Playing With Food

The dragon fruit is a cactus and succulent native to Central America – from Southern Mexico to El Salvador. They are now grown in places with similar climates, like Vietnam and Australia. And … you guessed it … right here on the Central Coast.

Do you think gluten-free baked goods taste horrible? That they are dry and crumbly, hard to swallow, and generally unpleasant? Well, there are people out there who – very much like the sourdough-crazed pandemic bakers – are feverishly working toward tasty gluten-free products.

Who doesn’t love garlic? It makes all food taste better, plus it’s got loads of health benefits: it can lower blood pressure and cholesterol, improve athletic performance and possibly even help you live longer! When we think of growing garlic, we think of Gilroy, the Garlic Capital of the World, that’s 2hrs away! But garlic is also grown right here on the Central Coast. So, the Playing With Food Team ventured down to Arroyo Grande.

Bagels are much more than just a bread roll with a hole in the middle. It’s got a particular texture on the inside and a different texture on the outside. Bagels are popping up on the Central Coast, mostly in the craft bread bakeries. But there’s one guy in SLO making bagels the old-fashioned way…and doing something extra special with them.

There is one diet that is as old as humankind! Literally! And that’s the Paleo Diet. Not knowing anything about the Paleo Diet, the PWF Team visited NOSH Paleo Café in Nipomo to get educated.A quick note about the following conversation… this is general information, not medical advice. KCBX is not recommending any particular diet, and if you’re thinking about making a significant change to how you eat, please check with your doctor first.

We all remember canned pears in our school lunches, but why would you eat those when you can just go pluck a fresh pear off a tree not very far away from you? All along the Central Coast, pears are in season from August to October. The Playing With Food Team picked a few perfect pears.

Beans. They come in so many varieties, and they are absolutely delicious. One local farmer grows many varieties of beans: the kind that you pod and all, like green beans; the kind you have to soak overnight, like pinto beans, and another surprising variety!

Our Global Family Farm is a permaculture demonstration farm in a corner of SLO City Farm in San Luis Obispo, which is a “whole systems thinking” approach to horticulture and living.

Spirulina has been a food source for millennia. It’s been a popular supplement in the US for decades. And it's being produced right here on the Central Coast.

The on-again-off-again tariffs of 2025 have already had a local impact. The food and drinks industries on the Central Coast feel the pain, not just in the pocketbook, but also in operations.

A local delivery service fills the gap between the farm boxes, supermarket and restaurants … ordered from one place and delivered to your doorstep.

What's in a sausage? Dare one look? The owner of Lobo Butcher in Gudalupe shows Fr. Ian just how pure, local and fresh sausages can be.

Caramels - real caramels - are easy to make and delicious! One Central Coast nurse-wife-mother makes caramels in her kitchen, using honey produced by her bees.

We don't typically associate wheat crops with California, but they are here! And as a part of their Agriculture Enrichment Program, Shandon and San Miguel School Districts are growing wheat to teach kids about where their food comes from, supported by the Wheat-2-School program of the California Wheat Commission. And it's happening right here on the Central Coast!

Are you making wine in your garage? Then you may be considered “garagsiste”. But instead of in being a pejorative term, the Garagiste Festival in North San Luis Obispo County celebrates wines from wineries that produce fewer than 1,500 cases annually. (And they aren’t really made in the garage!)

Playing With Food is serving up a 3-course episode for you this holiday season! And it’s all about BBQ! BBQ hero Steven Raichlen hosted a PBS show called Barbecue University. And now BBQ U is now a real, live in-person event right here on the Central Coast. The first course is visit to a class of BBQ U. The second course is to find out how BBQ U happen. And our third course is a sit-down with the hero himself, Steven Raichlen. You will be pulling out your grill by the end of this show!

What does Corporate Social Responsibility have to do with food, and what does food have to do with Corporate Social Responsibility (or CSR)? It has to do with food when a prominent farmer and wine producer in the region operates his businesses on this model…which is having a positive impact on the community.

Who would have thought that coffee could grow on the California Coast. The Playing With Food Team visited one of the first coffee plantations in California in Morro Bay, and the State's only coffee processing facility in Ventura.

Wine. It’s all around us. And there’s so much to learn! There are classes at Broken Earth Winery in Paso Robles which include learning the basics and tasting the varietals, but also pairing food and wine!