Economies and our San Francisco Tours

As we listen to the news about the economy, many of us wonder how we can gain more control of our lives. On our San Francisco Tours, we focus on local neighborhoods. Whether it is our Chinatown Tour or our North Beach\Little Italy tour, we focus on local artisans and communities.  We all heard it said that the ultimate power is at the grassroots level.  The neighborhoods we visit on our San Francisco Food Tours are a great example of how we can exercise that power.

Neighborhoods are the best example of the power of local thinking. Shopping in you local neighborhood keeps money in your community, and lets you decide where your money should be spent. On our San Francisco Culinary Tours, we can see how spending locally provides us with the ability to know where our food is from and how it is made. 

Perspective from our San Francisco Tours

As I listened to speakers from both party conventions, I realized that I had a perspective from our San Francisco Tours. Ultimately, as we see on our San Francisco Food Tours, the choices we make on a daily basis affect us not only years from now, but also affect on a daily basis. At the same time, our short-term may cost us more in the long run.

Every time we make a purchase that is not local, we help to eliminate that product locally. In other words, every time we purchase food from overseas, it has a number of effects. Local producers go under, so that product is not produced. More often than not, the product is being produced by cheap labor, so we help to encourage exploitation of labor in other countries. And local jobs go away. Even though the product may have been less expensive at the store, the real cost has been way higher.

As we  see on our San Francisco Tours, neighborhoods are created by people making choices. Left to their choices, larger chain stores would take over the local artisans that we see on our San Francisco Food Tours and shut them down.

As we see on our San Francisco Tours, we that it is that variety that gives a vibrancy to neighborhoods.  The people in the neighborhoods we see on our San Francisco Food Tours cover the spectrum. What they have in common is that we see each other on a daily basis. They know the other people are just people and their differences enhance their lives.

When I heard anyone talking about who and what to fear, it reminded about how people in the neighborhoods on our San Francisco Tours have made the choice to enjoy our differences. Just like the people in these areas have made the choices to buy locally.  

On our San Francisco Food Tours,  we see how our lives can enhanced by our choices.  It is the choice to understand the idea that every time we allow others to exploited, we end up opening ourselves to be exploited.

Museum Exhibits Near our San Francisco Tours

When we're not on our San Francisco Tours, we like to take advantage our local amenities in San Francisco. We've managed to see several museum exhibits recently. During our San Francisco Food Tours, we get below the surface and see how the food is made.  One of the ones we recently saw was an exhibit on French Impressionist Women.

I actually saw a number of analogies to our San Francisco Tours.   Most of us go through life dealing with the problems of daily life.  Sometimes they seem overwhelming.   Think back to the last day that was going great and then something kicked you right into the stomach. And the thing the hit you seemed to take over everything else. Our San Francisco Food Tours may seem to have nothing to with that.

French Impressionist painters had an incredible ability to look at something and seemed beyond the obvious. Our San Francisco Tours do the same. For example, most of look at coffee and think we know how coffee is supposed to taste. After one has tasted how coffee is supposed to taste, that is it supposed to have complexity, as we do on our San Francisco Food Tours, we see beyond that.

French Impressionist painters had the ability to take us out of day to day problems. The are subtle parts of our life that get covered up by that everyday kick in the stomach. Our our San Francisco Tours, we try to appreciate those every day things, such how bread is supposed to feel and taste. Or tasting the subtle flavors of antibiotic-free, hormone-free, and organic meats on our San Francisco Food Tours. 

Sometimes, just after you feel like you've gotten the hardest kick in the stomach, try to sit back and notice the subtleties around you. It may not eliminate the kick, however, it may help you put things in context.  That kick in the stomach may have not have been as hard as you thought.

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.

Hormone and Antibiotics Free Meats on our San Francisco Tours

On our San Francisco Tours, we try different types of local meats on our North Beach\Little Italy tour. What makes these meats excellent, in addition that they taste good, is that they are hormone and antibiotic free. As learn on our San Francisco Food Tours, good food should nourish your body. When meats are not antibiotic free, those chemicals go into your body. The result is that people are losing the ability for antibiotics to do any good for them, because they are consuming so many in their food. When meats are not hormone free, those hormones go into your body, as well. On our San Francisco Tours, we focus on local foods. When it comes to meats, that is incredibly important. When meats are not local, it becomes much harder to know what goes into your meats. As we learn on our San Francisco Food Tours, a local delicatessen and butcher are the best way to buy local meats, A local butcher can tell you where the meat is from and usually knows the suppliers. On our San Francisco Tours, the local delicatessen makes a special effort to carry meats that not only taste good, but are also hormone and antibiotic free. Just like the place where we try dim sum on San Francisco Food Tours in Chinatown only serves dim sum that they would feel comfortable giving to their own children, In the same ways, the delicatessen that we go on our San Francisco Tours, would never sell anything they would not give their own children. When food is produced and sold by local merchants, such as the merchants we have on our San Francisco Food Tours, the producers and the merchants have a connection with the community. That connection is only fostered when the community supports them. Consider that the next time you so go shopping.