One Watsonville berry farmer spent $100 in just one morning before hitting the Saratoga Farmers Market on a recent Saturday. Daisy Ortiz told the Mercury News she visits about eight markets a week, traveling sometimes two hours between destinations. The total ends up at about $800 a week in gas. “We have to eat so I have to be out here. I can’t quit,” Ortiz told Eryn Gandotra, a rising senior at Santa Clara High writing for the Mercury through the Mosaic Journalism Workshop.
The prices for Ortiz’s fruit, and for others between the same rock and hard place as she is, scale up along with the high gas cost. Her strawberries, which used to run $4 per basket, now cost $5. Thing is, the average price for a gallon of gas in San Jose leapt up more than 50 percent since last year — and now costs $6.50. Initial policy for support through a Governor-backed $400 gas rebate have foundered, but Ortiz is holding out hope for whatever aid may become available.
This Sacramento grocery store gives out tons of coupons to fight inflation
In relevant news further north, Rancho San Miguel Market in Sac’s Oak Park neighborhood sent out more than 3,000 coupon flyers to bring food costs down for shoppers. The deals are time-sensitive and run a wide gamut of products; in the first week, for instance, customers can get a 24-pack of water bottles for 98 cents. According to the Sacramento Bee, the grocery store is one of the few Spanish-speaking, affordable options in the area.
Three Little Pigs-inspired bar opens in Sebastopol
In a grim news cycle, sometimes an old English fable-themed bar is just what the doctor ordered. The interior features, yes, straw and brick, and drinks include a rye- and fernet-based Big Bad Wolf and The Piggy Punch, served in a little piggy glass. The Chronicle writes that Third Pig isn’t the only opening in Wine Country, either, with nine other projects open or in the works all throughout the area.
Service workers celebrate minimum wage increase in the Mission
On July 1 the minimum wage in San Francisco increases from $16.32 to $16.99 per hour. Mission Local reports that service workers gathered at 24th Street BART Plaza to celebrate the increase, and to demand for more. Eder Juárez, a cook at various restaurants throughout the city, pointed out that the increase does very little against the rising tide of inflation. “If things were lowered a little bit more, well, it would help us a little bit,” he told Mission Local.
And this Reddit conversation on East Coast delis in the Bay Area got lively
On June 30, a post on Reddit, the self-proclaimed homepage of the Internet, asked “What’s with the lack of East Coast style Italian/Jewish Bakeries and Delis?” Within a day, and 473 comments and 489 upvotes later as of publication, Bay Area locals have taken the conversation to task. Some simply point out their favorite bakeries and delis in the area (such as Saul’s in Berkeley or the South Bay’s Gunther’s) while others have tried to crack the case on what makes one coast better than the other.