If you're a foodie in Berkeley and you haven't been here yet...

... you're missing out! And no, it’s not Chez Panisse. Or Cheesboard.— co-posted with fellow foodie, Nancy Li (photos/captions)

Think back to your childhood memories and try to remember how you felt when you visited your favorite toy store. The sheer joy from being in the store is hard to forget and even harder to replace. Throughout my life, I have found several blissful spots that make me explode with joy — although I have yet to write about them, Yushan in Taiwan and my godmother’s dining room are two of a handful of these places. These powerful places that heighten almost all my senses are hard to find and to my surprise, and unexpectedly, I found one of those places last year in Berkeley, California. What was most surprising to me was that I suddenly felt overcome with joy and I wasn’t outside hiking a mountain or in the middle of a fantastic meal. No. I was in a supermarket. And I was ecstatic.

Entrance to Berkeley Bowl West in Berkeley, California

Greetings, foodie!

It’s hard to describe a Berkeley Bowl (West) experience in writing but we will give it our best shot. The back of the massive 54,700 sq. ft (5,000 sq. m) space feels like it offers a curated version of everything that grows in California’s Central Valley plus a variety of many other fruits and vegetables you’d find in farmer’s/street markets throughout the world. The produce section in the back splits into the organic and the non-organic section and has a fantastic bulk area with four rows of bins full of dry goods. The organic section is much more seasonal and the majority of the produce is actually affordable. Now that dark leafy greens are in season, I saw at least four varieties of kale, at least seven different kinds of organic mushrooms and a kind of lettuce I had never seen before, leopard lettuce. 

Organic glory!

The larger non-organic section could be a produce market just on its own and there is almost nothing they don’t have — my recent favorites are the bins full of shishito peppers, baskets full of Mexican guayabas/guavas, the bulk section where you can fill your own bags of baby kale, wild arugula, mizuna or the banana/plantain section where, even if my 6 ft 3 in husband were to stretch his arms out, he would still not be able to hug all the kinds of bananas and plantains offered. 

Them 'shrooms!

The bulk section, my go-to spot for granola-making, has three rows of floor to ceiling bins stocked with anything from organic coarse pink Himalayan salt and goji berries to roasted salted, roasted unsalted, raw, smoked, slivered or crushed almonds. I may or may not have spent one hour in this back area during several of my visits there. Time flies when you’re food shopping, I have proof!

I'm a sucker for value and spend a lot of time at the bulk section

The rest of the perimeter consists of a large and busy meats and seafood section where you can get their deli peppered bacon, massive cuts of pork shoulder or the wild caught, seasonal fish. There is also a huge L-shaped refrigerated dairy section that wraps around the south-eastern corner of the store. If it wasn’t so frigid, you may be able to spend more time thinking about which of their 20+ selection of egg dozens to get or which of the milks to try next: organic whole, organic whole cream top, Strauss in a glass container or in the larger plastic gallon? Decisions, decisions! 

Life without yogurt would be miserable! They've got St. Benoit further down the aisle (can't see it though!)

Across the store in the north perimeter you can go snag a free sample of the featured cheese and walk around the DJ-booth-like cheese section. You may go bananas if you’re a fan of zee goats; you’ll freeze in excitement about all of the opportunities — humboldt fog, raw goat milk cheddar, the truffle tremor, the cremont, the goat gouda or any of the other Cypress Grove ones. For me, if I visit the Bowl with a type of dish in mind, I’ll get stuck on various sections as I move down this little piece of cheese heaven. The other day it was all about the blue cheese; I was struggling to pick the right mix of blues for Smitten Kitchen's blue cheese and chive buttermilk biscuits I was planning on making. Mind you though, I’m not complaining. For those of you with a sweet tooth, there is a lovely selection of delicious desserts immediately adjacent to the cheeses and they feature a phenomenal Tiramisu according to my friend Nancy. 

A lady ate half the samples after this picture was taken -- goat cheese can have that effect on people

Knowing that the middle section is full of the more processed, packaged and high-margin goods, I tend to skip it. But from time to time I do get sucked in. You can find yourself spending way too much time picking the next mustard or three for your fridge door - how about a green peppercorn or a seeds and suds (beer) one? The same could happen in the spice section where you could buy at least six different brands of spices or over by the tofu racks where you can get organic firm tofu, organic non-GMO firm, non-organic silken or how about some teriyaki, BBQ or spicy baked tofu? I don’t know about you but this kind of decision-making is something I get really excited about.


I still don’t think I’ve done Berkeley Bowl justice. Hopefully the images below will help. But even better, next time you’re in the Bay Area and you’re in the East Bay (Berkeley/Oakland), make sure to pay a visit to one of the best food stores on earth. Fellow foodie adventurers, you won’t be disappointed.

Bulk meets organic

The milk rainbow at the Bowl

J'aime le fromage

Blueberries, anyone?

The spot for 'rug and other salad greens

It's hard to capture how huge the Bowl is, those apples are so far (behind he toddler)!

Great stop before camping trips

I don't have much of a sweet tooth but Nancy definitely recommends these

I hear this ox tail is one of the best in Town

Wall to wall meats

Delicious results after a day at the Bowl: Ox Tail Soup at Nancy's!

Why Colombo is a food (and shopping [gasp!]) heaven

Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka may not have the best reputation. We were told by many to just fly in and get the hell out as it was supposed to be a noisy, boring, "whatever" city. We considered this for a brief second but as soon as we arrived, we completely dismissed this advice.

King Coconut, the Best Coconut!

Colombo is a foodie paradise. We explored sections of city center brimming with street hawkers selling fresh king coconuts (Eliot's favorite), savory fried snacks and Sri Lankan chai.

The cafe at the Dutch Burgher Union serves mouth-watering lampreis, chicken, curried vegetables and beef croquettes baked in a wrapped banana leaf. Burghers are an ethnic group of mixed Sri Lankan/Dutch heritage dating back to colonial times (think Spice Islands).

They have their own micro-culture and sophisticated cuisine and their community is thriving in Colombo. Oh, and Drea discovered delicious cinnamon iced tea soda which she plans on bringing back to the U.S.!

Lampreis, a Colombo delicacy

From there we went on to explore the culinary delights available at an open farmer's market on a lake in the city. They do it every Thursday and we were lucky to have arrived on a Thursday morning. We had brown rice served with five amazing curries on a giant lotus leaf instead of a plate and devoured it in seconds. They had at least 30 different fresh fruit juices at the next stand so we got two and then made sure to try Sri Lankan hoppers: a crepe-esque snack with an egg on top with chili sambal.

Sambal is a delicious mixture of fresh red chili peppers and ground coconut meat and other spices that vary according to the chef. The feast that day ended with a delicious rooibos lemon iced tea and a homemade passionfruit yogurt made by a British/Sri Lankan couple.

The amazingly refreshing cinnamon iced tea soda

Our days continued with a lot of sampling and eating and we became big fans of kottu: a seriously loud dish of chopped up rotti, loads of veggies and usually egg and chicken all wrapped up in plastic and then newspaper.

Kottu dinner

Cutlery options are either a plastic spoon (for the foreigners) or your hands (local style).

In spite of its carb-heavy nature, kottu was delicious and we ate it almost every single night while in Sri Lanka -- Colombo's version was better than any other city we visited in the country.

To top it all off, we came right during mangosteen (the queen of fruit!) and rambutan season so we bought them by the kilo and snacked on fruit throughout the day. 

One of Sri Lanka's fashion houses

Colombo also turned out to be a fashion hub. In between meals and snacks, we'd usually go to various shops. Most of you will know how much we both hate shopping but we actually had a ton of fun exploring the textile markets. Local designers do wonders with hand loomed fabric and the results are extraordinary. Drea actually found her wedding dress and Eliot also picked up wedding attire plus very cheap custom-made clothing!

As far as capital cities are concerned, we usually opt to jet out as soon as is humanly possible. Colombo definitely broke that mold and turned into one of our favorite places. If you're headed to Sri Lanka any time soon, let us know and we'll hook you up with the most honest and nicest tuk tuk driver around so that you can savor and explore this cool city!

What do you think? Colombo: love it or hate it?
Co-posted on www.eliotpeper.com

Yucca snacks on the streets of Colombo

Mangosteen and rambutan season!

Coconut sambal (left) with string hoppers and dal (right) for breakfast