- Author: Shelby MacNab
- Author: Brittanny Zweigle
- Contributor: Angelita Zaragoza
- Contributor: Elizabeth Villalobos
Have you ever seen young students explore an artichoke for the first time? Their faces look puzzled as they wonder if this green spiny thing they hold before them is even edible. What about a kiwi? Eyebrows furrow in bewilderment when kids encounter this fuzzy fruit for the first time. Our favorite kiwi quote from a fifth-grade student: “This smells like dirt.”
All jokes aside, in Fresno County, nutrition education is becoming a priority for teachers. The UC CalFresh Nutrition Education Program has worked with over 950 teachers at over 80...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
For as long as I can remember, Independence Day has not been about being alone and independent, the Fourth of July is traditionally spent with family and friends, barbecuing, overeating and watching fireworks. Come to think of it, aren’t all American holidays celebrated with abundant quantities of food? And those mass quantities of food tend to be set out on July 4 and left within easy reach for hours.
It’s a wonder July 5th isn’t national foodborne illness day. According to UC food safety experts, food left at room temperature for two hours can become unsafe to eat. If left out in summer heat above 90 degrees, bacteria get busy and can grow to unsafe levels in food in one hour.
UC...
- Author: Rose Hayden-Smith
Not long ago, a friend asked several of us to jot down some memories about the kitchen tables in our lives. The operating premise of the exercise was that food is central to our relationships, and that much of life occurs around the places where we eat, and those we choose to eat with.
My kitchen table memories are varied. My family moved quite frequently when I was young: our kitchen table was a sort of “movable feast.” In my faith tradition, this term has a very specific meaning that informs my attitudes toward food. (For the very literary minded, it is also the title of a wonderful memoir written by Ernest Hemingway late in his life).
I have wonderful memories about kitchen tables. In our home near...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Nearly half of the 55 unusual winegrape varieties in a plot at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier displayed enough promising characteristics to prompt a cooperating vintner to make 25 small lots of wine.
The research at Kearney is designed to expand the wine industry’s options in the San Joaquin Valley, currently California’s top grape growing district in terms of production, but lowest in terms of price.
“Most of the popular wine varietals – Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay – are at their best in somewhat cooler climates. So we are looking for grapes that make superior fruit in warm climates,” said
- Author: Penny Leff
Do county fairs make you think of deep-fried Twinkies and Ferris wheels, and maybe some prize-winning pigs? Can you imagine a local food marketplace next to the quilt show, a demonstration farm by the pony rides, fresh fruit for sale in the midway, a community dinner honoring local farmers, and housing available for hundreds of farm-workers the week after the fair closes?
These all thrive at some of California's county and district fairs, and may be part of the future at many others soon. The University of California small farm program and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Division of Fairs and Expositions are teaming up to...