California Foodways

For more than ten years, I’ve been traveling all over California, reporting stories about food and farming from every county. Now, for the 58th and very last story in the series, I went back to where I grew up — Santa Clara County, to a special-occasion restaurant from my childhood: Chef Chu’s.When the restaurant opened in 1970, it was a small family business, and the area around it was a relatively sleepy suburb. Now, it’s a Silicon Valley institution — but they don’t deliver, and there’s no online ordering.

On a corner in Richmond, California, there’s a business that has celebrated the city’s Black history and Southern roots for 30 years: CJ's BBQ & Fish. Born and raised in Richmond, with a family that came from Arkansas to work in the shipyards, Charles Evans is at the center of it all.

Californians have made whiskey since the Gold Rush. Craft bourbon has been taking off in the last couple decades -- with as many as 150 distilleries in the state. I stumbled upon a distillery’s new home in the North Bay that’s producing whiskey at a location where people used to make something really different: massive objects that changed the course of world events.

When most of California is asleep, a few square blocks on the edge of Oakland’s Jack London Square come alive with people, produce and machinery. It’s the Oakland Produce Market, and it’s been supplying grocers and restaurants for more than 100 years, despite fears that it might not survive.

Grange halls have been around for more than 150 years — the Grange began as a fraternal organization for farmers. Even though farming — and Grange membership — are down to a fraction of what they were decades ago, many rural towns still rely on Grange halls as community centers. In the Anderson Valley, many people credit this place for bringing together groups of people that were once really divided.

During the holy month of Ramadan, while fasting is important, so is food. And during Ramadan, all across the state, markets are central. Not only do they supply the ingredients for the holiday, they also connect people from all ethnicities who follow Islam.One such place is Besan’s International Market in San Bruno, right under the flight path of San Francisco International Airport. It’s essentially three businesses in one: a Halal butcher in the back, a kitchen for take-out and catering and a market that carries Arab, Middle Eastern and South Asian goods, from staples to snacks.

A lot of California kids learn about the transcontinental railroad in 4th grade, about the "Big Four" tycoons, and the mostly Chinese laborers who laid track through the rugged Sierra Nevada. But some of this history can get overlooked, like how the railroad – and its connection to food – shaped much of California’s story.

There's a town in the Owens Valley, in the Eastern Sierra, called Independence. Population: 600. It's home to a destination restaurant, the Still Life Cafe. It's been a local favorite for nearly 30 years, and hikers heading down Mt. Whitney or skiers on their way to Mammoth tell their friends about the French Bistro and North African dishes they can look forward to.

Cheese wasn’t part of Soyoung Scanlan's early life, growing up in South Korea. Now, she's one of California's most celebrated cheese makers. Part of her inspiration? Classical music. Every cheese Soyoung has made for 25 years has a musical name and connection.

Hundreds of miles from the ocean, divers don wetsuits, helmets, communication lines, and four air supply systems, and submerge into the Sacramento River. They're here to do annual maintenance at an irrigation pump. Picture contractors and construction workers, just under water. Anywhere there are lakes and rivers, anywhere we've manipulated water, like dams and canals, commercial divers work on the infrastructure -- cleaning, maintaining, building, repairing. In this story we meet the team behind Big Valley Divers, and learn how guys who grew up in the Sacramento Valley end up spending their days under water, keeping water flowing into farmland.