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Featured Food and Food Ways Oral History Transcripts
Photo of Narsai David Narsai David is a restaurateur, caterer, specialty food purveyor, vintner, food and wine critic, author, radio and TV chef, early pioneer of California cuisine, and an advocate for the Berkeley Repertory Theater, the Assyrian Aid Society, and numerous other causes.


Video Excerpt

Cecilia Chiang revolutionized Chinese cooking in the United States. After fleeing the aristocratic life of Beijing, first from the Japanese invasion and then from the Communists, Chiang brought traditional Chinese foods to her San Francisco Mandarin Restaurant. Over a forty-year period she educated American palates to fine Chinese cuisine and served as a consultant to new restaurants, educated chefs and food lovers with her cooking classes, and mentored many of the early Bay Area food pioneers.

Christopher Lee opened Eccolo Restaurant in 2004 in Berkeley’s 4th Street walking mall area. Lee’s extensive career includes over ten years working with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse Restaurant. In this interview and video Lee explores his career as a chef and reflects upon the role of food in life and the importance of regionalism in global food ways.

Video Excerpt		 Heidi Krahling trained at Tante Marie's Cooking School after running her own restaurant in San Luis Obispo. From here she went on to cook at Square One, become the Executive Chef of Butler's in Mill Valley, and then of Smith Ranch in Marin County. Eight years ago she opened Insalata's in San Anselmo.
Justine Miner started RNM Restaurant, named after her late father, in 2002. The 29-year-old chef and owner studied the culinary arts at the Culinary Academy, then honed her craft in a variety of roles at Postrio, Globe, Cafe Kati and Dine.  The San Francisco Chronicle named Justine Miner as one of 2003's "Rising Stars".

Mary Risley started Tante Marie's Cooking School as a full-time school over 25 years ago. In 1998, she was honored "The Cooking Teacher of the Year" by Bon Appetit magazine. Her first book, The Tante Marie's Cooking School Cookbook , was published last year by Simon & Schuster. Mary's cookbook was chosen by Food & Wine Magazine as one of the 25 best cookbooks of 2004.

Charles E. Williams, Volume I
Charles E. Williams, Volume II
Charles Williams, Founder and Director Emeritus of Williams-Sonoma, established the country's first comprehensive French cooking and serving equipment center in 1956 and in 1958 he moved his store to Sutter Street in San Francisco. With the continuing growth of the business, he put together the first catalog, which was mailed to 5,000 homes in 1971. His present position as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Williams is an integral part of many aspects of the business, from finding unique kitchenware and food items, to providing advice for catalog production and photography. He has been involved with the publication of over 100 Williams-Sonoma cookbooks, acting as the General Editor for the Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library series, the New American Cooking series, the Savoring series and the newly released Williams-Sonoma Collection series. In 1994, he was named to the "Who's Who of Food and Beverage" by the James Beard Foundation.


Additional Food and Food Ways Oral History Transcripts

Gene Benedetti (b. 1919)
Founder of Clover Stornetta Farms. 2003, 194 pp.

Paul Bertolli
Chef, Author, and Salumi Maker. 2010, 37 pp.

Marion Cunningham (1922-2012)
An Oral History with Marion Cunningham. 2012, 102 pp.

Paul L. Davies
An Oral History with Paul L. Davies. 2006, 149 pp. [Available only in The Bancroft Library]

The DeDomenico Family: Growth of the Golden Grain Company through Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Interviews with Vincent DeDomenico, Thomas DeDomenico, Anthony DeDomenico, Donato Ferrigno, Lois DeDomenico, and Dennis DeDomenico. 1994, 380 pp.

Robert Di Giorgio (1911-1991) and Joseph A. Di Giorgio
The Di Giorgios: From Fruit Merchants to Corporate Innovators. 1986. 214 pp.

Frank Gwerder (b. 1932) and Caroline Gwerder (b. 1934)
Agriculturulists in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and San Joaquin Valley. 2003, 230 pp.

David Kinch
Chef-Proprietor at Manresa Restaurant, 2012, 37 pp.

Max T. Kniesche
Schroeder's Cafe and the German Restaurant Tradition in San Francisco, 1907-1976. 1981.

Bill Lane
Sunset Publisher, Environmentalist, Ambassador, 2007, 292 pp.

Polly Ghiradelli Lawrence
The Ghirardelli Family and Chocolate Company of San Francisco. 1985, 186 pp.

Howard Lester
Williams Sonoma Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, 2004, 73 pp.

Doris Muscatine (1926-2006)
Food and Wine Writer, 2006, 92 pp.

George Wilmarth Nickel, Jr.
Following the Cattle King: A Lifetime of Agriculture, Water Management, and Water Conservation in California's Central Valley. 2002, 270 pp.

Franklin P. Nutting (1876-1957)
An Interview with Franklin P. Nutting. 1955, 93 pp. [Thompson seedless raisins, Sun Maid Raisin Growers.]

Patterson Family and Ranch: Southern Alameda County in Transition
Volume I: Agriculture and Farm Life on Fremont's Northern Plain , 1890s-1980s, 1988, 261 pp.
Interviews with: Frank Borghi, Elvamae Rose Borghi, Ruel Brown, Donald Furtado, Tillie Logan Goold, Wallace McKeown, Gene Williams, Mel Almeda.

Volume II: Water, Development, and Preservation in Southern Alameda County, 1988,  331 pp.
Interviews with : Mathew P. Whitefield, Wallace R. Pond, John Brooks, Robert B. Fisher, Laurence W. Milnes, William D. Patterson.

Volume III: The Patterson Ranch, Past and Future: The Family's Perspective, 1988, 404 pp.
Interviews with: Donald Patterson, William Volmer, Jeannette Korstad, Marilyn Price, Sally Patterson Adams, John E. Adams, David G. Patterson, Robert Buck, Leon G. Campbell, Wilcox Patterson, George Patterson, Bruce Patterson, Abigail Adams Campbell.

Nick Ritchie
NapaStyle, 2008, 28 pp.

Eric Sartenaer
Providing Bread and Pasta to the Bay Area, 2005, 50 pp.
Video Excerpts of A Bakery, Restaurant, and Pastaficio by Day and by Night Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4

Wizz Wentworth
Amante Bar, 2007, 41 pp.

Gene Williams (b. 1925)
"Farming in Southern Alameda County, 1950-1980," in The Patterson Family and Ranch: Southern Alameda County in Transition, volume 1. 1989, 261 pp.

Ronald C. Wornick
An Oral History. 2013, 222 pp.

 



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