Name: The Invisible Work of a Hollywood Food Stylist by Lisa Morehouse
Duration: 15 min 9 s
Description: Hollywood writers and actors are on strike, asking for transparency, fair pay, and protection from AI. They're not the only ones impacted by labor disputes. In the latest story for California Foodways, I share the reporting I did with a Hollywood food stylist (before the strikes began).

The Jewish holiday Tu BiShvat is a time to gather around food, and honor trees, and the harvest. In February 2020, I went to Tuolumne County to join the Mother Lode Jewish Community in their Tu BiShvat celebration. No one knew then that just weeks later, the Covid pandemic would stop many in-person gatherings like these, and create some tensions so many communities are still navigating.

'We Just Have Faith': Gold Country Jewish Community Strives to Connect Through COVID

Former farmworker Rosa Hernandez co-owns Colectivo Sabor a Mi Tierra in the back of a market in the town of Madera. She cooks food from her native Oaxaca, and says, the key to cooking mole is patience and love. "You can’t make mole in a rush."

Providing a Taste of Oaxaca to the Central Valley

Postgraduate Fellow Emma Stammen talks with 2018-2019 Writing for Justice Fellow David Sanchez about his debut novel "All Day is a Long Time"—a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story encompassing addiction, mental illness, homelessness, incarceration, and sobriety.

Works of Justice 201 - David Sanchez on Addiction, Subjectivity, and Selfhood

On the edge of the town of Marysville in Yuba County, there’s market. It’s shelves are bursting with ingredients for all kinds of Asian foods, an inventory that would rival Asian grocery stories in  big cities: 4 shelves of coconut milk, 4 more of hot sauces, specialty vegetables and herbs from local Hmong farmers, whole corner of the store dedicated to rice, an entire aisle of noodles…

If you wind your way through the candy aisle, next to the water filling station, you’ll find a small, bustling kitchen in the back corner. That’s where I became a fan of the dishes made here, and the woman behind them.

How a Hmong Market in Yuba County Became 'Everybody's Store'

Ojai’s main street is charming, boasting tile roofs and Spanish-revival architecture. On weekends, crowds of the bohemian chic spill out of restaurants, boutiques and art galleries in the picturesque Ventura County town surrounded by orchards. The valley’s climate has been ideal for citrus, but it’s changing—getting windier, drier, and hotter. Some farmers are questioning whether agriculture even has a future in the Ojai Valley.

Hot temperatures, and a hot real estate market, threaten the Ojai Pixie tangerine

For California Foodways, I've been traveling the state, interviewing farmers, restaurant owners, people who deliver food to the hungry, make frozen burritos, and grow coffee. But I realized that, even though there are so many cafeterias in our state -- at tech companies and prisons and hospitals -- I'd never reported on one. So in this story, I profile Brennan Temol…a guy who never takes his apron off. He spends all week cooking at the cafeteria, and all weekend cooking with family and friends. And in both kitchens, he draws on his culinary school training, and the flavors of his childhood–in the Pacific Island nation of Palau.

Cafeteria Cook Makes Gourmet Dishes Inspired by Palauan Childhood

On his family’s organic peach, nectarine and grape farm south of Fresno, California, David "Mas" Masumoto points out pruning scars from long-time workers, and walks down rows of trees he planted with his father. He says the labor and lessons of his ancestors are in the soil and the grapevines and orchards, and he’s passing these on to the next generations. Mas is an author, too, who has delved into the stories of his farm and family in more than 10 books. In his latest, Secret Harvests, Mas writes about the shock of a newly uncovered family secret. I've visited the Masumoto farm for years, picking luscious peaches and nectarines in summer. This time, I returned to hear what Mas learned about this hidden story, and how he rediscovered just how resilient his farming family is.

Farming with ghosts: Mas Masumoto and an uncovered family secret

Hollywood writers and actors are on strike, asking for transparency, fair pay, and protection from AI. They're not the only ones impacted by labor disputes. In the latest story for California Foodways, I share the reporting I did with a Hollywood food stylist (before the strikes began).

The Invisible Work of a Hollywood Food Stylist

Along the southern end of Stockton's Angel Cruz Park the air is filled with wafts of smoke, the smell of grilled meats and karaoke tracks booming out of speakers. For more than 30 years, this has been a destination for made-to-order dishes created by local food vendors, many of whom are Hmong and Cambodian immigrants. Locals argue over who has the best beef sticks or papaya salad.

The Rich Food Traditions at Stockton's Angel Cruz Park

For our beloved and defunct Audioclub in San Francisco, CA.

The Invisible Work of a Hollywood Food Stylist

Lisa Morehouse

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