Playing With Food

A local cattlewoman is raising grass-fed beef, and she introduced the Playing With Food team to the picanha cut.

Olallieberries are unique to the cool, coastal fog areas of the West Coast. They have long been grown in Avila Valley and Cambria. But few actually know what they are. So, the Playing With Food Team went on a discovery mission.

Bao simply means “stuffed bun”. The pillowy white buns hold precious filling! They are super delicious, but they are a pain to make. So, Playing With Food went to SLO Public Market to learn the tricks of the trade.

Local farmers are giving school lunches a complete makeover thanks to a relatively new program of farm-to-school. Local farmers stop by to drop off freshly-picked, locally-grown fruits and vegetables, freshly-baked bread, kumquats and more!

Accomplished cookbook author for Williams-Sonoma and other publishers, Brigit Binns, lives right here on the Central Coast. After a career of writing recipes, she has now written a memoir of growing up in Hollywood as daughter of actor Ed Binns. Brigit invited the Playing With Food Team into her kitchen to cook, chat and eat, our favorite pastime.

First it was the pandemic in 2020 when supply chains were closed off. Then it was avian flu in 2022 when flocks were being destroyed. People bought chickens! The average American eats about 275 eggs each year. So, if they are in short supply or really expensive, someone with a decent backyard may want to build a hen house. Among those in the know, they are referred to as “backyard chickens”, but Playing With Food is focusing specifically on Urban Chickens…ones that live in the city where they might annoy neighbors or be involved in cock fights.

EVERYONE loves pasta! The Playing With Food Team met up with two Central Coast pasta makers: one commercial, and one in-house restaurant. And we made some delicious discoveries!

Olives are a delicious snack, and the come in so many varieties. But olives are inedible straight off the tree. But curing olives does not have to be that difficult, and Playing With Food learned how.

One would be forgiven for not thinking that Peruvian cuisine was popular on the Central Coast. But San Luis Obispo has TWO Peruvian Restaurants. And the next closest Peruvian Restaurant appears to be all the way in Thousand Oaks! The Playing With Food Team visited a small one-woman operation to explore Peruvian ingredients and flavors.

The craft cider movement on the Central Coast is producing cider where every barrel is unique in flavor and character. I just had to explore more, and I started in the orchard, and went all the way to bottle.