Rachel Trachten

The Conscious Kitchen serves up healthier,
tastier meals for West Contra Costa students
By Rachel Trachten | Photos by Carmen Silva
In the cafeteria at Madera Elementary School, a long line of chatty kids winds its way to a surprisingly elegant serving table. The usual microwaved lunches are nowhere in sight. Instead, the children get freshly cooked burgers or veggie burgers with whole-wheat buns, roasted squash, crisp lettuce, and juicy tangerines. Chefs and parent volunteers wearing white a...

Two Oakland entrepreneurs share business

savvy and advice as they walk the lake

By Rachel Trachten | Photos by Robin Jolin

Oakland business owners Cassandra Gates and Elizabeth Vecchiarelli make a habit of circling Lake Merritt together to brainstorm and offer each other morale boosts. “I’ll talk for the first 30 minutes, and she’ll talk for the second 30 minutes,” says Broth Baby founder Gates, explaining the routine she’s developed with her friend, the owner of Preserved. “[We’ll talk] abou...

“How would you get more people who aren’t eating butter to eat butter?”

Sixty-five UC Berkeley grad students puzzled over this light-hearted question as they vied for just 25 slots in the public health innovations course Eat.Think.Design. Course instructor Jaspal Sandhu likens this class audition to putting together a team or theatrical production and finding “a cohort that will work together in interesting ways.” Butter Day also gave students a taste of design thinking as they brainstormed various angles on butter consumption, including the recent McDonald’s dec...

Roots of Empathy brings babies into the classroom for lessons in social- emotional learning. By Rachel Trachten. Share on facebookShare on twitter Share on ......

Jewish Food Pros Gather at Urban Adamah
By Rachel Trachten | Photos by Lydia Daniller
I’m here at Berkeley farm Urban Adamah, watching a cluster of fellow visitors making what appear to be mudballs, patting them into shape, then dropping them onto the ground. Nearby, another group is plunging their hands into bowls of sliced cabbage, enthusiastically mixing the vegetable with salt.
These curious crafters are members of the Illuminoshi, a collection of Jewish food professionals—chefs, business...

Joel Devalcourt had been trying to perfect his chili sauce recipe when serendipity led him to a bottle of nut oil. More specifically, it was some La Tourangelle walnut oil that Joel and his wife Yvette found in the pantry of a Berkeley home where they were house sitting. A Santa Cruz native with French-via-Louisiana heritage, Joel is a passionate home cook. And even though his father hails from the home of Tabasco (New Iberia, Louisiana), Joel was on a personal quest to make a chili sauce wit...

Juiced for Food Justice
Organic smoothies and community spirit flow at Super Juiced
by Rachel Trachten | photos by Carmen Silva
Emanne Desouky and her partner Rana Halpern share deep roots in community organizing and a strong commitment to a healthy lifestyle. When they couldn’t find an organic juice bar in Oakland, they started one, first holding a series of pop-ups, and then opening a brick-and-mortar shop in the courtyard of Swan’s Market.
Most days, a steady stream of locals stop in at Su...

Community Jam | Edible East Bay

At Camp in the Kitchen Spring 2016 | Edible East Bay

Menu of Opportunity | Edible East B...

Alameda Point Collaborative | Edible East Bay

Nurturing Young Lives at Tender Greens | Edible East Bay

Food Shift and Lean Path | Edible East Bay

Feb 15, 2014 ... by Rachel Trachten • Photos by Nicki Rosario. Holts is the mastermind behind Cowrie Village, which includes the Rootical Gathering, Gather &....

Berkeley Ecology Center's Big Win | Edible East Bay...