Food for Thought: Winter 2025
There’s a saying in musical theater circles that when the emotion becomes too strong for speech, you sing. And when it becomes too strong for song, you dance. This might be a stretch, but perhaps when the emotion is too strong to express it in an article, you write a love letter. And when it becomes too strong for a love letter, you write a poem. The articles in this issue are just those kinds of expressions from the heart.
If there’s anything I love more than musical theater, it’s poetry and love letters. I’m thinking of the first College of Creative Studies poetry class I took from Robyn Bell during my first year at UCSB. And then years later when I picked up a copy of Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence at Chaucer’s. Even more years later, when I started Edible Santa Barbara, I asked our contributors to write about what they were passionate about. It’s not difficult for me to see the connection that writing from the heart is what makes so many of the essays in this magazine resonate with our readers. So, when Rosminah suggested “Love Letters” as the theme for this issue, I felt a sense of coming full circle. The intersection of food, community, love and expression—it’s all here. I hope the
articles, recipes and love in this issue warm your heart this winter.
Krista Harris, Co-founder and Associate Publisher
It’s 2025 and according to the calendar we are in the throes of winter in Santa Barbara County. While we normally experience a winter that’s more like springtime due to the Mediterranean climate and maritime influence, we have received little rain to start the growth cycle. Our neighbors in Southern California have taken the brunt of intense Santa Ana winds alongside a dry, parched landscape, creating an unstoppable force that has been devastating to so many. Until that rain comes, we are all still at risk of more wildfires. Please keep reaching out to others. Ask them, “are you OK?” And ask yourself, “am I OK?”
Between the state of world affairs, the daily news and this dark winter, we can—and should—find things to look forward to. It is OK to allow ourselves a few indulgences and kind thoughts, while also providing them to our friends and neighbors, especially those to the south right now.
This Winter issue is about love letters—what it means to show we care and how we choose to say it. Krista has reminded me that I, too, once had all the Griffin & Sabine books on my shelves and there was a quiet joy in opening each letter between the corresponding characters as they wrote their way through the barriers of time and space to find connection. This issue highlights the people and places around our county to whom Edible Santa Barbara’s contributors show their fondness and share that experience in their writing. I hope that you will do the same in your own creative ways. The act of connection goes far.
The Saturday farmers market now on State and Carrillo streets in downtown Santa Barbara has become a social hub and I encourage you to visit it, or the one nearest you. It is far from dormant, and bursting with people and produce.
Rosminah Brown, Owner/Publisher
