The Instagram focaccia seller inspired by pizza
Written by Maia Puyat
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endIndex: Chef Karla Mendoza s sea salt and rosemary focaccia (left) and the newest flavor Spanish chorizo, kale, tomato, red onion, garlic confit, and mozzarella. Photos from CRAFTED AT HOME/INSTAGRAM
Chef Karla Mendoza discovered that sourdough brings people together. An artform that takes a lot of waiting, measuring, and wrist strength, it was something many picked up during the pandemic because time was all anyone had. That included herself, who set up shop in the tiny kitchen of her apartment, making do with an oven made for just two people to use and baking 40 loaves every day. “Actually, it’s a skill. It develops your patience and muscle,” she said, laughing. She had even developed tennis elbow from baking loaves and loaves of sourdough a day.
Housing and Development Newsletter
Since serving nearly 4 million meals to the people of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, WCK has responded to dozens of disasters worldwide and distributed tens of millions of meals in the process.
A naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Spain, Andrés is an advocate for immigration reform and on July 4, 2014 was named by President Barack Obama as that year’s Outstanding American by Choice. In 2015, President Obama awarded Andrés the National Humanities Medal “for cultivating our palettes and shaping our culture.”
“We [chefs] feed the few, but we have the opportunity to change the world,” Andrés responded to the honor.
12 unexpectedly great things to come out of food in the disaster that is 2020
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The Naem Khao Tod (Crispy Curry Rice) at Intu-On, a Thai food pop-up at Birba wine bar in Hayes Valley in S.F.Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle
It’s been a brutal year for the restaurant industry, with many establishments closing for good while others continue to fight for survival. Workers have faced layoffs and furloughs. Owners have turned into activists, lobbying the government for financial aid.
The lack of assistance makes optimism for the Bay Area’s restaurant scene difficult, but the year has also shown that locals know how to adapt in a crisis often with delicious or heartwarming results. Pop-ups came out in full force, and food and wine once primarily accessed through restaurants became more widely available to the home cook (and drinker, too). The unending crises prompted much-needed conversations around race and equity, and although those are topics that were present