Fresh Food on our San Francisco Tours

A few of us took a day off from our San Francisco Tours and went up to Sonoma enjoy a hike and dinner at a local winery. As we talk about on our San Francisco Food Tours, I think tastings wine comes very much down to what do you like.  What does help is learning about the food. I like California wines, however they have different characteristics than wines from other regions. For example, we just opened a Merlot that is about eight years old. I'm not usually a Merlot fan, however, after eight years the tannins in the wines have smoothed and it is like drinking silk.   The winemaker had a great description of the wine, when he talked about how if you drink a California Merlot that is only three or four years, it's drinkable, however if you lay it down six to eight years, it is something really special.

On our San Francisco Tours, we try to do the same thing. For example, one of my favorite coffee drinks is known as a macchiato. When it is good, it is wonderful, when is not, it like drinking nails.  When we try coffee drinks on our San Francisco Food Tours, we learn how is roasted, that way you know how find good coffee back home. As that winemaker told me today, learning a few things about the food can be the difference between okay food and really delicious food.

Talking to the winemaker reminded me about the importance about knowing where you food is from. The wine we tasted not only tasted good, it was grown organically. Which meant that it was not good for the environment, it was good for me. As we talk about on our San Francisco Tours, when something is not grown locally, you can only hope the growing methods were good.

Many people on our San Francisco Food Tours comment how those of us in San Francisco are lucky to live in an area with the amazing variety of food we have here and how we can easily meet the people who grow our food. The good news is that you can do that, as well. It is your local farmers market. That is where you meet the food producers and learn how the food is produced. We try to give all of guests on San Francisco Tours guests a resource list with websites that list farmers markets all over the US and around the world.  

Just like the winemaker at the winery today, a farmers market is where you learn the best to enjoy the food. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we meet the people who know their food best, the local coffee rosters, chocolate makers, bakers, and more. They know how to best enjoy their food. Think of your local farmers market as your local winemaker,  guiding you to how enjoy your food in the best way.

Olive Oils on our San Francisco Tours

Last time I was in Paris, I intentionally tried to taste wines that I could not get back home. On our San Francisco Tours, we try to taste foods that you can only get here. It's not that other areas don't have great foods, but why have foods that you can get back home. On our North Beach\Little Italy (on of our San Francisco Food Tours), we taste a variety of olive oils. The olive oils that we taste on our San Francisco Tours are all local California olive oils.  By trying different olive oils, I believe you'll learn how to find good olive oils back home. 

On our San Francisco Food Tours, we emphasize local foods because if you want to have local foods, you need to support local producers. Fresh olive oil tastes wonderful. If I was in Italy, I would be trying Italian olive oils. Since, we are in San Francisco, we taste local olive oil from here. One reason we have some many local olive oils is that we are a big wine-growing region. Olive trees love the same climate as vineyards. 

As you'll find on our San Francisco Tours, olive oil tasting is a great deal like tasting wine. In other words, what do you like. By trying different olive oils , you'll find that some you will like, some you will not. Also, you'll start to see that different olive oils go with different foods, just like wines. 

There is another reason to try local olive oils. On San Francisco Food Tours, we make a point to include local merchants who support family farms and who support local agriculture. That way, we know the each of vendors on our San Francisco Tours is helping to ensure that the farmers growing the food are making enough income to take care of their families and communities.

Just as important, we know that the foods on our San Francisco Food Tours, are hormone-free, antibiotic-free, and healthy. Whether it is olive oil or bread or whatever, anything that goes into the food goes into you. If the olive trees which produce the olive oil are grown in an area that lots of pesticides, those pesticides are probably going into you. By knowing where our olive oil is coming from, we know what is in the food. Otherwise, you have to trust a multi-national company to look out for your best interests. You can decide whether you want to do that. Personally, I would rather not.

New Addition on our San Francisco Tours

We've added a new stop on our San Francisco Tours. If you've joined us on our San Francisco Food Tours, you know how important we believe local foods are. La Spiaggia Deli is a new stop on our North Beach\Little Italy tour, on of our San Francisco Tours. La Spiaggia specializes in local meats and cheeses, which are hormone-free, antibiotic-free, and free range. Additionally, they make a special effort to support family farms. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we think it is incredibly important to support local business, and those business that support sustainable agriculture. Family farms are an important component of sustainable agriculture.   With the pressures from corporate farmers, support from local communities is incredibly important.

In addition having delicious meats and cheeses, their reliance on organic meats makes them a great addition to our San Francisco Tours. If you've been on one of San Francisco Food Tours, you know the importance we place in organic foods.  In addition to tasting great, organic foods don't fill your bodies with antibiotics, hormones, or pesticides. So when could add a deli that emphasizes organic meats onto our San Francisco Tours, it was a perfect way to allow our guests to taste how different organic meats are. The reaction to our new addition to our North Beach|Little Italy tour has been excellent,  The taste really comes through. So whether you are joining us on of our San Francisco Food Tours, or at home, try to search for a deli like this. I think that you will be amazed how much better the food tastes . And the added bonus is that is better for you.