Crawdads, a.k.a. crayfish, crawfish, or mudbugs, are tiny freshwater crustaceans built on the plan of lobsters. In the U.S. they are most associated with the Mississippi River delta, in Louisiana. 90% of the world’s crawdads come from Louisiana, but they are eaten worldwide, with Scandinavians especially fond of them. Not so many people know that California has a delta, but the crawdads know it. We traveled to Isleton in the heart of the Sacramento River Delta to sample a bucket of them.

There are still regional food products to be discovered. Utz “The Crab Chip”[R] Potato Chips are not crab flavored. They are flavored with proclaimed “Chesapeake Bay crab seasoning.” That’s an aromatic spice mixture. The spice works well with potato chips, making an exceptionally good product, worthy of export from the East Coast.

The Western world tends to celebrate New Year’s with liquid treats. However, the Lunar New Year is approaching, and that requires traditional New Year’s candy. When my wife told me of the candy tradition, I asked her to get some from the Oriental market to sample. None of the chocolate or peppermint nonsense, I tried kumquat, banana, coconut-durian, and sweet beans. The beans, while traditional, are not exactly candy. They are beans.

Moylan’s Brewery and Restaurant is in Novato, just off the freeway less than an hour north pf San Francisco. My excuse for not having stopped there before is that it blends into the confusion of a large shopping center. We happened upon it around Christmastime. Who could resist bangers and mash with a tasty pomegranate wheat ale? No one I know.

Persimmons have many virtues. Persimmon trees are lovely, with dark green foliage a plentiful fruit worn like orange Christmas tree ornaments. The fruit is sweet and delicious, and there are only a few small seeds up near the stem. The problem with persimmons is that they only can be eaten when they are absolutely dead ripe. Otherwise the astringent flesh threatens to screw your face into a permanent pucker. A ripe astringent persimmon is not merely soft, it is a bag of jelly. And not just a partial bag of jelly, with some firmness near the stem. A ripe persimmon is 100% squishy.

The sign in the market pointed out that only the skin of the black watermelon was black, and that it was red inside. Good point. Last summer, black watermelons were in the news when a coveted densuke melon, grown only in Hokkaido at the northern tip of Japan, sold for the equivalent of $6100. Mine was 49 cents a pound, making it about $5, but I have some suspicion it differed in other ways as well.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in China and East Asia in the middle of the eighth lunar month. That is usually the full moon in late September or early October on the Western calendar. This year it is October 3. A moon cake is necessary for a proper celebration. Asian Markets are well stocked for the occasion. The preparation of a moon cake is elaborate, so they are not usually made at home.

A simple plan: pick up a few basic ingredients at some market near the park and drive up to a picnic spot. I hope you have done the same thing. The point of this post is to encourage this particular delight. I had in mind bread, salami, cheese and olives, great low-fuss stuff. No chaffing dishes required. Good fortune helped make a good thing better.

I once asked my young nieces, who had recently moved to California, what their favorite foods were. Once said “pizza.” The other said “artichokes.” Clever girl. I still do not understand why there is no nationwide chain of artichoke restaurants. We recently revisited Castroville, the heart of artichoke culture in the US, as part of a regular program of reacquaintace with the vegetable.

Cherry season is a highpoint of the food year. In the U.S., it is mainly June and July, although seasons are not as strict as they used to be. Markets are dominated by dark red Bing cherries and, less commonly, red-tinged creamy yellow Rainier cherries. Royal Ann cherries are similar to Rainier, in fact some people claim they are indistinguishable. Royal Ann cherries are made into maraschino cherries. Yes, yellow cherries are the starting point for the glowing red entries in fruit cocktails and exotic drinks.