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in the Half Moon Bay area, a mere 30 miles west of San Francisco, chefs were not alone in their anticipation of the fresh culinary jewels. Consumers were fervently buying them for roasting, braising and shaving into salads. In addition to their fondness of local mushrooms and California carrots, consumers seem to know their lettuce varieties, many of which are grown less than 100 miles away in the Watsonville and Salinas areas.
Chefs creating menus play up the region- ality of locally grown items, and their efforts to highlight fresh and local are often credited with enlightening consumers. On the growing side, the expanding business of ethnic markets in the Bay Area has placed demands on local farms with requests for specific crops. This is especially true regarding Asian vegetables such as bok choy, bitter melon, daikon, long beans and winter melon, which is typically stuffed and cooked.
The state’s fertile growing regions also include wine country, more specifically Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley. The region’s other famous valley that undoubtedly impacts everything is Silicon Valley. The technology industry seems to reign supreme as San Fran- cisco is recognized as the No. 1 tech city in the United States. The area’s lineup of top tech- nology companies includes LinkedIn, Airbnb, YouTube, Yahoo/a Verizon company, Facebook and Apple.
It’s interesting to consider what impact the tech-heavy world has on the produce supply and consumption in the greater Bay Area. Tech employees are recruited from around the world, which means while as consumers they might appreciate American cuisine their long work hours compel them to also seek the comfort flavors of their home regions. Flavor quest in the Bay Area is truly international.
Corporate cafes have been expanding the past 12 or so years thanks to technology companies and major corporations wanting to keep employees productive and focused, which also means well fed. Serving tech employees lunch in-house as a convenience or perk started innocuously, but the movement that keeps workers on campus or in the office building for 10 or more hours a day has ruffled feathers with some restaurants and municipalities not gaining the restaurant business.
For many produce wholesalers and distrib- utors, corporate cafes are solid customers providing consistent volume-based orders. The current shift to the chef-managed, free or subsi- dized lunch is morphing into more. “What’s happening now is corporate employees are being offered breakfast, lunch and dinner,”
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