California Cuisine, Long Before Chez Panisse

It’s not.

@Pizza Bones best is in the late Summer at the local Farmers Market when the tomatoes are coming in so fast that the heirlooms are cheaper than the supermarket tomatoes

@Balynt Agreed! I would not call Berkeley Bowl a "specialty food store." It's a grocery store, just one that approaches the Platonic ideal of grocery store.

@Barney Rubble Barney - please, no person is the leader of an ethnic group just because they might be related. I get nauseous at the term "knows .. the history... of HIS PEOPLE." Fact, the name Ohlone means coastal in Spanish. The Spanish and perhaps the Portuguese collectively named the group of 63 different tribes, The Ohlone. And to the author Mr. Rao, to state that natives had a name for a town which was drawn up by colonists, Berkeley, has to be incorrect. For starters, Berkeley's shore line with the Bay has changed over the many decades and centuries. It may be true that along the coast an area that Berkeley now occupies, was once named Xucyun I think is more likely. Also, the facts are that of the 63 different tribes, the Ohlone were very primitive; that's a fact. They did not wear clothing, but rather dry grass and reeds. They were much more Polynesian in their orientation and habitation. I am sorry but I find the references that the Ohlone ate prepared oyster mushrooms and onions really far fetched. The Ohlone of Oakland and Berkeley ate clams, galore.

Mr. Rao? I think you are incorrect.

@RR I know Vincent and he worked for years at Mission San Francisco as an interpreter. He knows his history. Further, I have flagged your comment as racist; the Ohlone were not primitive. And Ohlone is not a Spanish word; you are confusing it with Costanoan, the Spanish word for people of the coast. The first inhabitants of the Bay Area were not Polynesian. They were who they were, a people of distinctive and beautiful beliefs. The Portuguese had nothing to do with the naming of these people and they did not come to California during the colonial people. As for the number 63, you are very confused. I suggest that you read up on the history of California Indian peoples before you start spreading misinformation about people who have lived in California for 12,000 years.

Although I partly agree with the sentiment, the use of the term “Cali” hit me like nails on a chalkboard. I don’t know when this artifice began but could it please stop now? (And there are certainly native wild onions here. ) I was struck by the missing staple of California- the prevalent and versatile acorn, of so many varieties and so many ways to prepare. Dried, roasted and extracted, it makes a darned fine hot beverage too.

@Marie Umm, where to begin? Quail is the California state bird. It's native. The California hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) grows wild in the western United States from central California to British Columbia. It's native. Rosa californica, the California wildrose, is a species of rose native to the U.S. states of California and Oregon and the northern part of Baja California, Mexico. It's native. As for berries, we have blackberry (Rubus ursinus), a vine or shrub. It's native. Wild onion (Allium crispum) grows in central oak woodland, in the central western portion of California. There are other onion species as well. It's native. And Cali is a city in Colombia. It's always a good idea to check one's facts before commenting.

@Patricia Howe there is acorn flour in the brownies that Louis makes. Because the flour is bitter, this was Louis' way to make younger tribal youth excited about eating it.

@Grant everything by Malcolm Margolin and Heyday Press is worth reading.

@Stephanie I'm guessing they mean the lower end of the creek where it turns into salt marshes at the bay. I did a search and found a pdf about the San Lorenzo watershed, and it says: "At its lower end, San Lorenzo Creek happened to intersect a unique feature of the Bay: the massive salt pond complex centered around Crystal Salt Pond. The feature appears to have been associated with a sandy berm built by wave action and may have been significantly managed and/or shaped by the indigenous Yrgin people. Salt concentrated by evaporation from the broad, shallow ponds was harvested and traded by the Yrgin and later utilized by Mission San Jose."

Thanks for the clarification, that’s fascinating!

When I ate lunch at Cafe Ohlone last week, the salt used as flavoring in the dishes and in the salt shakers on the tables was called “bay salt.

@charlotte - The Berkeley Bowl was one of my MOST favorite parts of living in Berkeley. The vastness and variety was mind blowing!

If people all across america could experience Berkeley Bowl, there would be a transformation of diet, nutrition, food culture, health and agricultural awareness. Most americans have never seen quality food like this in any supermarket ever.

@charlotte Best grocery store in America IMO

@ Suzanne Fass Upper Upper Manhattan I would interpret the term "the native foods of the Bay Area" as anything made there by local hippies or anyone born there, irrespective of one's ethnic ancestry. But I applaud those reviving the foods of the time before the European settlers, which might cure the present-day Californians from blind veganism and devourment of hamburgers with ketchup.

What are ‘local hippies’ exactly?

@Sean NorCal denizens of the same phylum as techies, but without the latter’s access to company stock and Patagonia gear.

@Krismarch You are 100%. The Bowl is an institution. On the occasions that I'm lucky enough to be in Berkeley, I feel that visiting The Bowl is a wonderful treat. The produce department alone is amazing.

@Krismarch yes the Bowl is awesome and I am very happy that it is my neighborhood grocery store, but it is not a co-op.

@Krismarch Yes, an amazing place, like the municipal market in the town in Spain where I live, which is replete with overflowing produce stalls, fish venders, and an assortment of local cheeses, meats, and ham. Or like Las Ramblas in Barcelona. We just don't have equivalents in the US. BTW, though the name suggests a cornucopia, it actually comes from the fact that the market is the former site of a bowling alley.