Behind the Deli Case at Wild Roots Market

A good deli is crucial to a community. I run into Wild Roots Market in Felton for something at the deli counter all the time. A smoothie before gymnastics practice, some kind of salad for a picnic and hike, perhaps a couple of empanadas for Tuesday night dinner when we all get home late? I’m sure my family is not alone in this. 

The role of a neighborhood deli serves all types of people, throughout the day. Folks stopping in before work for a breakfast burrito and a cup of coffee, students on lunch break grabbing a sandwich, or visiting hikers on their way to Henry Cowell. It’s a busy place and we are lucky to have it, both in Felton and in Boulder Creek.

A key figure in the success of the Wild Roots’ deli department is Natalie Joel, food service manager at the Felton location. Born and raised in Santa Cruz, Joel has been working in the natural foods industry for the past fifteen years, ten of which have been at Wild Roots. 

“I’ve always been really interested in food and cooking, and knew it was what I wanted to do as a living,” she says.

“By the time I was twenty I had two kids and found that it was really amazing that I could go to the farmers markets and our local stores to get good organic produce to feed my children,” Joel recalls. “I pretty much immediately realized that working at this grocery store was a way to be in the closest proximity to the food we wanted to eat.”

“It has also been a way to be around like-minded people, everyone who works here is into eating organic and likes to support local stuff,” she adds.

“Working here at Wild Roots, which is independently owned, there’s a huge difference. It is working somewhere that has autonomy and the ability to make decisions about who they want to support,” she says, “And as employees we have a sense of pride in the store because it is a unique and special situation, two stores owned by one family. It feels different.” 

Her role as food service manager, in addition to ordering and managerial tasks, is to design menus and create recipes for the hot dishes, soups, salads, sandwiches and smoothies—all of which are made from scratch.

The recipe development process starts with consideration of the season. “We work with a lot of small farmers, so what is seasonal is really clear and obvious,” she says. “It starts with me looking at what’s coming into season and what is in season at the moment, and trying to figure out what I can do with these things that’s affordable and delicious.” 

Another decision Joel constantly makes is whether the recipe is going to be vegan and/or gluten free? “I usually start a recipe with at least one of those dietary things in mind. And I like to use as many vegetables as possible, it’s sort of my goal to get people to eat as many vegetables as possible,” says Joel.

“I also get suggestions from my coworkers and keep costs in mind, so that the dish at the end of the day can be affordable as well as delicious and accessible in every way. Making something everyone can enjoy is the name of the game.”

It turns out that there’s a lot of things people enjoy. Most popular are the sandwiches and all-organic smoothies. But there are lots of soup lovers out there too. From chicken noodle to lentil, they are all crowd-pleasers. Even dishes she thought would turn out weird, like the vegan shepherd’s pie she created for Saint Patrick’s Day, with tahini and a celery root and potato topping was a sellout. 

“I didn’t know if anyone was going to like it, it was a kind of strange combination, but it was a total hit, everybody loved it,” she says.

Personally, Joel’s favorite recipe is the three-bean lentil salad that frequently appears in the grab and go case. “I grew up eating the three-bean salad in the can or jar, I just really loved that salad as a kid, and then when I tried it again as an adult it was really sugary and weird. So I came up with another version, that’s herbaceous and free of everything that people can’t eat,” she explains. “Pretty much everyone enjoys it. It’s like a childhood staple but a million times better because it’s freshly made.”

Which is a sentiment that pretty much sums up the Wild Roots philosophy itself; good organic food, freshly made, by dedicated people like Natalie Joel.