Story by Ann Martin Rolke, Photographs by Ann Martin Rolke and the Portuguese Historical Society

Take a drive down Broadway in Sacramento, and you get just an inkling of the diverse cultures in our area. From Hong Kong Cafe to Sweet Fingers Jamaican restaurant, Hoa Viet to Kathmandu Kitchen Indian-Nepalese restaurant, and Pancho's Mexican to Taste of Thai. That's just the western end of this ethnic smorgasbord of eateries! Venture a bit further down Stockton, Florin, or Folsom, and you'll find all of the ingredients to make practically any cuisine you choose.

TIME magazine christened Sacramento "America's Most Diverse City" in 2002, shortly after the latest census, because of our uniquely integrated population. Including the surrounding metro area and neighboring counties, we are perhaps the model for the future of the state, and even of the country, where no one group is in the majority. But how did the Central Valley become so ethnically mixed and what effect has it had on the foods that we eat every day?

Some immigrants to California have been here so long that they predate the influx of white settlers from the East. California was once part of Mexico, for instance, and Filipino sailors arrived as early as 1587. And, of course, Native Americans were here before that. Since the mid-1800s, however, the lure of gold and the actual treasure of bountiful farmland have brought immigrants to California in droves, especially Chinese and Japanese citizens. And with them, they brought their foodways.

Statistics vary somewhat, but according to the State of California Department of Finance, Sacramento County is 16% Latino, 12% Asian and Pacific Islander, and more than 4% multi-ethnic. Mapinfo Corp reports that 35% of the national population of Asians and Pacific Islanders reside in Northern California. In Sutter County, 10% of the entire population is people of Punjab heritage. In the Sacramento City Unified School District, almost one-third of the students speak English as their second language.

You can see the results of this multi-ethnicity not just in restaurants and markets, but in the plethora of food festivals held every year [see sidebar]. Some of them, like the Armenian Food Festival, have occurred for sixty years! These gatherings are fun, but also critical in reinforcing cultural identity through food traditions. For whenever you travel far from home, a familiar dish and flavor can bring comfort. When the other aspects of a culture are hard to recreate in a new place, food can be one of the easiest ways to spark memories and satisfy homesickness. And even for those who have lived in the U.S. for generations, in the urban sprawl of modern life, traditional foodways help keep a connection to the smaller community of heritage.

There are also interesting stories of connections made between immigrant groups who might not otherwise have met. According to Dr. Jasbir Kang of the Punjabi-American Heritage Society, when Punjabi men first arrived in California, they settled in the Yuba City area because "it looks like Punjab, the 'Land of Five Rivers,' and farming skills were historical in their culture." Without available Punjabi women and barred from marrying Caucasian women, many of these men married women of Mexican heritage. Davinder Deol, a local school principal, surmises that this might have been because of "the most similarities between Indian and Mexican spices." Indeed, they both traditionally use cumin, coriander, and chiles for flavor. There wasn't a particularly lasting connection between the two cultures, but a Mexican-Punjabi restaurant might be the next new fusion concept!

Of course, a lack of access to all of the ingredients traditional to a cuisine forces evolution. Dr. Kang and Ms. Deol both noted that yogurt and other dairy products are important sources of protein for many vegetarian Punjabs. Whole-fat buffalo milk was commonly used in India, but lower fat pasteurized cow's milk is the norm here. "Everything tastes a little different here," Dr. Kang admits.

Asian Farmer’s Market

While many of the crops that grow well here are different from those that were grown in Punjab, many people brought seeds to California and began their own gardens. That's the case with many other immigrants as well. There are large community gardens now that cater specifically to various ethnic groups, like Vietnamese-another traditional farming culture. Gradually, some of those "new" crops have found their way to grocery stores and farmer's markets. On Sundays at Broadway and 5th Street, for instance, there is an Asian farmer's market, where you can buy locally grown lemongrass, pomelos, herbs like Thai basil and coriander, and handmade tofu. The market survives because Asian community members continue to seek out the ingredients specific to their cuisines.

The Portuguese were also early settlers of this area, coming to California for mining and farming work, some living originally in the Pocket area, where there were Upper and Lower Lisbon Schools. Today, there are many dairy farmers of Portuguese heritage in the Central Valley. Marilia Wiget, of the Portuguese Historical and Cultural Society, counts eighteen different Portuguese "societies"-cultural meeting places-in the area. These societies hold regular foodcentric events like the Crab Feed, Fish Dinner, and Heritage Dinner for the communities. The largest cultural event of the

year is the Easter Holy Spirit Festival, when it is traditional to serve sopas, a meal of beef boiled with spices and ladled over French bread. In January or February, some people still hold a pig slaughter and make sausages such as linguiça. Ms. Wiget admits that many people just buy linguiça now though, the demand for which keeps a steady supply in meat markets of the area.

In fact, there are quite a few specialty meat markets in the Sacramento area: a halal butcher on Fulton, the American Poultry Company on Broadway, which actually specializes in whole poultry like ducks, for Asian customers, and Morants Old Fashioned Sausage Kitchen on Franklin Boulevard, which makes sausages on-site, including Portuguese linguiça, German knackwurst, and Mexican chorizo. More than many other metropolitan areas of this size, we seem to support an endless number of niche markets and specialty grocers.

Still there are immigrants moving to the capital region. More recently many Hmong have arrived as refugees from Laos, settling in California as well as Wisconsin and Minnesota. They too are a farming culture, joining the strong tradition of agriculture here. Similarly, in the late seventies and eighties, immigrants came from Cuba and Russia to settle here. As their numbers grow, with family and friends forming expatriate communities, their food traditions will help to keep them grounded in their cultures. There are already several markets catering to Russian tastes in the Carmichael area.

Eating food teaches lessons about culture. The diversity of our area invites us to explore the cultures of the many grocery stores, markets, restaurants, and food festivals that we're so lucky to have nearby. Or we can learn more about our own ancestry by seeking out foods that our grandparents may have eaten. When we do, we forge new connections through flavor and new memories through taste.

By Ann M. Evans and Georgeanne Brennan

Cherries are the first stone fruit of the season in our region, ripening in late May early June. Although they herald summer and the succession of other members of the Prunus family like apricots, peaches, plums, and nectarines, cherries are long gone from our trees by the time our weather turns hot. The cherry season is a relatively short one, and everyone wants to eat them fresh, by the bowlful, or better yet, fresh-picked from a tree. The season is just long enough to satisfy the craving for the juicy sweet fruit out of hand, cook some special dishes with fresh cherries, and finally, preserve that taste of spring’s memory for other times of the year. We are also proposing a celebration menu with cherries in every course.

Although once the Sacramento region was notable for cherry production, these drupes, the botanical term for stone fruit, are now more of a convenient back yard tree than a significant commercial crop. If you don’t have your own tree, the place to look for the many varieties of cherries, from sweet to sour, pale rose and yellow to deep burgundy is your local farmers market, picked from some of the some cherry orchards which still dot the landscape of Yolo, Sacramento, Solano, Placer, and El Dorado Counties.

California is the second largest producer of sweet cherries in the U.S., accounting for 24 percent (after Washington at 46 percent.)The Sacramento Valley area produces some of the early-season, warm-climate varieties of sweet cherries, but the largest sweet cherry production in the state comes from San Joaquin County. The biannual county crop reports produced by county agricultural commissioners contain the acreages of cherries either under their own heading or under miscellaneous. Recent reports indicate Sacramento County has a little under 200 acres of cherry trees, Solano County 85 acres, Yolo County about 50 acres, and El Dorado County at 100 acres. The other regional counties list cherries under miscellaneous, but they are at least listed.

Cherries, one of several thousand members of the Rose family, are divided into two main types, sweet (Prunus avium) and sour (Prunus cerasus). Sweet cherries are popular dessert fruit and are also used in tarts and for preserves (jams, liqueurs, and syrups). Sour cherries, sometimes called pie or culinary cherries, are used mostly for cooking and canning, and, as their names suggest, are the very best for cherry pies and cobblers. They are also excellent for preserves in syrup or brandy, or for making jams and jellies. Both types of cherries were introduced from England into the Eastern United States, which, with its humid, rainy conditions is where the sour cherry, (English Morello, French Montmorency) stayed for commercial production. Sweet cherries (Bing, Burlat) came to California by Spanish Missionaries and in the 1800s by pioneers and fur traders from the eastern United States.

The old distinction of cultivars of sweet cherries, bigarreaux (French) or geans (English), is not often used anymore. They can still be found in varietal names when you’re buying for your backyard, or in the names of cherry products, such as the cherry brandy, Guignolet. Today sweet cherries are divided more often by their fruiting period or color.

Sweet cherries include Bing, Royal Anne and Rainier and they arrive in a rainbow of color from yellow (Rainier) to yellow with a red blush (Royal Ann) to dark red (Black Tartarian, Tulare and Burlat) to a deep, dark almost purple (Bing.) Bings are among the last to ripen and are finished by early July. With the proper growing conditions, sweet cherries too will thrive in our wonderful growing region and, like the sour cherry, can reach an impressive height.

Sour cherries are hardier than sweet cherries. They are generally divided into Amarelle (light to medium red fruit) and Morello (dark fruit). The trees adapt well to growing conditions in our area–the biggest problem is birds, who love to eat the fruits’ tart flesh.

When you’ve eaten your fill of fresh cherries, start putting some up before the season ends. Imagine yourself sitting in front of a warm fire in the cold of winter, perhaps entertaining a few guests for dinner. You go to your glass pantry in search of a digestif (the after-dessert drink served in a tiny glass), and you find the cherry cognac you made. The cherries have infused the cognac with flavor, but don’t throw them out. Serve the cherries, which are now infused with cognac, with chocolate or on top of cheese cake.

Another special way to put up cherries is by pickling them. Pickled cherries make an intriguing appetizer, or a sweet and sour accent with cured meats, or grilled fatty meats like roast pork or duck. Ann makes a pickled cherry product for sale, with Yolo County farmer Annie Main, and sells it under the label “Evans and Main” at the Davis Farmers Market at the booth of Annie and Jeff Main of Good Humus Produce. You can also try your hand at the recipe we’ve included below.

Whether you harvest your own cherries with a ladder and a basket, “u-pick” them, or pick some up at a roadside stand or one of the many farmers markets in the Edible Sacramento region, there are plenty of ways to enjoy these drupes in spring as well as to preserve them for a celebration in winter.

Imagine a time when fresh produce was hard to come by, ration coupons were required for basic commodities, and most produce grown by farms went to the war effort. This was the scenario that the American people faced during World Wars I and II, and it spawned a national effort that peaked during World War II, producing more than one-third of all vegetables grown in the United States and providing 70 percent of the vegetables consumed by Americans on the home front.

This effort involved Americans growing their own food in victory gardens. These “Gardens for Victory” set their roots in history and eventually grew into today’s community garden movement.

PLANT A VICTORY GARDEN: OUR FOOD IS FIGHTING

Twice in the 20th century, Americans responded to war conditions by turning to victory gardens as a practical and moral necessity. However, in World War I, the government was not sure of the concept. They thought that it would be a terrible waste of fertilizer and seeds. They were wrong. The American people rose to the challenge as their patriotic duty, and victory gardens quickly became an essential part of the civilian war effort.

In December of 1941, when World War II started, the American people again answered the call and began to plant their victory gardens in the spring of 1942. It was something that everyone, young and old, rich and poor, could do to help the war effort and their families. It was inexpensive and could be done right at home. Building a family garden was expected of all; and by April 1942, six million gardens had been planted.

To further the effort, articles and colorful symbolic patriotic posters produced for the government by artists from the Work Projects Administration (WPA) encouraged Americans to "Fight with Food” by planting a victory garden. The posters appealed to the American public’s civil duty to make sure that everyone on the home front did their part to aid the war effort.

Victory garden scarecrows were crafted into Hitler, Mussolini or Hirohito look-a-likes, and thereby these enemies helped the American people fight the war from their garden plots.

CONTINUED INTEREST SPROUTS AND THE EFFORT GROWS

Victory gardens of all sizes from small backyard plots to larger community lots were planted everywhere across the nation, in vacant lots, ball fields, parks, and rooftops. Victory gardens were planted at zoos, at racetracks, at Ellis Island and Alcatraz, at playgrounds, in schoolyards, in trailer parks, at libraries, at gas stations and even in front of city halls and prisons. Americans planted gardens in empty lots, front yards and back yards. In Kansas City, the Civil Defense department even had a garden on the 12th floor of City Hall. Japanese relocation camps were famous for their gardens.

Some eastern cities like Boston and Chicago still have a few original victory gardens from World War II. Their inner cities were built out with little room for front or back yards, and they had numerous vacant lots because buildings had decayed, so victory gardens often occupied public space.

Sacramento was a comparatively new city. Residences did have yards, and so most local victory gardens were in front or back yards, rather than in public spaces; but large victory gardens did exist in Sacramento along the fringes of the city. After the war, Sacramento enjoyed a housing boom which unfortunately ate up its victory gardens.

In America, so great was the response in 1943, when the Secretary of Agriculture called for a national effort to create 18 million victory gardens, that four million new gardeners answered the call and caused a buyer’s panic in the seed market.

The media and major corporations promoted gardening and encouraged all citizens to grow their own food. Gardening information was accessible everywhere, motivating citizens to pitch in and win the war and giving instructions on how to do it.

Three annual Harvest Festivals (1943-1945) were held in Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium and the fruit and vegetables were sent to the Bercut Richards Cannery, where they were canned under a “V” for victory label. The effort received national recognition for the successful program; even Eleanor Roosevelt sent a personal letter complimenting Sacramento on an outstanding program.

Across the Yolo-by-pass, the University of California at Davis was one location that proved to be a valuable resource for the victory garden movement. Extension agents (predecessors of today’s Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program) provided expert advice and distributed flyers and leaflets. They instructed thousands of novice gardeners, as well as farmers and their families, on planting and raising vegetables and fruits and on preparing and storing them once they had been harvested. They also developed programs to provide seed, fertilizer, and simple gardening tools for victory gardeners. The Victory Garden Program was one of the most popular programs in the war period.

At the peak of the victory gardens era, 20 million gardens were grown and more than half of all Americans kept a victory garden.

The government ended its victory garden promotions when World War II ended, and as a result, many people did not plant a garden in the spring of 1946. This caused some food shortages, as farming had not geared up to full production for grocery stores.

SEEDS OF CHANGE

Today, there are only a few original victory gardens left in the United States, but the “concept seeds” from victory gardens laid the ground work for the community gardens of today, which are being revived to answer a call to a new war.

The new war is on obesity, pesticides, and the isolation that modern city life can engender. Community gardens are on the rise in all parts of the country, certainly in Sacramento. It is not clear yet whether people will plant as many or as successful gardens as the victory gardens during World War II, but the benefits of modern community gardens are clear. In the next issue of Edible Sacramento, I’ll explore the incarnation of community gardens in Sacramento in the latter part of the 20th and the early part of the 21st century.