Food gives us comfort, and perhaps that’s why, as much as we love new adventures, we fall into a rut sometimes when it comes to our culinary experiences. There is a restaurant only a few blocks from our house that is often our go-to place when we are just too tired to cook. The waitress (always the same woman) greets us like we are Norm from Cheers, and doesn’t even bother to hand us a menu because we always order the same thing.
There are times to stay on familiar, soothing turf, but there are also times to venture out and have new experiences!
This issue is all about exploration. Chef and writer-photographer John Cox takes us to Cuba on the eve of its opening to American tourism (p. 24); Jamie Collins explores the cooking possibilities of nopal cactus and its prickly paddles and fruit—food that grows all around us but that few of us have dared to cook, perhaps because of those spines (p. 16); Rosie Parker hits the bay with avid kayak fishermen and discovers a new passion (p. 42); and Amber Turpin delves into a dinner series called The Curated Feast that brings participants back in time to explore history through eating (p. 6). Patrice Vecchione takes you to a farm where you may pick your own lavender this summer— and cook with it (p. 51).
We also feature some of our local beer mavens who refuse to get caught in the routine of making the same old familiar brews. Emily Thomas of Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing and The Cremer House is building a larger local beer community with every new experiment (p. 34), and Luke Taylor of Corralitos Brewing Co. has revived for his brews—and the community—a beloved hop which traces its local heritage back to the 1800s (p. 30).
Speaking of beer, if you read our weekly newsletter (subscribe for free at www.ediblemontereybay. com), you know that our local beer scene is exploding. To help us all explore it, we are including between pages 32 and 33 of this issue a beautiful removable one-of-a-kind guide to where to find them all. Big kudos to Zephyr Pfotenhauer and Rosie Parker for creating it.
The best thing about getting out of a rut is that it opens our eyes as well as our taste buds. Since editing this issue, the rockfish and lingcod we get in our weekly Real Good Fish share has become something we, too, could catch, and Monterey Bay has been transformed from a pretty view to a place where we could launch kayaks to catch that fish. And that roadside cactus we pass every day? We’re suddenly watching its fruit for signs it’s ready to pick!
We hope this edition of Edible Monterey Bay makes you see our area and its food in a whole new way, and that it inspires some exciting new experiences this summer. Tell us about them by writing to info@ediblemontereybay.com or post images of them on Instagram with the hashtag #ediblemontereybay and we’ll consider them for publication in our fall issue!
Happy exploring,
Sarah Wood and Rob Fisher
Publishers
About the author
At Edible Monterey Bay, our mission is to celebrate the local food culture of Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Counties, season by season. We believe in sustainability, and we believe everyone has a right to healthful, clean and affordable food. We think knowing where our food comes from is powerful, and we hope our magazine, website and newsletters inspire readers to get to know and support our local growers, fishers, chefs, vintners and food artisans.
