December 23, 2022 – At the end of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” he offers a thought that’s good to remember regularly, and applies here after a crazy eventful 2022.
“Life moves pretty fast,” Bueller said. “If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Leadership coach and public speaker Dr. Richard Chambers uses the refrain as the basis for a meditation.
“I come back into the moment and relax. And as I have learned to do that more and more, I have started spending more time in the present moment…and somehow just feel more ALIVE in the process,” he writes on his website. “Take moments throughout the day to press PAUSE and notice the benefits for your wellbeing, performance and relationships.”
So here’s a stop to look around at the year that flew by. (Another retrospective is also live, namely the Top 11 New Monterey Bay Restaurants of 2022.)
If nothing else, it serves as a reminder how much truly world-changing food storylines are unfolding right here, from mushroom science to school kitchens to social justice.
Changing history can start with a seed.
One of the most inspiring individuals I encountered in 2022 was Martha Henry, a longtime teacher and master gardener. She’s transformed her street corner home’s yard into a community pantry and seed bank, with all sorts of greens she encourages strangers to harvest at any given time, a little free library and a wowser selection of leafy greens she collects and protects as part of the Heirloom Collard Green Project.
The right mezcal approximates magic.
I’d been hoping to tell the tale of a borderline mystical place on the Pacific Coast of Mexico called Yelapa. The remote town of 1,500 bursts with wildlife, energy workshops and an obscure handmade mezcal called raicilla. When Cultura Comida and Bebida introduced a new—and crazy deep—mezcal menu with a handful of incredible raicillas, I had my chance. Serendipitously enough Cultura’s evolution happened to sync up with Edible’s first ever Cocktail Issue (and accompanying Cocktail Week).
Finding Dory’s new scheme gets trippy.
Popular and pioneering chef Dory Ford went to some dark places amid COVID. He emerged with a mind-blowing master plan to advance mycelium science—and grow everything from cordyceps to psilocybin.
Bargains are beautiful.
Fifty-plus installments of Found Treasures over the course of 2022 swoop through all sorts of subjects. One of my favorite things to spotlight therein: great deals. Four of them materialized at the end of the year: Lumpia poppers at Lola’s Kusina in Marina, $3.25 for 10; tempura avocado stuffed with sushi at Akira Aptos, $6 during its outstanding happy hour; chili dogs at Taylor Brothers Hot Dogs in Watsonville, $2.25 each; loaves of French bread at San Juan Bautista Bakery, $5 each.
Embedding at Big Sur Food & Wine leads to wild places.
As fun as it can be to attend BSFW, if you’re crazy enough to volunteer with the logistics team, it gets more eventful, and on this installment it led to all sorts of zany moments and a dozen food scoops.
Drama can lead to tasty progress.
One of the most controversial seafood stories to ever visit these shores also proved super complicated. And also encouraging—crab fishermen are helping pioneer new methods to protect whales while keeping area eaters fed.
I confirmed suspicions I have a face for radio.
Wait, Edible has a radio show!? It hits every Friday a little after 12 noon, via KRML 94.7FM, which also streams live online. We also stockpile an archive of past Friday Found Treasures.
It’s not every food story you get to draw inspiration from Steinbeck and put a dog on the handlebars.
Chef David Baron and food consultant Oscar Lomeli showed me so many dope spots biking around Watsonville I had to spread the love across two stories. Part one visits Cowboy’s Corner Cafe, a Bill Murray standby. Part two visits tiny La Fondita, time-honored Tamale Factory and futuristic Pho Kitchen, aka Robot Ramen.
Despite 80+ Edible magazines across North America—and only 10ish awards given annually among them by its founding body—EMB took two awards at Edible’s mile-high national convention, and a bunch more revelations materialized, including how to hallucinate without drugs or fasting.
A big change at Salinas schools could be a model for many.
Institutional foods can be depressing. At some elementary schools in the county capital, they were so bad parents got outright angry. Now an enterprising chef is overhauling what kids eat and understand about food.
People are apparently cuckoo for a certain local bread.
Word that Ad Astra Bread Co. will have a big new headquarters in downtown Monterey drove more social media traffic than any other digital story all year.
Social justice and food are inseparable.
Bryant Terry, celebrated cookbook author and chef-in-residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, came to Santa Cruz and explored that eloquently.
It sounds insane, but it’s possible to cultivate crops in an agroforestry manner to transform drought-stricken land into lush and productive landscapes that create their own watershed. That’s underway at Bee La Forte Farm, and that’s not the most surreal thing about the operation.
If you can only read one food story from 2022, please make it this one.
EcoFarm—which returns next month—packs dozens and dozens of lessons. What keynoter and Food and Environment Program director Ricardo Salvador talked about last year is the most important presentation I can remember listening to. Hint: Canceling hunger and protecting the planet aren’t just possible, they’re attainable.
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay's managing editor, appears on "Friday Found Treasures" via KRML 94.7 every week, a little after 12pm noon. Reach him via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
