Anna Mindess

Family Flavors

East Bay farmers’ markets get plenty of (well-deserved) glory. But for generations, a handful of family businesses have been turning out fab fare right under our locavore noses.

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Global Groceries

In the busy aisles of the East Bay’s ethnic markets, adventurous home cooks rub shoulders with transplants from other lands doing their regular marketing. Local specialty stores provide pickled vegetables, Indian spices, masa harina, Scandinavian lutefisk, lumpia wrappers—and a window on the world.

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Sweet Surrender

This Valentine’s Day, a host of superb local chocolatiers offers scrumptious ways to say “I love you” without breaking the bank. Whether it’s creamy truffles, exotic bars, avant-garde bonbons spiked with tequila, or perhaps an edible Venus of Willendorf you’re after, an East Bay confectioner is standing by to fill the bill.

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Faces of the East Bay

In the Philanthropic Swim

In the Philanthropic Swim

Rockridge residents John Bliss and Kim Thompson may live far removed the gritty flats of East and West Oakland. But this philanthropic couple see themselves as one with the citizens of Oakland, particularly those who are struggling financially, and they’re leading a campaign to get their “financially blessed” peers to invest in the community like they have by funding city programs to teach kids how to swim.