Street Food In Emeryville, Edible East Bay

All photos copyright 2010, Melissa Schneider and used with her permission.

I have a new article in the current issue of Edible East Bay. It talks about the way street food converted my office's lunchtime attitude from apathy to excitement. Yes, street food enthusiasm is not a new piece, but I hoped that the more personal spin would make it more engaging.

The street food scene has exploded in the Bay Area, especially in Emeryville, which opens its arms wide to any business that wants to set up shop. That not only makes it easy for trucks and carts to hang out their shingles, it ensures a hefty number of companies whose employees all get hungry. I wrote about Liba, Seoul On Wheels, and Jon's Street Eats.

Since I turned in my article, two more excellent food trucks, Primo's Parilla and Chairman Bao, have started parking near my work. If you want a quick bead on Emeryville food trucks, by the way, you can follow the Twitter list I made for myself.

In addition to the article, I've been asked to speak on the subject of Street Food at this year's Eat Real Festival in Oakland. Come out to heckle or cheer, but say hi either way.

Lack Of Mothering Yields Mother

Imagine pulling this slightly squishy, inch-plus thick disc out of a glass jar on your counter.

I had ignored my white wine vinegar for a couple of months, but it was nonplussed by the neglect. It continued to churn out the material that lots of people call the mother (I view the mother as the whole culture of bacteria in the liquid, and the sheet as a byproduct of the process and an indicator of the culture's health.) By the time I looked at it, it had created this monster of a wheel. And the vinegar underneath smelled perfect: I bottled off a half-bottle of it and refilled it with more white wine.