Is sustainable fish a scam, like Netflix documentary Seaspiracy suggests?
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Trout fishing on Opening Day at Lake Merced, May 13, 1952Photographer Unknown / The Chronicle
Last week, I spread the good word about Sea Forager, a community-supported fisheries company that has been a balm for me the past year. Besides the high quality of the fish and seafood it delivers, a major part of why I love it is because I know where every fillet comes from, who catches it, and how they do it. After reading that newsletter and watching the Netflix documentary, “Seaspiracy,” a reader came to me with some legitimate concerns about the ethics of eating fish at all. Here’s the question:
Some cautious optimism amid indoor dining s return in the Bay Area
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Daniel Morales serves meals to a table of diners at La Mar on Friday, Nov. 13, 2020, in San Francisco.Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle
Last week, San Francisco officials announced that indoor dining at 25% capacity would likely return as the county descends into the “red tier” of the state’s reopening plan: possibly as soon as this coming Wednesday, March 3. That is, if coronavirus infection rates don’t rise before then. (Read Janelle Bitker’s full report.) San Mateo and Marin counties have already permitted indoor dining.
The thought of eating indoors still fills me with dread, but maybe a tiny bit less dread than last time. I am terrified of allowing myself to feel positive about the pandemic, especially considering that our country recently exceeded half a million COVID deaths. Those are lives that we’ll never get back. But I feel optimistic that this move to the red tier isn’t
Jams, jellies and hot sauces capture the moment better than words can
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Peach preserves, made by Shakirah Simley in her San Francisco apartment on August 8, 2020. Simley prefers a mix of just ripe and slightly underripe fruit for a mix of sweet and acid. She always tastes the fruit once at home. “You want the best fruit because you can’t put lipstick on a pig,” Simley says.Celeste Noche / Special to The Chronicle
A few weeks ago, I found myself staring into my fridge, my mind prickling like one who has become suddenly lucid after a fugue state: I suddenly realized that I have accumulated way more homemade jams and jellies than a person should normally have. I have so many friends and acquaintances who are prolific jammers, who have the skill and knowhow to transform backyard passionfruits and farmers’ market peaches into the most gorgeous, shimmering material to arrest their sweetness at the peak of ripeness. How could I not take a jar or two and slip
For the year of the ox, Bay Area s food community is grounding itself
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Water buffalo, whose milk is used to make Italian style mozzarella di bufala, at the Ramini facility in Tomales. The buffalo have rock star names like Pat Benetar, Van Morrison, and Chris Isaac.Jason Henry / Special To The Chronicle 2015
We’re entering this new phase in the lunar calendar, which has come along with a palpable period of mental and physical fatigue among a lot of people I know. The year of the rat has left many with feelings of cynicism, exhaustion and grief, and rightfully so, considering everything that we’ve endured until now. But I’m finding comfort in knowing that we’re entering the year of the ox or in the Vietnamese version of the zodiac, the water buffalo. The buffalo’s steadiness and determination are grounding forces: antipodes to the chaos and instability of the previous year.
A good breakfast taco is a rare bird in San Francisco, but this pop-up nails them
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LoJo s Tacos is a breakfast taco pop-up at Avedano s Meats in Bernal Heights.Loren Johnson
In “The Austin Cookbook,” author Paula Forbes writes that the breakfast taco, being one of the city’s highest art forms, is both deceptively simple and tricky to master. “Every element must be on point,” she writes: Tortillas must be fresh; salsa, scalding; and the other components, layered thoughtfully. That said, I think she and I would both agree that LoJo’s Tacos, a breakfast taco pop-up in Bernal Heights, nails it.