""I remember they weren't ready to let me have any cooking responsibilities at the restaurant, but there were full-time drivers who would drive to farms, and farmer's markets, to pick up the produce," Nosrat says, "and one of them was away for a while so I filled in, driving the big van with the chef's shopping lists to the temporary farmer's market where the Ferry Building now is.""
"Nosrat has now called the Bay Area home for the majority of her life. "I definitely have my own experience of nostalgia, because this city was the beginning of my interest in food," Nosrat says. "There's the pizza slice place that I love in North Beach, and the place I've been going to forever for buns in Chinatown, and I remember the beginning of that peak farm-to-table time, then the locavores.""
Samin Nosrat moved to the Bay Area in 1997 and developed a deep culinary connection through everyday eating and professional experience. College visits to Mission District burrito shops introduced essential local flavors. Work at Chez Panisse in Berkeley expanded her appreciation for farm-sourced produce and California cuisine, including hands-on experience driving to farms and farmers' markets to collect ingredients. The city's abundant produce influenced her culinary perspective and marked key moments across three decades. Longstanding neighborhood favorites such as a North Beach pizza slice and Chinatown bun shop anchor nostalgic memories. The pandemic disrupted restaurants, yet smaller establishments and new generational food practices continue to emerge.
Read at Conde Nast Traveler
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