- [Kai] Most of our organic products are locally produced.

- Some ingredients are extremely difficult to find, and some are impossible to find.

- At the farmers' market, you can buy local and eat global because there's just so much abundance of talent and diversity here.

- It's been amazing to have her create the farm to honor her family heritage, but also watch it evolve into something that will inform her kids' generation and future generations.

- [Announcer] Bay Area Bountiful is about agriculture.

It's about feeding us.

It's about land and water.

It's about the health of our planet.

It's about stories that matter.

Bay Area Bountiful, cultivate, celebrate, connect.

- [Announcer] Bay Area Bountiful is made possible in part by Rocky, The Free Range Chicken and Rosie, The Original Organic Chicken, the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, Made Local Magazine, and Sonoma County Go Local, and through the generous support of Sonoma Water.

- [Narrator] The Bay Area is known for its wide array of food and fare originating from countries and regions across the globe.

Many chefs and farmers are bringing international flavors and flavors of their heritage to our community through local ingredients and local production.

- We are coming out of our winter hibernation, and we only farm six months out of the year.

This is the start of the end of winter, mowing the cover crop.

Usually, around mid-January, the excitement begins.

Radical Family Farms is located on three acres within South Sebastopol, and we're currently cultivating one and a half acres.

And we specialize in what I call mixed Asian heritage vegetables and herbs.

We grow things like every other farmer grows in Sonoma County, like zucchini and yellow squash.

But at the same time, we also have our Asian varieties of summer squash, like loofah, which is sigua in Mandarin, and hulu, which is a bottle gourd, and those are all edible summer squash varieties when you harvest them young.

And we do a little bit of seed saving on the farm for certain varieties that are hard to get.

So these are my coveted white Taiwanese bitter melon seeds from last season.

You can get bitter melon, it's pretty common, but I think it's more difficult to find the white bitter melon, and that is what is more commonly grown in Taiwan.

And of course, I'm interested in growing a lot of the crops of my own heritage.

So this is a very, a special plant that we grow.

We have old cucumber.

We have chamoe, which is a Korean and Chinese melon.

Then we just also have Korean hot peppers, Thai bird's eye chili peppers.

And here we also have a variety of ju hua, which is a chrysanthemum.

So this is a Japanese black futsu, winter squash, a kabocha type, and this is an extremely small Chinese winter melon or dong gua.

And then this is a shark fin melon, and this is really popular in the shark fin soup that is a vegan and shark-friendly alternative to be used so we don't have to hurt the sharks.

I think the biggest part of our CSA that is kind of significant within the Asian crops are the herbs.

So we do a lot of perilla, shiso, Thai basils, holy basils.

Yeah, so those are, those play a significant part of our CSA.

We actually moved on to the farm in 2018, and we he had spent 2017 in Taiwan.

And my kids were learning Mandarin, and we were staying in Taipei and with local farming families on the east coast of Taiwan.

Deciding to grow and specialize in Asian vegetables is just another way to bring myself closer to my Asian and Chinese and Taiwanese heritage.

And also, being a multi-Asian household, my kids are also of Korean descent.

I wanted them to know part of that heritage through the food that we produce.

And as being a child of immigrants, we lost so much in the immigration process, and this is just one more step that I can take to bring myself closer to heritage that have been assimilated during the process of immigration.

- I'm a city girl.

I grew up in the city, and my path to the farm is that I fell in love with a farmer.

Watching her to what was a horse pasture into this thriving farm in four years' time has just been remarkable.

So what we'll do is we'll mow everything down and then tarp it, and that will kill all the weeds and get the organic matter breaking down into the soil.

So then when you're ready to plant, you're good to go.

Family is super, super, super important to Leslie.

And so it's been amazing to have her create the farm to honor her family heritage, but also watch it evolve into something that will inform her kids' generation and future generations.

- I think I'm going to do this one first.

I think that's all clear.

- Yeah, it is.

- Yeah.

When I first started the farm, identity farming was a relevant and significant term.

Then I was basically using my personal cultural heritage and family history as a way of informing all of the decisions that I made on the farm and what crops that I wanted to grow and explore and learn from.

And yeah, I mean, it's still part of our farming values, but now, we're really focused on trying to supply excellent quality, nutrient-dense Asian crops for seniors in need and families in need.

And when I first started the farm, it was different and specialized to me because we didn't have access to a lot of these crops growing up, and I grew up in the Midwest.

But for most of the folks who are children of immigrants or have come recently from Asia, these are not specialized crops.

They're just crops of their heritage.

- She found a community of other people on the same journey, searching for meaning or cultural relevance through food.

And so our farm box really was a gift.

It was an exploration.

It was a challenge.

And it was, it created all these beautiful memories of people that may have not had these vegetables since they were in Taiwan or their Chinese grandmother cooked them something.

So I love the historical significance of the fresh vegetables that our farm boxes bring.

- Can I go-- - Why don't you go right here?

Because we're supposed to go in the middle of the block, and then you can take your sample here, just like right in there.

I feel like it is a complicated story, and it's not, there's no single message, really, except that it is a lifelong learning process for me to understand my roots and my history, and the farm is really just one part of that process.

It's not the end all or be all.

It's just one part.

So we take soil samples every year to measure the amount of organic matter that we have in the soil, and it's our goal to increase the organic matter each season.

Okay, can you get more?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Okay, this is pretty good.

I do feel like I have accomplished a lot of the goals that I set out to in the beginning of the farm.

But with the death of my grandmother two years ago, I feel, in a way, it's now time for me, instead of looking back into the past, it is, I feel like, time for me to move forward and thrive.

What my ancestors have done, coming and immigrating and migrating, they did that for their future generations to thrive, and I feel like that is kind of a new opening for me to step forward and not, of course, forget our history, but to start moving past the history.

- [Narrator] As we travel from the countryside of Sebastopol to the city of Berkeley, we'll move from farm fresh mixed Asian produce to home style German dishes - I'm Anja.

I am the owner and the chef of Gaumenkitzel German restaurant.

We are serving organic German slow foods, and we are located in West Berkeley.

Gaumenkitzel, if you translate it, literally, it means tickle your taste buds.

It's a rather old-fashioned term of you'd call something very precious and delicious.

One of my earliest childhood memories with food, my grandpa saying, "Oh, what a gaumenkitzel."

- My name is Kai.

I'm Chef Anja's husband.

We do home style cooking, which is very healthy to eat.

So we are staying away from too much sugar, too much salt.

- Okay, thank you.

All our dishes are German.

Of course, schnitzel, spaetzle, red cabbage, sauerkraut.

A lot of people love German food.

(chuckles) Are you ready?

Our house-made bread we use for the sandwiches.

Germans and their breads, you know.

(laughs) Super fussy.

I try to stay as close as possible to the original dish.

Some ingredients are extremely difficult to find and some are impossible to find, so I have to find substitutes.

- [Kai] Local sourcing is very important to us.

Chef Anja orders her organic produce by distance.

- Hello, this is Anja speaking from Gaumenkitzel.

I would like to order for tomorrow, for Thursday.

- She will only order organic vegetables that are not too far away.

And if they're like from Mexico or some some far away places, she will not consider it seasonal and we don't use it.

- It is important for Gaumenkitzel to source locally, support the local community, be sustainable, and the third is the quality of ingredients.

So if something travels long distance, or is not really in season, it won't be as nice if it would be in season.

I'd rather wait for some ingredients so they can shine.

So Veritable Vegetable, they are very transparent about farmers they are working with.

I can visit their websites.

They have little films about them.

They explain.

- B&J is an exclusive grower to Veritable.

The royal mandarin is a cross between a Tangerine and an orange.

- [Kai] They give us a lot of information about the products that gives us a chance to decide on items that are more locally sourced.

- Tangerines, making jam of it today.

Yes.

I was planning to do the citrus.

We juice them.

I use the juice for making jelly.

(upbeat music) We don't have a lot of waste at Gaumenkitzel because we try use every little thing.

That's good.

I started candying the citrus peel so we don't throw it away.

And it's so yummy, so I love it.

(laughs) - Because Anja and I deeply care about being green, it was very easy for us to get Green Certified.

It's a comprehensive thing.

At the end, it also saves us, actually, a lot of money, not producing trash or reusing as much as we can.

In terms of energy, we have solar panels on our roof which cover about 70% of our electricity use.

- With the pandemic, we kind of also got the chance.

Here is our goulash.

You want to not just have it packed in a box which you throw out, but you can have it in a multi-usable mason jar.

It also holds longer.

We got so many compliments, and they say, "Thank you that you use it.

"Such a great idea."

And they're astonished if I tell them, "Oh, you can use this a hundred times Instead of just once."

I will make dishes from North Germany.

Of course, I'm from Hamburg, fish in abundance everywhere.

This is the email we get on a daily basis from Monterey Fish.

I order with Monterey Fish.

That's our choice for getting local fish.

I even get pictures with the fisherman hoarding his catch of the day.

They have a pier in San Francisco, Pier 33.

- At Monterey Fish, our strength is local seafood and our relationships with local fishermen and the local fishing community.

- I always can say, okay, no further than like Half Moon Bay or Monterey Bay.

- Anja likes to use our local rockfish, along with some smoked fish and what she describes as our beautiful trout.

We buy fish from boats and sell at the restaurants all over the Bay Area.

Gaumenkitzel has been one of our customers, for many years.

Anja will send an email with an order.

We'll write up a sales order, process the fish, cut it, get it in a bag, get it on a truck, and get it to her door in time for service.

- [Anja] And they deliver fresh to the door for us in the morning.

- [Deliveryman] There you go.

Have a good one.

- Thank you.

- [Anja] And so Alfredo is doing the catch of the day.

He will prepare the portioning.

- It's never in the freezer.

We get it fresh.

Most days< like every few days, we get it, and we clean it, and we portion it, and put it on ice.

We never freeze it.

- We got the fish this morning.

He will prepare the catch of the day and the fish patties.

We also go with our fresh meat with Marin Sun Farms, especially for the beef, 100% grass fed.

For our egg dishes and also for retail, we have the eggs from the wild happy hens from Marin Sun Farm.

And I always envision them being at the station in Point Reyes with the sea breeze going through their feathers because they can room outside with real sunlight, fresh air.

And you really can taste the difference, so we love the eggs.

- One of the most rewarding part are our customers who are very dedicated.

Many of them have been coming for years, and they are totally rooting for us and always encourage us to keep going.

- The most surprising and moving experience having a restaurant is food can bring a tear to people because of their memories they have with it, or it brings them so close to someone they remember.

And then also getting ready for night service.

And this, in combination with daily research, what is going on on new movements like vegan, vegetarian, slow food, I find it's very, very exciting.

- [Narrator] Another restaurateur excited by taste and principles is Dalia Martinez in Santa Rosa.

- I created this motto for myself early on called taste and principles.

And on an original location, I actually had taste and principles written out on chalkboard to explain that that is the basis from which I make all of my decisions when it comes to food.

So first of all, it's got to taste good, and I'm not too concerned about anything other than that.

And then second to that are where my concerns come up in principles.

As long as I'm following those principles of sustainability, organic, then it's completing the intention.

Okay, let's go to the farmers' market then!

(upbeat music) (speaks in foreign language) They're so beautiful.

They're so perfect.

They're the best cauliflowers ever.

So I definitely want to get some cauliflower.

(speaks in foreign language) (Julia speaks in foreign language) (Dalia speaks in foreign language) Julia is the owner and farmer of Ortiz Family Farm.

And Julia is the matriarch of this farm, and they've been farming the lands here in Santa Rosa for over 30 years.

- Yes.

- And tending the soil and taking care of the water and the environment.

And they don't use any chemicals, herbicides, pesticides, or synthetic fertilizers.

They save seeds.

And even the crates are reused for every single market and on delivery when they come to the restaurant.

When I first moved back to Santa Rosa from San Francisco, I came to the farmers' market and I was sort of culture shocked at how small it was.

And so it took me a little bit of an adjustment to figure out like, well, how am I be eating from this farmers' market?

And Julia and everything that she grows provides the staple and the basis of my kitchen at home, and there, by extension, my kitchen at the restaurant too.

They grow all the staples so that we can all have fresh, local, really nutritious food.

So I felt like this was the best farm for me to cover all my basic kitchen needs.

(speaks in foreign language) And I love the Romaine because it's so sweet and crisp.

And it's just amazing to have this.

And I kind of realized after that even though it's small, it just has everything that we need.

So I feel very fortunate to have them here in Santa Rosa.

(upbeat music) Hey!

- Hi, how are you?

- Good!

I have to show you that I've been wearing your ring every day.

- [Elena] Oh, thank you.

- Yeah, it's just so amazing how creative you are, and how you make all this amazing food, and you make jewelry.

That's just, just goes to show the kind of incredible talent that there is at the farmers' market and how creative-- - Thank you.

I work very hard and put a lot of passion in it.

- Yeah, you do, a lot of passion.

Everything's very flavorful, and it feels like there's like a story and a history in everything that you prepare.

- Yeah, thank you.

- What's so amazing is that people think that if you want to create something international, if you want to cook an international recipe, that you're going to have to go and buy all these imported exotic ingredients.

But what you realize is that all of these places around the world that we consider exotic, they're all just using fresh local produce to produce their food.

That's what I was learning from Elena, was the various recipes that have come specifically from her family and how she's still following those same steps and practices but just using mushrooms that are grown right here instead of mushrooms that were grown in her local forest.

A lot of people say that my food is clean, that that's the flavor profile that they give it.

And I would've never used that myself, but now, I use it because I understand that the reason that it's so clean in flavor is because I use very few ingredients.

That's the principle that makes it clean.

But there's also the quality of those ingredients that stand up to the simplicity.

I don't need to put a whole lot of sauce on this or a whole lot of additive because the ingredients speak for themselves.

So it's very important that I source really, really well.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to follow through with that clean palette.

I just have always loved breakfast food.

I've always loved preparing breakfast.

I have really fond memories of waking up on the weekend, smelling the potatoes and the cast iron with the onions and then the ham, and then we would eat that with some jalapenos.

And I just have that, like that kind of sensory memory, and then it informs what I want to share with people, sharing that comforting, family, love, warm experience through the food.

My inspiration for the waffles was Belgium, and they do not have maple syrup there, and they never had a waffle with any syrup on it.

What we have is honey around here, and we have some really delicious honey.

It tastes amazing with the waffle, but the waffle doesn't need it.

The batter itself is made just like a really good cake, so it's actually just really good on its own.

And the ingredients are organic milk, pasture-raised eggs, organic butter, a little bit of sugar, and some baking powder, or baking soda, excuse me.

And then from there, it's the actual process.

So I found that folding the egg whites in was how you create a nice, I call it a lacy texture on the top of the waffle.

And the speed and the vigor that you use when you're mixing the wet into the dry is actually the real secret to how you make a fine batter or how you make dough.

I think the reason that I cook so simply is because I'm a simple cook.

I'm very humble about it.

I don't have like any chef's education, and I'm not particularly interested in making food only for presentation or only for the, what do you call it?

The flash.

We know there's industrial food and there's commercial food, and that's really boring to me.

So I definitely want to go for the food that's concentrated in flavor, and it's local.

It's full of minerals.

It's full of nutrients.

It's full of sunlight.

That's going to give it a lot of sweetness or tanginess or some quality that's just really like stands out in a dish.

It is the biggest compliment that I've ever gotten is it is so beautiful.

It doesn't matter what space it is.

It's always, this space is so beautiful.

This food is so beautiful.

And then I know that the elevated emotion that everybody's experiencing is beautiful.

I really would say that beauty and beautiful is the experience at The Naked Pig.

(speaks in foreign language) - [Narrator] Tasting unique flavors from across the world in our very own Bay Area is what makes this region vibrant and special.

Whether inspired by the food of our roots, or adapting family recipes to the bounty of ingredients we find right here, the impact of locally produced global flavors is clear from our empty plates at the end of a meal.

(upbeat music)