Being from Los Angeles originally myself, I was put in my place some years ago when I was building our little corner of nirvana here. One day I was entering a local café. I was new in town and building our stone hearth oven (which seemed to perplex everyone). Then there was the concept that I was going to be using organics (forget that they were from neighboring farms! I was in pesticide-riddled territory and a very red part of the state)… In any event as I started to enter the café an elderly woman was exiting and I held the door open. Tall, regal, and very beautiful with striking gray ponytails down to her waist she thanked me gracioulsy. To top it all off she had spurs on her dusty cowboy boots! Someone introduced me and informed the woman what I was doing at the other end of the small town (a few hundred yards away). When she asked where I came from I nervously commented that I had moved to “Little LA” (Los Alamos) from “Big LA.” Immediately the woman responded in a harsh tone “I left Smell-A 50 years ago and this is no ‘Little LA.’” I stood corrected.

I never saw that woman again but have grown to know some of what she expressed to me that day. While we do not have the cultural options that urban residents have, we are surrounded by wonderful farms and wonderful people and deep, fertile soils. Locations, people, and resources, that we must not let be overtaken by development or “flipped” in some short-sighted real estate lambrythine scam. Many of the people who have dedicated themselves to farming (and fishing) in this area do so by farming in the “shadow of the city.” Farmers, ranchers, and food artisans, make the long weekly journey to LA (to the Santa Monica and other Farmers’ Markets or to sell in Whole Foods and Gelsons and other retailers – which is what we do) to generate income that ideally pays for their businesses and livlihood.

Thank you for your compliments on the food we prepare here and please, spread your desire for other LA area restaurants, and food purveyors, to make the same connection to your own ‘local’ farmers – be they local in that they drive down from here and sell at the Farmers’ Markets – or that they have carved out a niche of land somewhere in LA and grow their crops there. It is not easy (for consumers or restaurants) and it is not convenient but the end result – the commitment to food that has integrity – will shine.

Thanks for coming up! Hope to see you soon.

Clark Staub
Owner – Full of Life Flatbread