Beloved Community…

Borrowing a phrase from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., welcome to this issue of Edible San Diego, a precious respite from screen time and the stresses of the continuing pandemic. “Beloved community” is a beautiful and challenging vision that resonates with our vision as a business and with this issue of the magazine.

Last summer, in response to the Black Lives Matter protests, our small team committed to commissioning more stories about Black-owned businesses in our region and to dedicating this issue of the magazine to food justice. This topic is deeply rooted in our mission, but we recognized it deserved new and sustained emphasis. Our features “Black Food Matters” and “A Taste of Home” share perspectives of local Black entrepreneurs and recent immigrants. Let us listen and learn about how food can bring us together and show how much more we have to do as a community.

We take a look at an unintended consequence of takeout food, a survival strategy for restaurants and home cooks alike. We are sure you have noticed that the same packaging designed to protect our health also presents huge issues. Let’s explore some options.

All this time at home has also led to a new or renewed interest in gardening, so Nan Sterman’s piece on growing from seeds comes at the perfect time for spring in Southern California.

It’s always a proud moment to greet you each issue. I feel a mixture of pride in how much we sacrificed and innovated to be here today and concern that the pandemic’s decimation of health, incomes, and business might make revenues from advertising, memberships, and subscriptions unequal to the task of running this lean little business.

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Photo by Isabelle Mattox

Old rules for how each of us participates in the fast-changing world of media keep morphing; dare we envision a new relationship of community-supported media? We aim to meet you where you are with a refreshed website and ever more opportunities to connect digitally. If you love the stories we present or have ideas about what else we should write about, please join, subscribe, and reach out. If you think your business aligns with our awesome readers, let’s work together. And if you already have—thank you!

We’re motivated to keep working hard because local food is essential to creating a more just world. Preparing for this note, I was so appreciative to hear Dr. King’s vision mentioned on the radio. His “beloved community” offers solace and faith that we’re up to the challenge.
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Katie Stokes

Publisher, Edible San Diego

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