Looking for something to do this weekend? How about a trip to Gilroy for some garlic rosemary chicken sandwiches or garlic lumpia, with garlic ice cream for dessert?

You got it. The Gilroy Garlic Festival is running its 35th celebration this Friday through Sunday. We all know the charming smell of garlic browning on a skillet, the vital role of minced garlic in a brine for chicken and how that creamy roasted garlic can liven up a margherita pizza. There’ll be no shortage of lip-smacking savory dishes with garlic at the festival. Besides, there are garlic desserts. Not something you can get every day.

What’s even more special about this year’s festival, to us Cal-ers at least, is the garlic-infused cream puff and garlic almond brittle from two of our very own Cal Dining executive chefs, Ida Shen and Mary Ferrer. Imagine a baked choux pastry filled with a creamy blend of ricotta, orange zest, whipped cream, sugar and grated garlic. It most definitely will not be too sweet or too strong — it’s just screaming awesomeness. They are entering a competition on Friday, and if they win, they will make their recipe public. In the mean time, cheer them on while nibbling some garlicky finger foods.

Check out the booths that will be at this year’s festival. Tickets with 20 percent discounts are available to the entire UC Berkeley community on the Garlic Festival ticket website (promo code “Bears”). And really, what’s a better way to wind down after your exams than taking a drive south in this beautiful weather and eating a load of good food?

Image source: Allan Chatto under Creative Commons

Contact Mai Truong at mtruong@dailycal.org

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Cal Alumni Association/Courtesy

Attention, soon-to-be-graduates! The semester is quickly coming to an end, and what better way to wrap up your college experience than with a handful of tacos and some tequila?

That’s right, folks, the Cal Alumni Association is hosting a pre-Cinco de Mayo gathering for young alumni and graduating seniors, and there will be margaritas. They’re calling it “The Last Grrr-rah,” but don’t let the corny name fool you — the food should be genuinely delicious. The event will feature Taqueria Sinaloa, whose signature truck will be parked at the Alumni House to serve attendees a myriad of tacos, including chicken, carne asada, carnitas and vegetarian.

Taqueria Sinaloa is normally located in Oakland, so you’ll save yourself BART fare and a long walk by taking advantage of the truck’s convenient location in our own backyard, so to speak. The cost of attending is $10 ($13 for young alums) and includes one margarita and five tasty tacos. No word yet about who’ll be tending bar, but those who wish to imbibe will need their IDs handy.

Stay hungry, Golden Bears!

The Last Grr-rah will be held at the Alumni House patio on Saturday, May 4, from 8 p.m. until 11 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online until Thursday, May 2 at 11:59 p.m.

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Michael Tao/File

Locals and Bay Area eaters are all well aware that Berkeley is a foodie mecca, but one website is taking its praise for the city one step further — best foodie city on the West Coast.

Livability, a website that determines “America’s best places to live and visit,” recently published its top 10 foodie cities, and the only West Coast city to make the list was Berkeley, which came in fourth place.

The entry on Berkeley cites its “European-style marketplaces, boutique restaurants and artisan food shops” and heralds it — and Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse, of course — as the birthplace of the “California Cuisine” movement in the 1970s.

However, instead of segueing into the secondary Gourmet Ghetto that is Fourth Street, Livability zeroes in on the offerings down Shattuck Avenue, praising Angeline’s Louisiana Kitchen, La Note and Bistro Liaison for breaking the “healthily sophisticated” mold.

Read the entire top 10 list below:

1. Decatur, Ga.
2. Hoboken, N.J.
3. Bloomington, Ind.
4. Berkeley, Calif.
5. Madison, Wis.
6. Lafayette, La.
7. Chapel Hill, N.C.
8. Santa Fe, N.M.
9. Alexandria, Va.
10. Burlington, Vt.

Christopher Yee is the editor of Eating Berkeley. Contact him at cyee@dailycal.org.

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UC Berkeley/Courtesy

Students and members of the public gathered on the UC Berkeley campus on March 13 to learn about how the world’s food supply will have to change to be able to support the 9 billion people projected to populate the planet in 2050.

Former U.S. representative Douglas Bereuter gave the campus’s annual Matsui Lecture, titled “Can the World Feed 9 Billion People,” to an overflow audience. Bereuter, who represented his district in Nebraska from 1978 to 2004 before becoming the president and CEO of the Asia Foundation, began his talk with what he believed were the most pressing issues regarding global food security, including access problems, climate change and the volatility of prices.

“To succeed (in feeding the world), this needs to be a concerted global effort,” Bereuter said. “More must be expected of (Brazil, Russia, India and China). China should be asked to do more on cooperative basis, India must begin to address its own domestic problems out of sense of national (pride) and the U.S. must focus on areas it has comparative advantage.”

His suggestions for what should be done included a national authorization bill, a focus on universities, incentivizing businesses, helping women farmers, focusing on sustainable farming methods and removing trade barriers.

“In any international effort made by the United States to develop food security, we should emphasize comparative expertise role-agricultural science,” said Bereuter of American universities. “We need to reverse public funding educational exchanges in a broad array of fields that were once more advanced. Land-grant institutions needs to rebuild relationships around world (that) they’ve been neglected.”

In the audience was an economics class from Berkeley High School. The class’s teacher, Matt Meyers, was notified of the event by the Robert T. Matsui Center for Public Service and thought it was relevant to his class’s discussion on international development.

“We’re doing a unit on international development and talking about these issues, such as subsidies and what poverty looks like, so I thought coming here would make it more relatable,” said Meyers, who did not make the event mandatory but had more than 15 students attend. “I found myself agreeing with more than I thought I would, and I appreciated that his talk was less political and more ethically focused.”

One of Meyers’ students posed a question to the Bereuter regarding his position on what role genetically modified organisms had to play in feeding the planet.

“I’ve battled the (European Union) parliament on this,” Bereuter said. “GMOs are important to raising food production in the world.”

Another member of the audience pointed out that the projection that the world’s population would be 9 billion by 2050 relied on current fertility rates falling and that world leaders should plan to feed a larger number of people. Bereuter replied that he did not think the projection was Malthusian but that it was perhaps too low and could be reasonably be expected to be higher.

David Kaufman, an undergraduate who works for the campus Institute of Governmental Studies, the event’s host organization, found the event to be better than previous years’ Matsui lectures.

“It was a terrific talk on an important topic that presents challenges for the world,” Kaufman said. “It was a great, diverse turnout that spilled out into the standing room. We’ve never done that before.”

Professor David Zilberman, chair of the campus department of agriculture and resource economics, attended the lecture and commended Bereuter for discussing the need to incentivize the private sector to establish infrastructure to help feed more people in sub-Saharan Africa. He noted that while Bereuter was right in advocating in support for small-holder and subsistence farming efforts, more would need to be done to create “economically viable” farms that would bring farmers larger incomes.

Zilberman also stated the barriers to trade and subsidies to farmers that have been prevalent in the United States and which Bereuter called “a fundamental impediment for world’s developing countries” were oftentimes responses to similar Chinese and European policies. Bereuter mentioned that for the first time in several years, he has been hearing that Congress will consider farm-subsidy reform.

The Matsui Lecture is named after UC Berkeley alumnus Robert Matsui, who represented Sacramento in Congress for 26 years. Each year, the program brings a former member of Congress to campus for a one-week residency.

Contact Levon Minassian at lminassian@dailycal.org.

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Michael Drummond/Staff

The California State Legislature is currently considering the passage of legislation that would require state institutions to purchase food grown or produced in the state before buying products from out-of-state or other countries.

If passed, Assembly Bill 199, the “Choose California” bill, would mandate that state institutions purchase foods from California farms so long as their prices are not more than 5 percent more expensive than identical items from outside the state.

Public schools would be exempt from this 5 percent threshold and would only be required to purchase from in-state producers if competing out-of-state products cost the same amount or were less expensive, according to Noelle Cremers, director of natural resources and commodities at the California Farm Bureau Federation.

The bureau, a nonprofit nongovernmental organization made up of 53 county farm bureaus whose stated purpose is to protect and promote the state’s agricultural interests, supports the legislation.

“(The bill) would help promote California-grown agricultural products,” Cremers said. “The state should play a leadership role in supporting our farmers and showing the importance of purchasing homegrown products to its citizens.”

AB 199 was introduced in late January by Assemblymember Chris Holden, D-Pasadena. The bill will soon be heard in the state Assembly’s Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review as well as the Committee on Agriculture, said Wendy Gordon, Holden’s press secretary, in an email.

“Fresh, locally-sourced produce and products are always a plus for public institutions such as state hospitals, prisons, and other state-run organizations,” Gordon said in the email. “We are optimistic the lawmakers and governor will see the value in this bill — not only to farmers but also those who will be eating fresher, locally sourced foods.”

The bill’s potential impact on the state budget is still unknown, as is whether it will benefit large farms or smaller ones and whether it will affect the amount of conventional produce grown in the state in comparison to organic crops. Cremers said she does not think the bill would change the current balance between organic and conventional products.

The UC Office of the President has yet to review the bill to take a position on it, according to spokesperson Brooke Converse. In 2008, Cal Dining worked with Buy Fresh, Buy Local, an initiative of the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, to pledge that the campus food service will purchase a minimum of 10 percent of its food products from local sources. Cal Dining is currently purchasing 60 percent of its produce from within a 16-county radius of campus, according to its website.

Schools in the Berkeley Unified School District would not be affected by the bill’s passage because the district does not purchase from out-of-state, according to district spokesperson Mark Coplan. Berkeley’s geographic location allowed it to more easily adopt a local foods model compared to other districts throughout the state, he said.

Coplan noted that 30 percent of the food in the schools is organic and comes from within 50 miles.

“It’s something that the Legislature needs to help school districts achieve,” Coplan said. “It’s something everyone needs to do, and it’s something that schools need help funding.”

A similar bill was passed by the state Legislature 2001 but was vetoed by governor Gray Davis, and a 2010 effort ended shortly after the bill was introduced in the state Assembly Committee on Appropriations.

Levon Minassian covers food news. Contact him at lminassian@dailycal.org.

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Christopher Yee/Senior Staff

Did you know SPAM is short for “spiced ham”?

Shockingly, most people don’t know the origin of this American food staple. If simply reading the word SPAM has not yet triggered your gag reflex, read on for some fascinating facts.

The first canned ham was developed by George A. Hormel & Company, now known as the Hormel Foods Corporation, in 1926. However, after the hams were carefully trimmed to can size, the company was left with thousands of pounds of worthless pork shoulder. Thus “Hormel Spiced Ham” was born — a mash-up of the leftovers from canned ham. Spiced Ham wasn’t found to be a popular name, so the company held a contest at a New Year’s Eve party to create an enticing name for the product for a $100 prize. The winning name was, of course, SPAM, thought up by Kenneth Daigneau, an actor and the brother of a Hormel vice president, Ralph Daigneau.

Although SPAM was once a staple for feeding hungry troops in the U.S. Army, it is now highlighted in a multitude of culinary creations across a multitude of cultures (99.7 percent of which are Asian). You may have seen it it deliciously fried in scrambled eggs, in SPAM musubi (commonly known as SPAM sushi), SPAM fried rice, microwaved until crisp then used to garnish salads and, of course, raw and cut into hearts, stars and other cute shapes.

Celebrity chefs have highlighted the mystery meat in high-class dishes such as carbonara, escabeche and stroganoff. It has even been featured on television cooking shows such as Iron Chef and Top Chef. What started as a humble, filling meal has evolved into quite the culinary phenomenon. SPAM has even rolled out a delicious spread of savory SPAM-based products. Next time you’re at the grocery store, be sure to try all the flavors — both traditional and, shall we say, exotic — to suit every consumer’s individual needs.

• SPAM® Classic (for the traditionalists)
• SPAM® Low-Sodium (commonly used to treat high blood pressure)
• SPAM® Lite (SPAM Classic  may be delicious, but it doesn’t help your waistline)
• SPAM® Hot and Spicy (no Sriracha needed)
• SPAM® spread (to spread on SPAM sandwiches for that extra burst of SPAM)
• SPAM® singles (perfectly convenient portions for when SPAM cravings hit you in the middle of class)
• SPAM® singles lite (portion control AND low-cal … practically a diet food)
• SPAM® Hickory Smoke Flavor (for those of us too lazy to light up the grill)
• SPAM® with bacon (really utilizing all parts of the pig)
• SPAM® with cheese (hopefully meltable … wishful thinking?
• SPAM® oven-roasted turkey (evidently Hormel has engineered miniature turkeys that are the shape of a 2”x3”x4” can)
• SPAM® Meal – Sausage Jambalaya (a Southern “SPAMbalaya ™ “complete with SPAMbalasauge ™”)
• SPAM® Meal – Penne Pasta in Alfredo Sauce (rivals Gypsy’s Italian Trattoria’s Crazy Alfredo)

So, whether you’re digging into the can at 2 a.m. with a spoon or creating a culinary masterpiece to impress a hot date, you should feel confident now that you know a bit more about SPAM. Who knew this cube of pink, deconstructed pig could be so versatile?

Contact Erika Chan at echan@dailycal.org.

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Like its competitors, IfOnly offers their users unique opportunities rather than tangible gifts; their philosophy centers on forging a connection between the enthusiastic everyman and prominent figures in the world of fine dining, an exciting prospect for those with culinary heroes.

Of particular interest to East Bay locals, one of the site’s most interesting offers is a $10,000 farmer’s market excursion with Berkeley’s own Alice Waters, during which you’ll learn about seasonality and local produce, and then gush over your recent finds while enjoying lunch at Chez Panisse Café.

Of course, if $10K is feeling a touch too steep for you, there are alternatives. Perhaps a behind-the-scenes-look at Corey Lee’s Benu in San Francisco is more to your liking. The day-long apprenticeship followed by an exclusive tasting menu dinner with wine pairings will run you $2,000.

Now, the prices for these memorable experiences range from entirely reasonable ($65 for a six-course tasting menu at Local Mission Eatery in San Francisco) up into five-figure sums, so be prepared for some sticker shock. Conceptually, these adventurous eats are an exciting new development for food fanatics who’ve been wanting to narrow the gap between casual cooks and the culinary elite. So don’t be afraid to roll up your sleeves and dive in.

Contact Jillian Wertheim at jwertheim@dailycal.org.

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Christopher Yee/Staff

Originally published in The Daily Californian’s news section on November 5, 2012.

With national, state and local elections fast approaching, UC Berkeley faculty members and local activists gathered on campus Oct. 24 to discuss genetically modified foods in relation to Proposition 37, which would require foods containing genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, to be labeled.

One topic of discussion was the campus’s involvement with GMO research, which has been a subject of controversy among faculty and researchers.

For more than 30 years, the campus has been at the forefront of GMO research and development. Many faculty members have been divided between work to bring genetically modified products to the marketplace and attempts to challenge their dispersal in the environment.

Research origins
The foundations for genetically modified foods began in the 1950s when scientists discovered that genes could be moved between organisms, said agricultural and resource economics professor David Zilberman. Medical genetic engineering soon took off and was applied to agriculture in the1980s.

That’s when UC Berkeley realigned several of its departments and changed some research focus to place a stronger emphasis on studying GMOs, according to Zilberman, who began teaching on campus in 1979.

Zilberman noted that the department of plant and microbial biology developed a stronger emphasis on genetic modification at that time. He attributed much of these changes to Daniel Koshland, the chair of the biochemistry department at the time, who split the department into molecular and cell biology, integrative biology and plant and microbial biology. Zilberman said that Koshland wanted to “emphasize new techniques in science that can be used to produce new materials.”

A 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowed for the patenting of GMOs, according to environmental science, policy and management professor Ignacio Chapela. Chapela said patenting added monetary incentive for university professors to study the topic.

Ice-minus
In 1987, the ice-minus bacteria became the first genetically modified organism released into the environment, and it laid a blueprint for future research in the field. Plant and microbial biology professor Steven Lindow worked on the project, which took place in Tule Lake, Calif., and was the first study of GMOs to take place outside of a lab.

“Through our studies, we were able to identify bacteria of normal freezing damage, and we made mutants of (the bacteria),” Lindow said. “We made specific mutants useful for controlling frost damage, which prevented freezing injury in colonized plants.”

Lindow said that by being able to identify bacteria of normal freezing damage, they were able to make mutants of it used for controlling frost damage. This was done in an attempt to prevent injury to colonized plants.

The goal of the project was to prevent frostbite on strawberries, and the project was never commercialized.  Lindow said the University of California has been central in breakthroughs in genetic modification over the years through work in areas like human growth hormone.

“We do fundamental research,” said Lindow, who also worked for Advanced Genetic Sciences Inc., the first agricultural biogenetics company. “Occasionally, it has application to real world, and then some company or organization takes it to (the market).”

Flavr Savr tomatoes
The first GMO food sold on the market was known as the “Flavr Savr tomato,” which was produced by professors from UC Berkeley and UC Davis with the intention of making tomatoes last longer. The research from the campuses was used by a company named Calgene, which was later acquired by agriculture giant Monsanto.

The intention of the product was to increase the shelf life of tomatoes, and its cans of tomato paste were clearly labeled “Genetically Engineered” and sold to European markets. Zilberman said the product “was not a commercial success” due to unwarranted stigma consumers associated with GMO foods.

“(Flavr Savr’s failure) is relevant if people want to understand why (opponents of Prop. 37) are spending more than $30 million to defeat the measure,” Chapela said. “From the very beginning when GMOs were commercialized, they learned that if consumers were given information on it, they wouldn’t buy it if they had a choice.”

Bt cotton
Also borne of GMO research from Berkeley and Davis was Bt cotton, which was “engineered to resist insect damage and soybeans genetically modified to withstand spraying with Roundup herbicide,” said plant and microbial biology professor Peggy Lemaux.

Zilberman said the GMO was dispersed widely by Monsanto once it was approved for use and is still in use. He has argued in his work that the gene has had environmental benefits by reducing soil tillage and pesticide use in the fields.

Novartis deal
In 1998, UC Berkeley and biogenetics company Novartis, now known as Syngenta, agreed to a controversial deal that brought the campus $25 million. Novartis originally sought to give the campus $50 million in what was called a strategic alliance, but after a drawn-out debate between faculty, staff and community members, the company agreed to send only half of the amount to the department of plant and microbial biology.

“I had firsthand experience to see students encouraged to do research for the industry and only for the industry,” Chapela said.

Lemaux disputed this charge, arguing that the basic research that can contribute to GMO work is not the same as corporate research.

“The regulatory costs of introducing an engineered crop into the commercial market would be beyond the financial means of an academic researcher,” Lemaux said.

BP deal
The next major source of funding for campus GMO research came in 2007 when British Petroleum selected UC Berkeley, in partnership with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to lead a $500 million research effort to find new sources of energy and lessen the environmental impact of energy consumption.

“The story of (GMOs being) released into the environment is intimately linked to the transfer of the university from a public university, where we do research publicly and for the common good, to a university where commercial influence is more and more important,” said Chapela, who opposed the deal and stepped down as the faculty representative for the campus College of Natural Resources.

Campus spokesperson Robert Sanders said the BP deal, which funded the Energy Biosciences Institute and its work on ethanol production, did not alter faculty research incentives. He added that the money has been used to benefit the public through research on ways to mitigate global warming.

“(Berkeley researchers) found some interesting scientific questions in producing biofuels, so they extended the research to it,” Sanders said. “They wouldn’t be bothering if their research didn’t provide the benefit of producing alternatives to fossil fuels.”

Where we are now
Currently, UC Berkeley is at the forefront of the world’s research of “genetically modified,” according to Zilberman, which he said contributes to the department of plant and microbial biology’s high worldwide rank.

Lindow said there is “incontrovertible evidence” that research done on campus has shown GMOs to be safe and that measures should be taken to make it easier for new genetically modified crops to come to the marketplace in addition to the already widespread application of GMO soy, corn, cotton and canola.

However, agroecology professor Miguel Altieri said most campus GMO research does little to improve the agricultural system to feed more people and instead focuses on ethanol production.

“In addition to feeding cars rather than people (25 gallons of ethanol require the amount of corn necessary to feed 1 person per year), there are many social and economic problems linked to devoting large areas of land … to input dependent (lots of fertilizers and herbicides) monocultures,” Altieri said in an email.

Sanders said current biofuel research being done by the Energy Biosciences Institute and the Joint BioEnergy Institute, a research center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, is being used to break down sugars of nonfood plants like grasses to make it easier turn them into ethanol.

He maintained that campus work on biofuels is “a perfect way for reducing greenhouse gasses” and will continue to be the focus of research as opposed to agriculture in what he claims has been the tradition on campus over the years.

Contact Levon Minassian at lminassian@dailycal.org.

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