Road Trip

by Erin Gleeson

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN GLEESON

In the latest edition of her Forest Feast series, cookbook author and artist Erin Gleeson goes the extra mile, drawing inspiration from around The Golden State

My first cookbooks were created at home in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but then my husband and I got the travel bug and ventured farther afield to Europe, an extended trip that inspired my fourth cookbook, The Forest Feast Mediterranean. I’d almost taken for granted that I live in this Golden State and, after having three kids, I knew it was time to explore parts of it I had never seen or hadn’t experienced since I was little. So, in search of adventure and culinary inspiration, we piled our family into the car, downloaded a bunch of podcasts and set off to look for new inspiration. Over the past couple years, we have explored this state from San Diego to the massive sequoias of Humboldt County with one long 2,500-mile trip and several smaller side trips.

Cooking in our home surrounded by nature has brought me so much creative inspiration so with my most recent book, The Forest Feast Road Trip, I wanted to take that idea on the road. From our home on the Peninsula, we drove to L.A. and stayed in a yurt on an urban farm, we went swimming in the ocean on the Central Coast, we met date farmers and picked oranges for breakfast in Palm Springs. Along the way we explored more farmers’ markets than you can imagine!

As we all know, California’s agricultural diversity is stunning. The produce at my local Portola Valley farmers’ market may have only traveled a couple hours, but is grown in very different climates and terrain. Now after visiting farms throughout California I have a clearer sense of where my produce is coming from, and the people who grow and produce such a diverse and incredible seasonal bounty. We saw avocado groves in the hills behind Santa Barbara, fields of bright leafy kale in foggy Humboldt and endless rows of almond trees in the Central Valley. We met farmers, picked fresh fruits in fields, explored local fare and filled our days with plenty of tasty discovery.

California poppies blooming at Russian Ridge Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

But some of my favorite moments were close to home. We picked strawberries with the women who run Fly Girl Farm in Pescadero, inspiring the Strawberry Caprese Salad recipe in the book. A drink on Highway 1 between Carmel and Big Sur inspired my Pacific Palo ma Cocktail. We picked mint in the Santa Cruz Mountains that prompted a recipe for Carrots with Mint-Caper Tapenade and saw Brussels sprouts being harvested on a farm in Half Moon Bay leading to my breakfast recipe for Brussels Hash.

We found the most stunning field of poppies at Russian Ridge Preserve, just a few miles from our house. A picnic on the beach in Pescadero with rosé from Fogarty Winery, Harley Farms cheese and a loaf of Arcangeli’s artichoke bread was perhaps my favorite meal. It was all produced a short drive from home, but I felt like I was on vacation! Our California road trip continues to give me recipe ideas inspired by markets, farm visits, friends’ homes and restaurants. I hope these recipes and photos from my travels will give you approachable ideas to be creative in your kitchen with vegetables, wherever you might live or travel. Happy cooking!