer qualify for federal monies as each of the schools has fewer than 50% of its students enrolled in the free and reduced-lunch program. BUSD school garden and cooking programs are funded through September 2012 through Network for a Healthy California, a state program that distributes federal monies to local school districts through a three-year grant.

The network seeks to improve the health of low-income Californians through increased fruit and vegetable consumption and daily activity. (BUSD is waiting to hear about the state’s allocations of federal funding for the next three years. It made the decision to find funds for the three at-risk schools on the assumption its guidelines regarding the free and reduced-lunch program percentage cut-offs remain unchanged.)

School children eat what they grow and learn while they garden and cook. Photo: Rivka Mason

In addition to the three schools whose funding was in jeopardy, the schools that currently receive federal funds for gardening and cooking instruction include Emerson, John Muir, Le Conte, and Thousand Oaks. Berkeley Arts Magnet, Cragmont, Jefferson, and Oxford fail to meet the criteria for these monies under current guidelines.

Earlier, the School Board had proposed offering funding of $300,000 spread over two years, with $150,000 earmarked the first year for the three schools about to lose gardening and cooking programs in the 2012-2013 school year, and a further $50,000 to four BUSD elementary schools who currently do not have such programs at all. But a vocal group calling itself the Berkeley Schools Gardening and Cooking Alliance wrote to the board in advance of last night’s meeting to make a case for why such funding would be both insufficient and ineffective.

“We ask that the Board consider allocating as much as possible to help us bridge this gap so we can keep these long-established, fully-integrated, successful programs going uninterrupted in as close to their present forms as possible for 2012-2013,” the letter reads. “We are seeking bridge funds for this one year only. We understand that any funds from the Board would be a one-time expenditure from a reserve fund rather than on-going structural support. And we are committed to using the coming year to work with the District and the larger Berkeley community to develop long-term, sustainable funding strategies for a district-wide programmatic approach for all elementary and middle schools who want to participate in these programs.”

For now, the alliance — made up of parents and community members — are celebrating this temporary reprieve. “We are of course extremely grateful to the School Board for giving us this lifeline, and the time it provides us to better execute a plan to save the gardening and cooking programs long-term,” said Malcolm X parent Joshua Room.  ”This will give us time to focus on corporate, community, individual donors and grants.” He added: “And we want to continue to work with the District over this next year, and in the years following, to protect these programs and to make similar programs available to all of the students in Berkeley.”

This post originally appeared on Berkeleyside.

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The end of salad days for some Berkeley school students? Photo: Rivka Mason

This week, Berkeley parents and community members rallied to find ways to secure funds to save the gardening and cooking programs at three local elementary schools.

The programs at Malcolm X,  Rosa Parks, and Washington, whose combined budgets are  $372,000, are threatened because, under existing guidelines, the schools no longer qualify for federal monies as they have fewer than 50% of their students enrolled in the free and reduced-lunch program.

At a meeting at Malcolm X on Monday night, about two dozen people representing the three schools and the South Berkeley community hashed out ideas to find money in the short-term — and discussed the bigger-picture concern of making these programs sustainable,  as well as available to all BUSD students over the long haul.

In addition to the three schools that stand to lose financial support, the schools that currently receive federal funds for gardening and cooking instruction include Emerson, John Muir, Le Conte, and Thousand Oaks. Berkeley Arts Magnet, Cragmont, Jefferson, and Oxford fail to meet the criteria for these monies.

Since the meeting, the group has started to spread the word about their struggle. Around 30 people showed up at Wednesday night’s BUSD Board Meeting, to express their concern to board members during public comment. Edible schoolyard researcher and Rosa Parks parent Sharon Danks reminded the board that people travel from around the world to learn about Berkeley’s acclaimed gardening and cooking programs.

“What you have here is of international significance,” said the author of Asphalt to Ecosystems, which references BUSD programs, including those at risk for funding cuts.

Education and health benefits

Malcolm X parent Claudia Polsky cited the educational importance of these programs, which are often touted for their health benefits. Polsky said she has witnessed first hand the “incredible value of experiential learning” for all children, especially those not engaged by conventional teaching methods, and stressed how this kind of instruction plays a key role in helping address the ongoing challenge of the so-called achievement gap. She urged the board to find bridging funds as “life support” for the programs.

Board President John Selawsky said the board is developing a proposal regarding the funding cuts that should be available for review prior to its April 11 board meeting.

Yesterday, the Berkeley School Gardening and Cooking Alliance launched a Facebook page to educate the community about what’s at stake for students — and to solicit donations for the next school year. Berkeley Public Education Foundation has agreed to serve as the alliance’s fiscal sponsor. (Find a donation link here and secure online donation form here. Donors can specify contributions are for the school gardening and cooking programs.)

Berkeley's school gardens have a reputation beyond the city's borders. Photo: Rivka Mason

At the Monday meeting the group bandied about options for raising money for the next academic year, mindful that there’s only 11 weeks before the end of school. Different parents took on the tasks of pursuing grant support, approaching local businesses, and seeking contributions from school alum and grandparents, among other efforts.

The notion of a Kickstarter campaign was discussed. (Last year, a Washington DC public school raised over $60,000 on Kickstarter to build a teaching kitchen for students.)

Alice Waters suggested in an interview with Berkeleyside last week that the crowdsourcing fundraising platform might be worth exploring, and noted that she was taken by a recent appeal by Bard College to fund a student garden program in upstate New York. “It just made me want to get out my credit card,” said Waters, who is featured on new billboards as part of a license plate campaign to support California Arts Council education programs.

Waters’ staffer Kyle Cornforth, director of the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, was on hand at Monday’s meeting to show support and share resources with the new three-school alliance. Cornforth, who explained that the Edible Schoolyard Project was not a grant-making entity, also noted that a number of schools in the district established gardening programs long before the Edible Schoolyard broke ground.

Meanwhile, Berkeleyside contacted the California Department of Public Health, the agency that oversees Network for a Healthy California — the state body that currently distributes federal monies to local school districts for these programs — for clarity on potential funding cuts.

Children learn more than just how to grow greens and eat well in school gardens. Photo: Rivka Mason

Decisions at federal level

While new guidelines surrounding these programs are expected by tomorrow, March 31, it’s not uncommon for the release of federal regulations to be delayed. The department is unaware of any proposals to change the eligibility requirements, but those decisions are made at the federal level, said Linda Rudolph, deputy director  of the California Department of Public Health, who leads the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. That said, the language in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act regarding the target requirements (50%) for school sites remains the same, added Rudolph.

Malcolm X school, for instance, falls short of that requirement with 46% of its student body on free or reduced lunch. But that percentage equates to fewer than 20 students. And the actual number of families meeting the criteria hasn’t dropped but has just become a smaller percentage of the student population.

“It seems unfair and arbitrary that a small shift in our demographics should result in the total loss of funding for these innovative programs that are so integral to the curriculum and student health,” said Joshua Room, PTA secretary for the school.

“At a time when the nation is adopting gardening and cooking programs in the schools,” he added, “it would be cruelly ironic for Berkeley, one of the birthplaces of this movement, to lose its well-established model programs.”

This post originally appeared on Berkeleyside.

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Students prepare to enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor from a school garden. Photos: Rivka Mason

Three of Berkeley Unified School District‘s elementary schools – Malcolm X,  Rosa Parks, and Washington — are in jeopardy of losing their entire cooking and gardening program funds beginning in October this year.

Under existing guidelines, the schools will no longer qualify for federal funding because they have fewer than 50% of their students enrolled in the free and reduced-lunch program, according to Leah Sokolofski, who supervises the program for the district.

Berkeley has an international reputation for its edible schoolyards, where public school children of all economic means learn what it takes to grow a radish and sauté some chard. Such funding cuts to the program, whose total budget is $1.94 million a year, would represent a significant setback in the city’s pioneering efforts to date.

School gardening and cooking champion Alice Waters, whose Chez Panisse Foundation helped fund the Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, expressed dismay at the potential budget cuts to programs. “It’s inevitable cuts will come — people think these programs are dispensable and the state of California is in a financial crisis — but it’s a tragedy,” she said.

Harvesting school garden kale together at Malcolm X Elementary in Berkeley

Waters recently raised over $500,000 to launch the Edible Schoolyard Project (ESP), an online resource that shares curriculum and best practice principles for garden and cooking programs with schools around the country. ESP has affiliate programs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York. “We have to continue to make the case for why an edible education is so important to the health of every child and the health of the whole country,” she said.

BUSD school garden and cooking programs are funded through September 2012 through Network for a Healthy California, a state program that distributes federal monies to local school districts through a three-year grant. The network seeks to improve the health of low-income Californians through increased fruit and vegetable consumption and daily activity.

Changes to funding

Changes to the way school cooking and gardening programs are funded are coming down the track, however, following the passage of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which President Obama signed into law amid much fanfare in December 2010, with the goal of improving childhood nutrition.

“Until the new guidelines for eligibility are released we just don’t know what’s in store for our school programs,” said Sokolofski, who anticipates hearing later this month. “This is the biggest change in the funding for these programs in 11 years.”

Further complicating matters: The U.S. Farm Bill is up for reauthorization in 2012. Potential changes to funding priorities there may impact all the BUSD’s gardening and cooking programs as well. “The Farm Bill is yet another wild card because that’s the overall place where our funding comes from,” explained Sokolofski. “And any changes there could trump changes elsewhere. There are a lot of unknowns right now.”

While it’s possible that funding for these programs could remain intact, for now the immediate concern is the three schools who will likely not qualify for federal funds for the next school year, Sokolofski said.

Sharing the pleasures of an outdoor table at Berkeley's Malcolm X

Sokolofski has been sharing her concerns with school administrators, principals, parents, and teachers. A recent presentation at Malcolm X spurred dozens of parents to attend the March 7 BUSD board meeting, where they made a passionate case for protecting a program beloved of both students and adults.

Malcolm X parent and family doctor Shannon McCune, a Malcolm X alum herself, sees many young children in her practice and said she can immediately tell which of her patients have gardening at school. “They have a favorite vegetable and know why they’re good for you,” said McCune, whose daughter recently taught her mom how to make kale salad by massaging the leaves with oil, which eliminates the need for cooking the fibrous vegetable. “I would never have known how to do that if my daughter hadn’t shown me.”

Another physician-parent echoed McCune’s sentiment. Mickey Adams, a parent from Washington Elementary, talked about the challenges of working with adult patients who have obesity and other lifestyle diseases. “These people don’t know how to eat well and cook food — they’ve never been taught,” said Adams, whose children make recipes at home they’ve learned in school cooking classes. “These programs work and there will be so much damage done by cutting them and we’ll all pay on the other end.”

If kids grow and cook it they will eat their greens

As a school board member noted at the March 7 meeting, the value of such programs was measured in a recent UC Berkeley study, which found that young students routinely exposed to fruits and vegetables through cooking and gardening instruction ate 1.5 more servings of produce a day compared with kids with fewer opportunities to dig in the dirt and work the stove at school.

School gardening teacher Joy Moore doesn’t need data to know the benefits such programs can bring. This kind of instruction gives young people alternative and innovative ways to learn, along with “skills for life,” said the long-time school food advocate.

School board president John Selawsky promised parents that the board will “see what it can do,” while acknowledging the challenging fiscal constraints already impacting the school district.

Malcolm X's school under the sky teaches more than just how to grow good food

For now, Berkeley schools are researching ways to sustain these threatened programs. “We’ve been looking at the possibility of grant funding, but most of the grants available are small and aimed at schools just starting a garden plot,” said Alexander Hunt, principal of Malcolm X. “We haven’t been able to find anything comparable to the $135,000 we stand to lose.”

Despite serving a growing group of children in need, Malcolm X’s free and reduced school lunch numbers stand at 46% of its student body. “Materials can’t replace the quality of programming currently being provided by our staff,” said Hunt. “It’s wonderful how these classes engage students in learning at the same time they impart the benefits of health and nutrition. They’re key to our students’ education.”

The Malcolm X PTA is also exploring whether a large corporation, local merchants, philanthropic individuals, or some other benefactor may step in to fill the void. It is also in the early stages of discussions with other PTAs about a collaborative effort to secure contributions. “The garden and cooking program at Malcolm X is beloved by the school community and the community at large,” added Hunt. “It’s sad to see that in the place where this school food movement started, we’re now going backwards trying to sustain these valuable programs.”

Sense of urgency

Malcolm X parent Marian Mabel noted a sense of urgency to secure funding for next year, which must be identified by June 30, when the school district’s budget is finalized. In addition, Mabel pointed out that not all the city’s schools currently offer these programs  — Berkeley Arts Magnet, Cragmont, Jefferson, and Oxford don’t receive any federal funds for such instruction. These schools rely on parent volunteers, PTA funds, and other sources to fund programs at their sites, if they have them at all.

“Short term, these three schools need to fill these funding gaps,” said Mabel, “but long term we want to find ways to make these programs available and sustainable to every public school student in Berkeley.”

As for Waters, another ESP program is in the planning stages for Sacramento, a strategic move, she said, so that she would be “under the noses” of state legislators. Waters, whose foundation has gifted about $10 million to BUSD, mostly to the Edible Schoolyard at King, also hopes that the governor will convene a taskforce for edible education soon to address the healthcare crisis among school children.

A parent-led meeting open to the community to update interested parties about the problem and brainstorm ideas about potential solutions is scheduled for this coming Monday, March 26, at the Malcolm X library at 7 p.m. Malcolm X is at 1731 Prince Street. Parents will also prepare public comments for the school board meeting on Wednesday March 28, where they intend to keep this issue on the minds of school board members.

Watch “The Whole World in a Small Seed,” a Lunch Love Community video on the Malcolm X school garden program run by Rivka Mason.

Salad days at Malcolm X's school garden

This post originally appeared on Berkeleyside and was republished on Civil Eats and SFGate.

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Chocolatier Arcelia Gallardo and co-owner Amelia Gonzalez bring a taste of Latin America to The Elmwood. Photo: Omar Wandera

Two Latinas originally from L.A, with a shared passion for chocolate, Mexico, and social justice, have joined forces to open Casa de Chocolates in Berkeley.

Amelia Gonzalez, who worked for KPFA Radio for 20 years, most recently as general manager, was approached by chocolatier Arcelia Gallardo about coming on board as an angel investor for her artisan sweet treats store that pay homage to cacao’s Latin American heritage.

Gonzalez was interested, but also wanted to play an active role in the development of the budding business, which suited Gallardo, who preferred to focus on perfecting her products, handcrafted in small batches.

So Gonzalez, who has lived in Lima, Peru, and Oaxaca, Mexico, has handled everything from managing construction permits with the city to sourcing ancillary merchandise such as ceramics, tin boxes, and molinillo (wooden whisks for making Mexican hot chocolate), while her partner focuses on flavor pairings.

Casa de Chocolates, which officially opened last Friday, a few months behind schedule, though the shop has held a series of pop-up events since the holiday season, selling dark chocolate (61%) bon bons with Latin flavors like tamarind, tequila, and Tapatio (hot sauce).

Gallardo, who has previously worked out of a commercial kitchen near campus and catered private functions and public events such as Art Murmur in Oakland, will craft her goodies in the on-site kitchen.

Gallardo also lives in Berkeley and works for the Greenlining Institute, a national public policy nonprofit that strives for racial and economic justice. A graduate of the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, she has trained with pastry chefs in Europe and Mexico, and says it took five years before she felt like she understood chocolate well enough to call herself a chocolatier. We spoke last week.

What brought you to Berkeley?

I came first to attend UC Berkeley, I got a degree in communications and Latin American literature. In my Latin American studies I learned that the cocoa bean originated in Mexico, and that got me started on this journey. I came back to Berkeley after culinary school in Los Angeles because I thought this was a better place to run a chocolate business. The climate is better, it’s not as hot, and people here really value organic, sustainable food, hand-made products, and a unique idea.

The store's Mexican-inspired logo.

How has your background impacted the chocolates you make?

I half grew up in a Latino community in Los Angeles and half on a family farm in Fresno, where my immigrant parents grew peaches and corn. Growing up on a farm with cows and then tasting that milk and noting how different it tasted from what we had in the city or in the school cafeteria was an education for me.

In the city, we lived in a pretty much 100% Latino community — Huntington Park. It was like growing up in Mexico. We had the same traditions, like hot chocolate, sweet breads and Mexican candies. I grew up with these flavors from the farm and my culture. After I graduated from Cal I went to culinary school, where I learned from pastry chefs to play with these ideas and tastes. That’s how my chocolate business evolved.

What other connections will your business have with Latin America?

Part of our plan once we settle into the store is to work with local farmers in Latin America in Belize, Mexico, and Peru. Right now we get most of our chocolate already made. We buy from Guittard, single-source chocolate from Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela. The company has good business practices and their chocolate is good quality. But eventually we want to work with smaller cacao farmers and chocolate makers in the region. It’s important to me that we support cacao growing in indigenous communities in Latin America.

Casa de Chocolates designs pay homage to an ancient people.

Can you describe the thinking behind the appearance of your chocolates?

We’re doing a lot of Aztec, Mayan, and Olmec designs to pay tribute to the fact that these ancient cultures were the discoverers  of cacao. When people think of chocolate they think of Belgium, Switzerland, or maybe Africa. The last place they think of is Mexico, so we want to set the record straight on that score.

What kinds of desserts will you sell at the store?

I’ll make traditional flan, as well as chocolate, pumpkin, coconut, and espresso. The Mestizo Cheesecake is chocolate, cream cheese, and sour cream, so chocolate from the Americas and cream from the Spaniards, hence its name. The Aztec Cheesecake has an intense chocolate crust, chocolate filling, and chocolate frosting. The El Rey Chocolate Cake is a moist chocolate cake, it’s the king because I think of it as the ultimate in chocolate cakes.

And we’ll sell cocoadas, or coconut macaroons, which you find all over the coast in the tropical areas of Mexico. I grew up eating cocoadas because my family comes from Colima, a completely tropical state, where I go with my family every year to visit.

How did you earn the honor of one of the best new sweet shops in the world from Travel & Leisure magazine before you even officially opened?

They found out about us and contacted me so we sent a 12-piece box of bon bons to their staff. And they chose the Cajeta, a goat’s milk caramel, as their top pick.

Casa de Chocolates distinctive bon bons feature Latin flavors.

Is it a blessing or a burden there are lots of chocolate makers in the Bay Area?

It’s a good thing to have competition as a business because it forces you to come up with new ideas. And it’s good for consumers who want to taste different flavors. I appreciate the support of the chocolate makers here. We have a core group of women chocolate makers and business owners in the Bay Area and we get together and talk about best business practices, chocolate shows, dairy providers, and who to source chocolate from. It’s not competitive; we all have our own distinct themes and unique products.

What plans do you have for your new business?

Down the road, we may open a smaller location in San Francisco. We want to work closely with the farmers in Latin America and create our own chocolate-making companies there.

And here, since we’re big on community, we want to open up the shop to train youth how to work with chocolate. We want to create a non-profit working with kids at-risk, so they can come and learn with their hands.

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The farm Urban Adamah through the eyes of artist Alan Leon in Edible East Bay.

In journalism, like many professions, we have expressions that have been around for years to describe what we do. For instance, a story has a lede, nut graph, and walk off — a beginning, summary paragraph early on, and an end.

And sometimes a story has legs, a phrase used by American reporters to mean a story that sticks around.

As a freelance writer, it’s good to stumble upon a story with legs, the kind of tale that editors and readers want to hear more about. Last year, articles about food swaps, cookbook clubs, and an edible education, all had legs.

As does the story of an urban farm with a religious twist that I first learned about when it moved in within walking distance of my house.

Urban Adamah's Adam Berman. Photo: Christina Diaz

As a frequent chronicler of urban farms, I covered the opening of Urban Adamah for Berkeleyside last summer.

The farm’s presence is a welcome addition to a flatland community that, while gentrifying, still has a gritty side.

In the past month alone, for example, there have been more than 20 daytime break-ins in the area I call home.

I stopped by the farm with Jewish roots a week ago and the sight of that bountiful winter greens garden made me want to do a happy dance.

And I was reminded that good things happen in areas hit by bad news, and the people who strive to make positive change in a community deserve support and recognition.

This year, I’ve had the opportunity to ask the farm’s executive director, Adam Berman, about the genesis of the faith-based program and plans to replicate this model elsewhere in a profile for Grist.

And I featured the farm in depth for a cover story for the spring issue of Edible East Bay.

Care to learn more about the farm’s approach to urban agriculture, environmental education, food security, community building, and spiritual growth?

Walk on over to these stories and dig in.

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Marc Kelly: Serves comfort food to a local crowd. Photos: Sarah Henry

As mid-life crises go, Marc Kelly’s was a pretty productive one — with a little spice thrown in for good measure.

Seeking change after a 20-year career in the fruit and vegetable export business, Kelly was keen to open a food joint of his own. Something modest and manageable, a takeaway place that satisfied his culinary aspirations and cravings. That’s how Soop, one of the original anchor businesses in the Gourmet Ghetto’s Epicurious Garden, came about.

Kelly, a self-taught chef, determined that soup was an unexplored market niche in the edible landscape. He sensed an opportunity. Six years into serving up soup every day, Kelly’s enthusiasm for the comfort food he sells is still apparent.

He has a loyal band of regulars — Kelly sees them coming and knows which ladle to reach for. And his years of global travel inform what he sells: every culture has a soup tradition and on the road he learned the universal language of soup.

The slip of a to-go shack — just 500 square feet — turns out eight to 10 flavors a day, and sells a couple of hundred gallons of soup a week. Some, like Chicken Noodle, Thai Red Lentil with Coconut, and Green, are so popular they’re always on the menu. Others, like Yellow Split Pea are featured once a week; still other varieties make it into the mix as seasonality and whim dictates.

Soop, which caters to vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores, also stocks pasta sauce and chili. And, coming soon: salads like quinoa, lentil, and iceberg wedge with blue cheese, in the cold cabinet next to the storefront. Much of the produce Kelly purchases is organic and comes from Berkeley Bowl, and all soups are made from scratch.

Kelly, 53, who lives with his wife in Montclair, talked about his simmering small business this week to a group of chowhounds on the weekly Edible Excursions tour and, afterwards, to Berkeleyside.

What is it about soup that resonates with customers?

Soup was one of the first cooked foods invented — we know from history that cavemen made it. I think there’s this collective memory going back generations about the satisfaction that soup can bring. People come into the store, sample something, and find themselves transported to another place or time. We see and hear it all the time. That’s been a fun and surprising byproduct of the business.

What’s the origin of the store’s name?

Soop is an early English spelling of the word for “soup” found in Robert May’s The Accomplished Cook, one of the first cookbooks published, in 17th-century England. We chose the simplicity of this original spelling because we wanted to return soup to its roots as a nourishing meal, uncompromised by processing and packaging, and made flavorful through slow cooking.

Where do you find inspiration for your recipes?

I’m a big fan of Mark Bittman, I’ve been reading him since his The Minimalist column days for The New York Times. I like the simplicity he brings to his food; it’s something we also strive for here. I get ideas from my travels — the Avgolemeno Soup we serve every Wednesday — a chicken, egg, and lemon recipe — is a staple in Greece.

Soop cook Yadina Sirrano spices up a batch of Thai Red Lentil Soup.

And there’s no way I could open a restaurant without an homage to my Swedish mother, which is why Yellow Split Pea Soup is on the menu every Thursday, as it was in my house growing up. It’s also on the school lunch menu in Sweden, a throwback to when the country was Catholic and served a rich, hearty, nourishing soup with just a little ham for flavor that would tide farmers over through the Friday fast.

My staff share ideas too: every culture has a version of chicken soup and every country has traditional soup dishes as part of their heritage. We were testing our Red Lentil Soup — with traditional Thai flavors like coconut milk and lemongrass — and one of our former cooks Salalinee Ekchit, who is Thai, helped us develop the recipe.

How has the recession impacted business?

Ironically it’s been really good to us. We’ve always offered a decent price point for the quality of food we offer. Sometimes that’s been a challenge on our end, financially speaking. But when the economic crisis hit, a lot of people downsized to us. We picked up business that in more prosperous times might go to a sit-down restaurant. Personally, I also think that when times are lean and hungry, people seek out a comfort food like soup for psychological reasons, without even realizing it.

Red Lentil Soup: in demand with new moms.

Do you have any favorite customer stories?

One woman came in wanting to know if she could freeze some Chicken Soup and send it FedEx to her ailing aunt for delivery the next day. We assured her it was doable and so she did. Her aunt called and said: “Where did you find a soup just like Nana used to make?”

Another time a man came in early and asked if the Red Lentil Soup was ready. It was, but we weren’t open yet. He told me his wife had just delivered a baby, after a grueling 36-hour labor I later learned. She couldn’t eat the hospital food — all she wanted was our Red Lentil Soup. Well, of course I couldn’t charge the guy. We got him soup to go and a few weeks later they came back to thank us and show off the baby.

Since we’ve been here six years I’ve watched babies who were nourished on our Green Soup in utero grow up and come in and order it themselves.

What about well-known clientèle?

Well, Michael Pollan, Alice Waters, and Robert Reich have all been in at one time or another. But another Alice — Alice Walker  — had been a regular for some time before I realized who she was. One day she came in and she mentioned she’d just traveled to Iceland, which I thought was cool. And the next day a friend of hers came in and let on that she had been in Iceland accepting the LennonOno Grant for Peace award, in the same year that Michael Pollan was among the four honored. So I like to say that, in 2010, 50% of the award winners for that prize were our customers.

Can you point to any differences from your old life to your new one?

When I worked in produce export I used to joke that on any given day I could be on the phone to Australia, Asia or the Middle East, and I could land in a produce market in Singapore and bump into friends. But, back home, I could walk down the street to the coffee shop and nobody knew me. Here, my world is so small, just a few blocks really, but we all know each other. There’s a great neighborhood feel.

Are there any myths about soup you’d like to see debunked?

Yes, that soup is only a cold-weather, winter dish. Many countries in South-East Asia, Central America, and Africa have a long tradition of eating hot soup during very warm weather. That’s something that takes some people a while to get their head around here. In hot weather we sell a Watermelon Gazpacho and an Avocado and Cucumber Gazpacho, but we serve warm soups then too.

Where do you like to eat around town?

My wife and I are fans of Rivoli and Corso; we’ve always had really good food prepared well with excellent service at both places. We enjoy the liveliness at Corso. We got engaged at Lalime’s [in Albany], so that remains another favorite; it’s also a place that cooks great food served by a  knowledgeable staff. We like to order a lot of small plates to share and pair them with different wines; we’re hardly low maintenance, but they accommodate us. And I had a good breakfast recently at Venus, an Indian-spiced egg dish that was memorable.

This post originally appeared on Berkeleyside. You might also like:

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Phyllis Grant chronicles cooking with children, pictured with son Dash. Photo: Matt Ross

So-called mommy bloggers, who pontificate on all manner of parenting matters, have proliferated like randy rabbits on the internet. Ditto food bloggers who fetishize everything edible. And mommy food bloggers: they permeate the worldwide web by the thousands.

So to stand out from the pack, a food blog with a parenting focus has to look gorgeous, offer recipes that seduce a home cook, and showcase a unique voice.

Dash and Bella fits that brief. And Berkeley’s Phyllis Grant, a former New York City pastry chef “who tired quickly of sugar and burning her forearms and never sleeping,” is behind the blog, recently named one of the top 100 food mom blogs by Babble.

Grant slow cooks with her kids and blog namesakes Dash, 4, and Bella, 9, and isn’t afraid to throw in an f-bomb or two in posts on everything from whole beast cooking to making popcorn ice cream. Her witty and insightful musings about cooking while mothering — no chicken nuggets or plain pasta in sight  — have caught the attention of The New York Times, food52, and Real Simple.

Grant, 41, lives in the Elmwood with her husband, filmmaker Matt Ross. Just back from the Sundance Film Festival where Ross’s “Twenty-Eight Hotel Rooms” was screened, she answered questions between tending to a sick daughter, a teary son, and a senile dog.

What prompted you to start your food blog?

Two and a half years ago, I was hanging full time with my kids, taking a lot of photographs, and cooking like crazy. I was also writing a lot about parenting (just to friends). It was the summer the “Julie & Julia” movie came out, and my mother forwarded me an email about a “Be like Julie/Cook like Julia” blogging contest. I spent a crazy day cooking with my kids out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (leg of lamb and crème caramel) and then I wrote about it. I won the contest (and every Julia Child cookbook and an enormous Le Creuset Dutch oven). I also “won” an instant readership. So I kept posting.

What’s your philosophy on feeding children?

I’m brave and relaxed when it comes to kids and food. I really despise food deemed kid-friendly. I think the dumbing down of anything for kids is a mistake. I’m very passionate about cooking, but I’m also very practical and I never stress about what my kids are eating (or not eating). I cook almost every day with my kids. I’m a big fan of putting food in front of my kids, even if they hated it the week before, even if it brings on tears.

My son eats everything. I’ll give him unusual foods just to see if he’ll eat them (snail, sardines, anchovies, and frogs, to name a few). Lately, my daughter is subsisting on pizza, pasta, and bagels.

I gleefully put a chef’s knife in my four-year old’s hand, I let my nine-year old daughter use the oven when I’m out of the house (don’t tell my husband). I’ve gotten a lot of grateful emails from (mostly) women saying that, thanks to my blog, they now believe they can cook with their kids, whereas before it just felt impossible. That’s so gratifying.

Kids in the kitchen: Dash and Bella, accomplished home cooks and recipe testers. Photos: Phyllis Grant

What do you think you bring to blogging that is different?

Many food blogs have a similar structure post after post, and sometimes I really crave that consistency. But the truth is, I never know what kind of story I’m going to tell until I sit down and sift through my photos and notes. I like the element of surprise. With the cow butchery post, for example, I assumed I would just talk about the class, introduce the other students, and teach my readers a thing or two. Instead it became an emotional post about a dream, the death of the cow, and the beautiful balance of strength and subtlety required in butchery.

Savory galette featured on Dash and Bella. Photo: Phyllis Grant

How does being a former pastry chef impact how you cook with your kids?

I know how to be meticulous. But usually I’m not: my daughter cleans up after me. I’m very confident with the techniques of baking; my kids now know how to fold egg whites into a chocolate batter, make caramel, and measure like scientists.

How does Berkeley inform your cooking?

The way my parents raised me impacts my cooking choices more than Berkeley does, though I grew up here. We sat down to dinner together every night. My parents made some kick-ass beautiful food. They just kept the food coming. And that’s what I’m doing with my kids. Over and over again. Consistency seems like the best parenting tool in the world. It really works.

What’s good (and bad) about the Berkeley food scene?

You can’t get a good bagel here and that frustrates me daily. But you really can get everything else.

You’re a “mommy” blogger who swears like a trooper. Discuss.

I do anguish about the f-bombs on my blog. But for anyone who knows me (or is friends with me on Facebook), it’s how I talk, it’s how I write, and I think part of my blog’s appeal is the fact that my writing is very conversational. And parenting is so bleeping hard. I have a lot to swear about.

Is your blog a hobby, a passion, a way to make money, a chance to create community, a place to document life, all of the above or something else entirely?

All of the above. And it helps me stay sane. Writing about parenting gives me some perspective. There’s drama, stress, anxiety, and intensity. Writing about it brings about some much needed lightness — and a sense of purpose.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I don’t even know what I’m doing next week. Hopefully washing my hair and shaving my legs (those tasks never make it to the top of my list). In five years, I hope I’m still cooking, photographing, and writing every single day.

The cooking, like the prose, is sometimes spicy, sometimes sweet. Photo: Phyllis Grant

Do you have a couple of favorite blog posts that you care to share?

I usually write about something that has just happened in my kitchen, but in September I wrote a post about concord grapes, living in New York City on 9/11, watching the World Trade Centers fall, and working with pastry chef Heather Ho, who was killed in the attack. I have never written a blog post so quickly. I was so grateful to have a built-in audience for that.

And just a few weeks ago, I posted about parenting in a new way. I needed a break so badly; I was completely overwhelmed by my children and my life. It was scary to post it. I didn’t want to come off as too crazy and hormonal and impatient (all of which I can be). But it really resonated with so many people, many of them men.

Are you part of a food blogging community?

I’m not. I guess I feel more and more like a parenting blogger. And maybe someday someone will say: “Phyllis Grant is a writer. She tells stories about cooking, kids, and parenting.” I like the sound of that.

This post originally appeared on Berkeleyside. You might also like:

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Self-described eco-chef Aaron French. Photo: Elizabeth Tichenor

Aaron French, a self-described eco-chef, has headed up the kitchen at The Sunny Side Café on Solano Avenue in Albany since it opened in 2004.

For the past two years he’s served up breakfast standards (think pancakes and eggs) and simple lunch fare (burgers, sandwiches, salads) at a satellite café of the same name in Berkeley.

French bounces between the two popular spots several times a day and jokes that the breakfast-brunch shift is the Rodney Dangerfield of cooking (it don’t get no respect).

Still, he’s proudest of his low carbon emissions menu options and his weekend food specials, a short, seasonal list that emphasizes local farms and calculates food miles.

French isn’t your typical chef. Before he cooked for a living he worked as a scientist. His interest in ecology led him to spend two years living among pygmies in Cameroon, where he studied seed dispersal by monkeys and birds.

An avid nature photographer, he’s also written about the relationship between ecology and food for the Bay Area News Group, where he penned the EcoChef column, as well as for Civil Eats and Fungi Magazine.

French, 40, is the author of The Bay Area Homegrown Cookbook, which reveals the partnerships between 29 local chefs and farmers, and features fellow Berkeley chefs Amy Murray of Venus and Revival, and Marsha McBride and Rick DeBeoard of Café Rouge, as well as local fungi foragers Mil Apostol and Lucy Collier of Gentle Giraffe Farm and Forage.

He is studying sustainability at the University of California’s Haas School of Business, lives locally, and is co-raising his preschool age daughter, who was adopted from Ethiopia.

Local mushroom foragers Mil Apostol and Lucy Collier. Photo: Aaron French

When did your interest in local food begin?

I spent part of my childhood on a small farm in Sacramento, where we grew all our own vegetables and fruit, and ate the eggs from the farm’s free-range chickens. Eating locally literally meant walking out the back door and harvesting dinner.

Where did the moniker eco-chef come from and what does it mean?

It was an insult by a co-worker at a hippie, student-run, super-crunchy, college collective called Che Café on the U.C. San Diego campus, where I worked when I got my undergraduate degree. One night, as we were cleaning up, I found myself separating the recycling from the trash. This was before recycling was routine. And my co-worker just wanted to get out of there and he said: “What are you, some kind of eco-chef?”

Years later, when I started cooking full-time, I decided to embrace the label as a positive thing. On the one hand, it means nothing really. But I’ve come to think of it as cooking in a way that supports local food systems and honors the people who raise our food sustainably and I incorporate those principals into everything I do, given the limitations I have.

I have to think about price point, so I don’t buy organic potatoes, for instance, I don’t pretend I do. I’m doing breakfast for about 10 to 12 bucks a plate per customer, so I have to work with that.

But Sunny Side was the first green-certified restaurant in Albany. We use quality local ingredients and humanely raised meats and eggs. My five-item food-miles menu, which makes up a third of our weekend business, calculates food miles, and is like my gateway drug to sustainability. I do as many things I can given what I have to work with.

Do you have culinary aspirations beyond being a breakfast chef?

The bar is pretty low for breakfast food so I actually find it’s really creative to work within the parameters of what you can do on a breakfast menu. I’m always looking for ways to increase the connections between ecology and food. That’s what keeps me going and inspires me. And the issues behind being “green” or “eco” or “sustainable” are all things I think about as I’m cooking on the line. I look forward to the day when none of us need to use these labels, which are buzzwords now, because they’re simply standard practice.

Aaron French and a panel of chefs and farmers featured in his book will discuss local, seasonal food at Berkeley’s Books Inc. tomorrow, Wednesday, January 25, at 7:00 p.m.

A version of this post originally appeared on Berkeleyside and was republished by Civil Eats.

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Chef Darryl Kimble takes a break from behind the stoves to talk breakfast. Photo: Sarah Henry

In the restaurant business, chefs change jobs about as often as the lead in a Superbowl playoff. So to have stayed the course at one spot, worked your way up the ranks almost since the inception of a beloved eating institution, and still genuinely enjoy going to work every day, well, that’s worth noting.

Such is the case for Darryl Kimble, the manager at Bette’s Oceanview Diner on Fourth Street, which celebrates its 30th year in 2012. Kimble has been cooking there for 27 and a half years; he joined the kitchen crew at 19.

The perennially popular restaurant serves breakfast and lunch to an astounding 135,000 people a year, although it only sits about 50 inside.

The sign on Bette's counter says it all: the popular diner served 13% more customers in 2011 than in 2010

But diner regulars already know the place draws a crowd (just like they know there’s no ocean view). Wait times for a booth or table are a given, though counter seats turn over more quickly — early in the week anyway. Weekend waits can stretch beyond an hour.

Customers seem to take it in stride. Bette and Manfred Kroening own the diner, which has a ’50s feel by way of a ’30s Art Deco aesthetic. The menu features diner favorites: eggs any style, home fries, pancakes (including their signature soufflé pancakes), waffles, and sandwiches.

We’re not talking fancy-pants-artisanal cuisine, but familiar comfort food that transcends time and trends, though the Kroenings now grow much of the restaurant’s produce on their five-acre farm near Sebastapol. It’s there they harvest organic fruit, greens, and pumpkins for their popular pumpkin pancakes.

Kimble, 47, who lives in south-west Berkeley, usually works Thursday through Monday. We chatted at the diner on Tuesday (he was filling in for an employee), over a plate of spicy scramble and chai.

Can you walk us through your trajectory at Bette’s?

I started as a prep cook, did that for about five years, making soup, scones, and muffins. Then I moved to the back station — that’s where you make the sandwiches and salads — and then they moved me to the line on eggs. I used to work on the egg and bacon line at my previous job at the Shattuck Hotel, so I was comfortable with that. And then, reluctantly, I took over as a manager. I didn’t really want to, but Bette asked me, and so I said I would give it a try. That was about 12 years ago, maybe more.

A local landmark: Bette's Oceanview Diner in Berkeley

What do you like about working at Bette’s?

The people I work with are friendly and cheerful. I like working for Bette and Manfred. They’re the best bosses you could have. I have freedom, I can talk with them with ease, they understand if I have a problem, or, if I want to change something on the menu, they go with it.

Everyone I work with is like family to me. I love the atmosphere here; it’s a relaxing, stress-free, and comfortable place.  And the people-watching is good.

What do you like about your customers?

They’re friendly, as well. We have really loyal customers. Some have been with us since the place opened and come in every day. We know their orders by heart.

Are there any challenges working at the diner?

Coming up with new specials every day, seven days a week is a challenge. We want to make dishes that nobody else is doing. We don’t want to copy others. That’s an important distinction about the diner: we do our own thing.

How has the food changed in the past three decades?

The breakfast is pretty much the same as it was in the beginning. But we have more specials now — like fish tacos and meatloaf — than in the past. When I first started, the restaurant used to serve dinner, which we no longer do. Dinner service stopped in the late 1980s. We use more organic produce now. Bette brings it from her farm, about half of the produce we use comes from there.

Regulars flock to Bette's for comfort food like pancakes

How have the customers changed over the years?

They’re still the same, just older, of course. Some of our newer customers ask for certain things and we try to accommodate, we get the gluten-free, the vegetarians, and the vegans. We get customers now who just ask for egg whites, which we can do. But if someone asks for Egg Beaters [an egg substitute], we tell them: “No, we don’t do that.” All our eggs are good and fresh, we get them from Petaluma Farms.

How do you handle people waiting to eat?

We’re used to it. We get a rhythm going and we just don’t pay no attention to how long the wait is because we do really well for how small our kitchen is. Our record is 541 covers in a day on a weekend.

Do you dine out in Berkeley?

I don’t go out for breakfast (I’m not a big breakfast person) but I do go out for dinner quite a bit. I go to Café Rouge. I like their hamburgers and they have an open bar. I also like Kirala — they have really good sushi. And Rivoli is one of my favorite places. It serves really fresh food at good prices.

How long do you see yourself working at Bette’s?

I know I’m going to make it to 30 years working here. Just to do it. I’ll be 50 then.

What else would you like to do?

I wish I could open my own place. I’d run a soul food-barbecue joint in Hawaii. I’ve been to Waikiki and the food is pretty bad. I’ve looked at places. But I probably will still be here.

This post originally appeared on Berkeleyside.

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