Living in the North Bay during harvest season is a delicious privilege and a downright pleasure.

As summer’s heat begins to fade into fall, seasonal crops grow ripe for the picking all across the agriculturally rich counties of Sonoma, Napa, and Marin. And the best part is, one doesn’t have to sow and grow their own fully-stocked pantry to have access to fantastic local food. Not when sourcing local ingredients is so, so much easier than all that tilling, tending, etc…

To help unearth these edible, informational gems, three local experts agreed to share their insight, experience and wisdom on the subject of sourcing local ingredients. Together, they cover the who, what, when, where and why of shopping for local produce and food products. The most satisfying part? Even though the experts were interviewed separately, all three of them were on nearly the exact same page when it comes to their love of local ingredients as well as their advice for sourcing them. And since it is very unlikely they all had a secret pre-interview meeting, it’s safe to assume they speak the truth.

So, who were these experts and what did they have to say? Well, in the spirit of ladies first, Christina Topham, owner and executive chef of Spread Kitchen in Sonoma, began her culinary career in 1999 after leaving a Wall Street tech job. She trained at The French Culinary Institute in New York City and gained experience at Les Olivades in Paris, The Savoy in New York City and Julia’s Kitchen in Napa before launching a boutique catering company in Brooklyn and working as a superyacht chef, sourcing local ingredients across the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Mexico.

Topham returned to Northern California in 2014 and opened Spread Kitchen in 2016, which evolved through the pandemic into meal kits, prepared foods, and farmers market sales, culminating in a brick-and-mortar location in Sonoma in 2022. Today, she serves Lebanese-inspired dishes with a California twist, emphasizing seasonal, local ingredients.

“As a yacht chef, I planned our menus but left some flexibility for whatever ingredients I might find wherever we were at the time,” explained Topham. “Even with the restaurant, using local ingredients requires flexibility, time and effort to source things and pick them up.”

“Local food is… I would say there’s definitely stuff that’s hyperlocal that’s from here in Sonoma,” she added. “But I still consider stuff pretty local if it’s Bay Area-centric. There are varying degrees of local. Super hyper local for me comes from Sonoma County, but then I consider it a good thing if I’m getting something out of Brentwood too, since it’s still way better than if it’s coming out of Arizona or something.”

Topham’s suggestions for those looking to buy more local ingredients include looking into farm boxes nearby (and finding someone to split them with, since they can contain a hefty amount of fruit and veggies). She also suggests heading to farms if they have visiting hours, or even looking for local produce at grocery stores or attending one of the many nearby food festivals or events.

“If people are interested in more local stuff, see what’s going on in your town,” she said. “I feel like there’s always some sort of food event taking place. Olive season is coming up, and I know that there are plenty of olive events around olive season. Plus harvest events. Some farms have events too.”

Luke Regalbuto, owner and operator of Wild West Ferments, works alongside his wife, Maggie Levinger, to create artisanal sauerkraut, kimchi and sodas found in more than 200 stores and at their West Marin Culture Shop in Point Reyes. The venture began when Levinger, who grew up in Inverness, trained in nutrition and restaurant work and developed a passion for probiotics and fermentation while traveling globally.

Wild West Ferments produces all-organic fermented foods using traditional methods like ceramic crocks, focusing on quality, flavor and nutrition while avoiding plastic. Their storefront doubles as a “fermented micro food hall,” showcasing their products alongside other artisanal foods and DIY fermentation resources, reflecting the couple’s commitment to traditional foodways, community and adventurous globally inspired flavors.

“My general philosophy with sourcing ingredients is the more direct, the better,” said Regalbuto. “If you can get your ingredients directly from the farmer or producer, it’ll be better quality. And it’s better for the farmer too … so yes, direct is always going to be the best.”

Regalbuto’s other favorite ways of sourcing local ingredients include farmstands like Little Wing, farmers markets (especially the San Rafael Farmers Market) and the Agricultural Institutes. He also suggests Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) as another fantastic resource.

“If I’ve done all that direct farm shopping but want chickpeas or something that’s not locally produced, then I go to Good Earth,” he said. “It’s my favorite grocery store. For staples, I go to their bulk department. They have such a great variety, and a good bulk section is the mark of a great grocery store, in my opinion.”

Last but far from least is Tony Najiola, the local chef and owner of Petaluma’s own Central Market. For more than 20 years, Najiola’s restaurant has fed its guests with no-frills, all-skills dishes that aren’t trying to impress … they’re just that impressive. Najiola began cooking in New Orleans before moving to New York, eventually settling in San Francisco, and later making Sonoma his long-term home.

“I’ve lived in Sonoma longer than anywhere else in my life,” he said. “Clearly, it resonates with me. Right now, I’m sitting under a 40-year-old plum tree on my property. To be honest, I’ve always been more interested in how food and culture go hand in hand than anything else. I’m not really interested in trying to reinvent the wheel, just in trying to be a good craftsperson and a good cook. That’s all I’ve ever aspired to be —a good cook. That’s where my passion comes from, the desire to make people happy because I’m feeding them.”

Najiola has always been drawn to rustic, ingredient-driven cuisine and the cultural stories behind food, prioritizing craftsmanship and simplicity over culinary theatrics. His secret? Sourcing great ingredients and treating them with respect, skill and refined simplicity. Every dish, after all, is a sum of its ingredients and the hands that cooked them.

“Right now, we’re in the middle of harvest,” he said. “So it’s easy to get great local ingredients and produce. I can tell you there’s not a meal I sit down to that isn’t represented with tomatoes and cucumbers since their season is right now—you have to embrace what’s in front of you with food, and right now there’s a great variety.”

“All the farms around us are representing the same things,” added Najiola. “I try to deal directly with the farmer for a few reasons, mostly to keep the price down and give them as much income as possible.”

His advice for locals looking to source local ingredients includes FEED Cooperative, the North Bay collective with an impressive network of 50-plus farms. He also suggests finding close-by farmstands and dealing directly with the farmers themselves.

In fact, all three experts’ insight boils down to one overarching theme: Buy ingredients as directly as possible, not just for better taste and nutritional value, but to support the hardworking local farmers and food producers whose labour brings the North Bay its incredible flavor.

“I studied organic agriculture,” said Regalbuto. “When you get your hands in the dirt and work on agricultural projects, you realize how hard it is. I may have moved more into production, but I have such a profound respect for people who do that work, and we have to support them. It’s so hard for food products, especially in the Bay Area, where the cost of living is so high. It won’t be there if we don’t support it.”

“I remember one back-and-forth I had with this tough-as-nails little lady peach farmer,” said Najiola. “I found myself arguing with her on the price of peaches. Then I looked at her one day … and thought to myself, ‘What is wrong with you? Pay her.’ Farming is so, so hard—there’s so much trying to destroy what you’re trying to create. The least we can do is respect and try to compensate that sort of effort.”

“I actually think a really big gap that could be filled a lot better here would be to have a produce market that really carries only local ingredients,” Topham concluded. “When I lived in St. Louis, there was a local market with local eggs, local milk, local produce, local food … a food co-op like that would do really well here, and we could really, really benefit from that. It blows me away that nobody has started something like that between Sonoma, Marin and Napa. How is it possible we don’t have a co-op like that?”

Ultimately, shopping and eating local isn’t just about health, taste or sustainability—it’s about the sum of those parts, which amalgamates to a sense of community one can taste. From the hardworking farmers growing the produce to the people crafting it into delicious products to the ranchers tending cattle and even the cows grazing and making milk and chickens clucking and laying their eggs. All of these components come together to create the tables families and friends gather around, both at home and when eating out. That extensive network of collaboration brings the most incredible, edible and tangible sense of community and humanity to the North Bay.