Travel Reference
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scene, stroll inside Napa's Oxbow Public Market. Sonoma hasn't forgotten its origins as a
Mexican pueblo (town) either: you can still spot taco trucks rolling by the vineyards.
North Coast
In the 1970s, San Francisco hippies headed back to the land along the North Coast to find
a more self-sufficient lifestyle, reviving traditions of making breads and cheeses from
scratch and growing their own everything. Early adopters of pesticide-free farming,
NorCal's hippie homesteaders innovated hearty, organic cuisine with a health-minded,
global-fusion twist that still satisfied the pot-smoking munchies. Today, in pro-medical
marijuana Mendocino and Humboldt Counties, local farms are very serious about 'No
Trespassing' signs - heed them!
You can still taste the influence of traditional Native Californian cuisine on the North
Coast. In addition to fishing, hunting game and making bread from acorn flour, tribes such
as the Oholone and Miwok also carefully cultivated crops and gathered bonanzas of ber-
ries and wildflower honey. Today, fearless foragers have likewise come to appreciate the
North Coast's hundreds of edible plants, from wood sorrel to Mendocino sea vegetables,
although spots for wild mushrooms remain closely guarded local secrets.
Central California
Most of California's produce is grown in the vast region spreading between the hot, irrig-
ated Central Valley and the more temperate Central Coast. But road-tripping epicureans
tend to bolt through the middle of the state to reach SF or LA in time for dinner - if only
to make it past the stinky cattle feedlots along Hwy 101 without losing their appetites.
Although much of the inland Central Valley remains dedicated to large-scale agribusi-
ness, both industrial and family-owned farms that have converted to organic production
have helped make California the top US producer of organics. Meanwhile along the Cent-
ral Coast, a cornucopia of weekly farmers markets and local food festivals year-round
prove that farm-to-table cooking is not just a passing fancy.
Some of California's more flavorful seafood is caught offshore from Monterey Bay,
Morro Bay and San Luis Bay. More rare local seafood delicacies include farm-raised red
abalone and oysters. Make pit stops at farm stands all along the Central Coast to bite into
prized local produce such as Watsonville strawberries, Cayucos oranges, Carpinteria avo-
cados and Ventura lemons.
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