2024 so far: SF Climate Week, raising 10k for Marin trails, eating and drinking on Substack

I write these updates 2-3 times per year about my work and projects. Subscribe over here if you’d like to get them in your inbox.

Recently

SF Climate Week

After completing the Climatebase Fellowship last year, I approached the team behind SF Climate Week and pitched them on adding climate-positive food and beverage planning to the 2024 event as a way to connect the series’ overarching purpose and values with the individual events it comprises.

Working with SFCW from January through May, I led a Food & Beverage team that:

Concepted, researched and developed a Climate-Positive Food & Beverage Vendor List of local restaurants and caterers that raised their hands to say that climate is on their list of priorities, with some offering discounts to SF Climate Week event organizers.
Secured event sponsorship and facilitated in-kind donations from local food and beverage businesses, including La Mediterranee, Jessica Lasky Catering and Greens Restaurant.

Kooks of the Coast

I joined the organizing team for Kooks of the Coast this year, a grassroots dirt alleycat with series of checkpoints deep in Marin’s incredible trail network.

We raised $10,000 for the Marin County Bike Coalition, with financial support from 100+ participants, along with local bike clothing and gear businesses.

Bi-Rite Wine Club

Wine is a story – about a family, a piece of land, a region’s traditions and evolution, a winemaker’s decisions.

In 2023 I had the chance to pinch hit as the content writer for Bi-Rite’s Wine Club, an eclectic and wildly affordable selection of wines from around the world. I wrote content for 8 wines per month, updating their format to focus on sharing stories, techniques and tasting notes from the winemakers as well as pairings that connected with customers’ lives and rituals, like a dinner party with friends or a family holiday meal.

Substack Highlights

For my creative and editorial food and beverage writing, I publish on Substack. Here are a few of the posts I’ve penned this year:

Dark mode vs veggie mode - A collab post with Sustainable Advantages, wherein we ran some numbers on a greenwash-y marketing campaign from Chipotle.
So you’re picking out wine (and beer and cocktails) for your wedding - After getting this request from more than one friend, I wrote up a guide to beverage planning for your big party.
The secret weapons in my kitchen - What I keep around to boost flavors and textures in my mostly plant-based cooking.

News You Can Use

Are you a restaurant wondering (dreading) if the electric equipment revolution is coming for you? If the pizza joints of New York can do it, so can you.

The New York Times recently wrote about how electric pizza ovens are not only simpler to install and use, but get the same results as their gas-fired counterparts. With regulations of gas and particulate matter on the rise, equipment manufacturers are stepping up their electric game and some chefs and owners are coming around.

I led the design team for a huge all-electric kitchen from 2020-2022, one of the first of its size in the Bay Area, so I know that all-electric kitchens are more than possible.

From the Archives

A small part of my work includes photo and video content for cycling brands. I have an ongoing relationship as an Ambassador for Ornot in San Francisco, and over the years have also been part of shoots for Specialized, Peak Design, Hammerhead and Quoc Shoes.

In 2020 (you remember that year), I got together with Matt Quann, founder of Ornot, and photographer Jake Stangel to plan and shoot a video about riding gravel bikes. It covered skills and pro-tips for people getting into the world of gravel cycling, and our thoughts and feelings on tire choices and dancing with your bike.

It has 294,000 views and counting, and I’m over here living off the NIL deal, Ornot.

Cover photo credit: Tyler Nutter