San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Food incubator takes on role of annual food sponsor
The annual food sponsor for the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition will be La Cocina, a nonprofit with a mission to cultivate working class food entrepreneurs as they formalize and grow their businesses.
La Cocina was born out of a belief that a community of talented natural entrepreneurs, given the right resources, can create self-sufficient businesses that benefit themselves, their families, their community and the whole city. The food that has come out of the nonprofit’s kitchen since 2005 reflects that aspiration and quite simply tastes amazing.
La Cocina supports businesses by providing an affordable commercial kitchen space, industryspecific technical assistance and access to market opportunities. It focuses primarily on providing resources to women from communities of color and immigrant communities. La Cocina’s vision is that entrepreneurs gain financial security by doing what they love to do, creating an innovative, vibrant and inclusive economic landscape.
Several of the La Cocina’s businesses will participate in the public tasting:
ORIGEN
Origen (pronounced oh-reehen, meaning “origin” in Spanish) was inspired by chef and owner Rosa Martinez’s childhood in a small town in Oaxaca. As a young girl, Martinez would cook and sell tamales in the town square with her mother. The experience left her with a love for cooking her mother’s recipes.
Since moving to the U.S,, Martinez has been on a nearly 30-year mission to share Oaxacan food and culture through her hearty moles, tamales, enchiladas,and more. In 2016, she decided to launch Origen and showcase Oaxacan flavors through events, catering and a restaurant she plans to open in the Bay Area.
Origen was born out of her belief that Oaxacan cuisine in the Bay Area is underrepresented, and her appreciation for tradition, family and quality gives her cooking
that special sazón.
MI MORENA
Guadalupe Moreno was born and raised in Mexico City, where the taco is a lifestyle, and no ones lives a better life than the ones eating tacos de guisados.
Guisados are the stews and simmered braises at the heart of Mexico City’s cuisine, and a proper guisado spot offers you a range of incomparable flavors, all on homemade tortillas. Mi Morena brings those flavors to life in the Bay Area; currently in Moreno’s mobile food truck around town, and in 2019 at La Cocina’s Municipal Marketplace.
AEDAN FOODS
In 2011, after the devastating Tsunami struck Japan, founder Mariko Grady sold her natural fermented products to friends to raise money for the Japanese victims. The popularity of Grady’s delicious fermented foods spread quickly by word-of-mouth in Japanese mother’s and friends community.
After raising money, Grady started to write Aedan’s weekly newsletters to share fermented foods and her wisdom on leading a happy healthy life.
In May 2012, Grady joined the incubator kitchen program at La Cocina in San Francisco and since then, she has worked to develop her Aedan fermented food product line.
Aedan brings Japanese fermented foods that are essential to flavor and health of every traditional Japanese meal to your table. The team handcrafts these foods in small batches, bringing the foundation needed to craft fresh, healthful meals.
PASS THE SAUCED
Karla Rosales-Barrios is a San Francisco native with Nicaraguan roots raised in a working-class, culturally mixed neighborhood miles from San Francisco‘s Latino barrio, La Mission. She proudly claims it’s where her consciousness and inclusive worldview was born.
Rosales-Barrios learned to blend in as her family’s Central American roots often clashed culturally both with non-Latinos and within the predominant Mexican and Chicano population in the bay.
Naturally curious and always hungry for deeper connections, Rosales-Barrios learned to recognize and navigate both the differences and similarities surrounding her.
Annual summer trips to visit her abuelitos in Nicaragua with the traditional stopover in Mexico City grew her appreciation for Mexican culture, its people and traditions.
These early experiences deepened the value of sharing and connecting with others over food. Pass The Sauced salsas celebrate and reflect those values; RosalesBarrios invites you to experience, share and cook with her Saucy Local Goods.
THE UNCREAMERY
The Uncreamery is San Francisco’s first vegan creamery. Its goal is to provide the entire cheese experience for those who chose a dairy-free and vegan lifestyle, as well as for those who can’t eat dairy due to allergies and other health concerns. It all starts with freshly made cashew or almond milk that is flavored and transformed into creamy and crave-worthy cheese analogs that can rival their dairy counterparts.
The current product line consists of four flavors: Classic Brie, Truffle Brie, Smoked Gouda and Ghost Pepper Jack. Fine vegan charcuterie, as well as gourmet, limited edition and seasonal flavors, are also available.
The creamery loves to collaborate with local stores and restaurants in order to make dairy-free and vegan options easily available. It believes that it is easier to make the switch, be that for animals, for the planet or for health reasons, if one doesn’t have to sacrifice familiar taste and texture. The Uncreamery’s vegan cheeses allow the cooks to recreate traditional dishes with ease, as they shred, slice and melt in a similar manner to dairy cheeses.