Food at the Gathering
We were thrilled to have such a special menu for last year’s Gathering, celebrating small-scale producers, chefs, and food business owners from across our region!
Breakfast
Christina Ng
Breakfast, and Lunch Menu Design | Christina Ng is a personal chef and food educator rooted in supporting local farms and California growers at every meal served. She says, “Thoughtful sourcing is the foundation of my cooking style, allowing for a wonderful palette of ever changing ingredients as each season passes. I’m a firm believer in supporting local growers and purveyors and integrating ingredients raised ethically and humanely.”
Specialty Produce
Breakfast - Produce | Specialty Produce is a family-owned and operated produce and grocery supplier located in San Diego. A provider for more than thirty years, Specialty Produce has been recognized as a gem of San Diego County’s culinary landscape. Specialty’s Farmers’ Market Cooler features locally-sourced seasonal fruits and vegetables from over 50 farms annually, and their Fruit and Vegetable Museum features a wide variety of produce the Specialty team has researched while exploring markets around the world.
Café X: By Any Beans Necessary
Coffee & Drinks | Café X: By Any Beans Necessary is a Black-owned, mother-daughter owned, cooperative coffee shop built to support generational wealth building in the Black community and other marginalized communities.
Co-founders and mother-daughter duo Cynthia Ajani and Khea Pollard say, “Our goal is to use coffee as a tool to bring together people of all backgrounds to solve complex issues in our communities. We were inspired by the transformative life and legacy of Malcolm X, knowing that the Black community in particular needed to self-determine and build assets to pass down for generations.”
Menu Highlights: Coffee, Assam black tea, Wildberry Tea Lemonade
lunch
chef eric ybarra, california center for the arts
Lunch | Thanks to Executive Chef Eric and his team at the California Center for the Arts for working with us to create a delicious menu, using ingredients sourced from our partners and local producers, listed below!
Foodshed Small Farm Distro
Lunch - Produce | Foodshed is 100% farmer-owned and operated, and works directly with farmers, eaters, and entrepreneurs to cultivate an equitable food system in San Diego while addressing the challenges posed by the climate crisis. Founded in March 2020, Foodshed increases access to healthy food, addresses food insecurity in low-income communities, and empowers small farms to produce quality harvests.
To bring healthy, nutritious, and affordable produce to local families, Foodshed connects its network of small and urban regenerative farms directly to communities that need it most.
Tunaville
Lunch - Rock Cod | Tunaville delivers local and sustainable seafood direct from San Diego County’s local fishermen. Founder Tommy Gomes, aka Tommy the Fishmonger, is one of San Diego’s most beloved food personalities and an outspoken champion of local seafood, responsible fishing practices, and using every part of the fish.
Tommy says, “We are a group of current and retired commercial fishermen owning and operating a seafood market in San Diego. Our goal is to bring to you and your family the freshest in local seafood. Enjoy!”
Pan y Paz Collective
Lunch - Dessert | Pan y Paz is a collective of woman-owned, home-based baker businesses elevating the well-being of their local communities by providing quality products, sharing knowledge, and strengthening female entrepreneurial leadership. The first woman-owned baker’s cooperative in San Diego, Pan y Paz is working with two community-based nonprofit organizations to reignite a bakery business and coffee establishment at the Bread & Salt building in Barrio Logan.
Coffee & Tea
Coffee, tea, and water will be provided by the California Center for the Arts, throughout lunch and for the rest of the afternoon.
Remember to bring a reusable cup for your drink!
snacks & pick-me-ups
Dr. Bronner's
Dr. Bronner’s is a family-owned, Vista-based producer of soap, chocolate, and other natural products sourced from ethical and regenerative organic supply chains. Committed to social justice, environmental sustainability, and progressive business practices, Dr. Bronner’s is passionate about making the best products for human, home, and Earth—and about using their business as a force for good.
Ocean Beach People’s Co-Op
OB People’s Co-op is the only member-owned grocery store in San Diego. Founded in 1971, People’s is guided by co-operative principles and care deeply about the community. Their entire Produce Department is 100% Certified Organic, and sourced from hundreds of local farmers and producers whenever possible. People’s carries natural foods, bulk and wellness products that are organic, sustainably sourced, fair trade, non-GMO, cruelty-free, minimally processed and environmentally safe.
Patagonia Provisions
Patagonia Provisions, the food division of apparel company Patagonia, is working to help find solutions to environmental problems through responsibly sourced foods. A member of 1% For the Planet, Patagonia Provisions donates 1% of revenue to grassroots environmental organizations and is also a certified B Corporation.
Founder Yvon Chouinard says, “I think the only revolution we’re likely to see is in agriculture, and I want to be a part of that revolution… the more we roll up our sleeves and dig into the world of food, the more we discover that the best ways are often the old ways.”
Coffee, tea, water
Coffee, tea, and water will be provided by the California Center for the Arts, throughout lunch and for the rest of the afternoon.
Remember to bring a reusable cup for your drink!
More sponsored snacks will be announced soon! Thank you to our In-Kind Sponsors.
post-event mixer 🕺🏽
Baraka and Bilal
Sambusas | Starting in 2013, the women entrepreneurs of United Women of East Africa formed self-sustaining groups to promote their community’s economic and social growth in San Diego County. The entrepreneurs who formed Baraka and Bilal offer unique, hand-crafted, delicious foods that can be prepared by request for any events seeking unique East African cuisine.
Menu Highlights: Cream Cheese & Coconut, Chicken, and Potato Sambusas
SIP Wine & Beer
Drinks | Cassandra Schaeg, owner of SIP Wine & Beer — located around the corner of the Gathering venue — says, “I opened SIP Wine and Beer in Escondido six years ago as a place for people to get together, connect, and enjoy conversation over some adult beverages. I wanted to change the general perception of the wine and beer business. I wanted someone who looks like me exploring wine, topics, grabbing bottles of wine and hanging out.”
In recent years, Cassandra also produced and hosted the Emmy-nominated KPBS TV show Fresh Glass, which is a deep dive into food, beverage, and entrepreneurship with guests whose backgrounds, personalities, and journeys symbolize empowerment, grit, and perseverance. Fresh Glass brings awareness that women and BIPOC leaders exist in industries traditionally overlooked.
Menu Highlights: California red and white wines.
There will also be other alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks at a hosted bar.