Where is best food in California?

Friends,

I am planning on moving out to california in some months. I lived in the LA area for four years during college and the fruit was pretty damn good, I mean I come from Maine so it was all excellent to me.

Now I am moving back out and deciding where I should go. Food isn't the final consideration but it's very important. What is everyone's experience finding good food in the Bay area vs. santa barbara (my two options)?

I was just watching this liferegenerator video and he said the Bay area has the freshest produce in the nation. Santa Barbara would be my #1 choice for the sunshine but fresh produce is a huge consideration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKyoj3qlaZ8

What does anyone think?

Thank you for your time!

Replies

Matty B March 22, 2013 at 6:56am

San Francisco also has a "produce terminal" across the way from the airport. It is open to the public, and is a great place to buy bulk. Berkeley Bowl is within the Bay Area, and as everyone else has mentioned there are more farmer's markets than you can visit. I don't know about the rest of CA, but can't imagine any other place than LA topping the Bay Area.
- Dylan Meditates > Matty B March 22, 2013 at 7:42am
  
  The weird thing is, LA is only amazing for produce if you compare it to the rest of the US. Sounds like Bay Area is significantly better than LA for produce. Would other Californians agree?
Danny March 22, 2013 at 6:28am

that sounds awesome. based on hearing what people say about fruit availability in terms of location, this seems like one of the best places in the continental US to live.

i live in north florida and people seem to think that it's similar to california, but it's not! my farmer's market right now sells kale and garlic. granted, in the summer i can get huge melons for $4 or $5 each and other typical summer veggies, but the rest of the time it's not that great.
heather gregory March 22, 2013 at 6:18am

I live in Carpinteria which is is Santa Barbara County. I honestly do a lot of shopping for organic fruit and veg at Trader Joe's, but besides that there are huge farmer's markets here. Tues afternoon on State st., Sat morning on Cota st. Thurs afternoon in Carp. and Friday mornings in Montecito. I'm sure Goleta has one too.

So yeah... I think you can find pretty good fruit here. :)
Dylan Meditates March 21, 2013 at 7:37pm

Thanks for the reply Nate. I am so happy to hear it is possible to live off the farmer's markets year round in the bay area!! I will be considering that!

When I lived in Claremont there was a pretty good farmer's market but I wouldn't say you could live off of it... Just had the standards, oranges, berries, apples, and seasonals: dates and persimmons. Pretty good but I wanted to be supplementing w/ Sprouts (the store, hehe) and Trader Joes, unless I wanted to drive in to LA for the wholesale market. (this actually isn't worth the time/money unless you are either pretty close to downtown or buying A LOT).

I wonder what the situation is in Santa Barbara? I know they have a pretty good farmer's market downtown once a week, I wonder what else. I guess Santa Barbara is a tiny bit closer to the central valley than Claremont (In LA county), I wonder if it makes a difference in terms of what fruit is available at markets?

One thing I loooved about the fruit situation in LA is the dates... When they are in season, TALK TO THE GUYS SELLING THE DATES AT THE MARKETS AND SEE IF THEY CAN HOOK IT UP PERSONALLY. I have my date guy in my cell phone for whenever I'm craving dates during the season and he would be like 'ok meet me in town this weekend and I'll have 30lbs fresh picked'!!!!!! I wonder what sort of magic there is like that in norcal? I'm sure there must be similar things.