Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
depends where you are and the time of year. For example, winter can be slim pickings
even on fertile Northern California farms, but ideal for Southern California's citrus.
For what's ripe and in season right now at Northern California's farmers markets, along
with inspiring recipes by well-known chefs and food writers, check
www.cuesa.org/eat-
San Francisco Bay Area
Today San Francisco's adventurous eaters support the most award-winning chefs and res-
taurants per capita of any US city - five times more restaurants than New York, if any-
one's keeping score - and 25 farmers markets in San Francisco alone, more than any other
US city.
Some San Francisco food novelties have had extraordinary staying power, including
ever-popular
cioppino
(seafood stew), chocolate bars invented by the Ghirardelli family,
and sourdough bread, with original Gold Rush-era mother dough still yielding local loaves
with that distinctive tang.
Nowadays, no Bay Area star chef's extravagant tasting menu is complete without some
foraged ingredients - such as wild chanterelle mushrooms found beneath Bay Area oak
trees or backyard stinging nettles - and artisan cheeses like Point Reyes blue and freshly
harvested oysters from Marin County.
