Kristyn Leach is a farmer and seed producer with a mission. She wants to spread seeds from her Korean heritage and share stories from the Asian Diaspora, enriching our connections to locally grown, culturally significant food.
The journey carried Leach from farm fields around Winters, Sunol and Sebastopol to South Korea. She grew Korean-based crops for San Francisco restaurateur brothers Dennis, Daniel and David Lee, whose modern Korean cooking captivated the Bay Area before the pandemic.
“They really helped me get started,” Leach says of the Lees. “We worked directly with each other, and we started growing exclusively for them.”
With captive audiences, airports tend to offer generic food and drinks created in central kitchens not specific to their region. They make us feel we are nowhere and everywhere.
As the farm-to-fork capital, it’s fitting that Sacramento International Airport tries to reflect the community’s agricultural bounty and legacy.
Local emphasis began in 2011, when Terminal B opened with two restaurants linked to Downtown establishments, Esquire Grill and Cafeteria 15L. A makeover at Terminal A added more local hospitality names in 2015.
The local climate produces visionary farm-to-table approaches. You can find a fine example at Two Rivers Cider Co., where the region’s apples, pomegranates, mandarins, yuzus, kumquats, cherries, melons and huckleberries create diverse cider offerings.
Founded in 1996 by Vincent Sterne, Two Rivers in Hollywood Park helped pioneer the cider revolution. As people became more aware of food allergies, cider—gluten-free and with a real fruit base—became the alcoholic beverage of choice for many.
Sterne developed Two Rivers after working at Rubicon Brewing Company. He wanted to start a business in the fermentation industry but wasn’t sure which approach worked best.
At Victoria Island Farms and Sabbatical Distillery & Tasting Room, where Delta crops have grown since 1964, farm to fork blossoms into distilled spirits.
Guests sample blueberry lemon vodka, single-malt whisky, straight bourbon and Sabado gin, all made with botanicals, corn, blueberries and citrus from this historic farm.
Sabbatical is the first distillery in San Joaquin County since prohibition. Founded by Danny Leonard and Jack Zech, the company builds on the agricultural roots of Zech’s family, which has owned Victoria Island Farms for generations.
Victoria Island Farms was one of the largest producers of asparagus, with 1,000 acres in production. Global competition and production costs forced the farm to diversify.
Leon Sobon and his wife Shirley founded Shenandoah Vineyards in 1977, far ahead of the sustainable wine revolution. Based in Plymouth, the Sobon family became one of the first environmentally friendly producers to distribute local wines on a wide level outside the region.
Last month, Sobon was recognized with a California State Fair Lifetime Achievement Award. The patriarch’s dedication to the craft can be felt when Sobon describes how he turned a hobby into a second career.
Sobon was a research scientist for Lockheed living in Los Altos when he began making wine for fun. His hobby led him into a group of other enthusiasts. He and Shirley eventually moved their family of six children to the foothills to try professional winemaking.
Gone was a stable research career. But Sobon followed his bliss.
