Kevin Scanlon

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here.

Growing up in a Korean-American family in Hawaii, Paula Daniels had a precocious awareness of the natural environment. When her 12-year-old friends made "slam books," soliciting salacious opinions about their classmates, Daniels focused her book's questions on water conservation. "Mine asked, 'Do you turn off the water when you brush your teeth?' " she says, laughing. "I have always, always cared about water."

Daniels majored in broadcast journalism at USC but was dismayed after graduation to find few opportunities for environmental documentary work. So she went to law school. She'd already made partner when, in 1989, she saw a reminder of her 12-year-old activist self: a Heal the Bay T-shirt. "They had this very hip message about ocean water quality," she says. "I knew I wanted to help."

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Felicia Friesema

Poppy apricots at K&K Farms

Apricots join artichokes, garlic, avocados and citrus on the long list of fruits and flowers that make California agriculture the envy of the nation, if not the world. It's a finicky fruit that needs a dry spring (check), free of the late-spring frosts that can devastate crops (also check, at least this year). Excitement about apricots tends to get heaped on the later-season Blenheim, which has a near-legendary heirloom sweetness and versatility that people flock to come mid-June.

But right now, we have an abundance of the Poppy apricot, an early-season variety the color of the California state flower, with velvety smooth flesh and the classic sweet-tart balance of a good apricot. K&K Ranch out of Orosi had them out two weeks ago and the harvest just keeps coming. And then going. Terri Kashima, one of the K's of K&K, says her restaurant customers favor the fruit more than in previous years.

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Clarissa Wei

Strawberry nachos

The California Strawberry Festival was a two-day berry celebration May 19-20 at Oxnard's Strawberry Meadows of College Park. "We have so much more real estate compared to last year," Daisy Tatum, executive chair of the California Strawberry Festival, said. "The park has been totally improved -- we are dust-free this year. There is so much space and now we can see where we can even expand."

More than 50,000 people turned out for the festivities and a whopping 1.5 million strawberries were consumed over the weekend. "We have everything here," Tatum said. "But for me, anything with strawberries and whipped cream will do." There was plenty of that. The "Build Your Own" strawberry shortcake tent itself used 8,000 pounds of sliced strawberries, 275 flats of whole strawberries, 3,000 loaves of pound cake and 1,500 cans of whipped cream.

In case you missed out on the festivities, Squid Ink headed out to the event on Sunday and snapped some photos. Though there were plenty of non-berry-related vendors to go around, it was the strawberry dishes that stood out. From strawberry pizzas to deep-fried strawberries with a cinnamon sugar layer on top -- the festival had it all. If the samples and desserts were not enough, visitors could even purchase a large crate of strawberries to take home. Turn the page.

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Felicia Friesema

Morel mushrooms at Clearwater Farms at the Hollywood market

Morel mushrooms are back -- after a tense few days among antsy pickers up north. Conventional wisdom says that on the West Coast, morels show up in spring after two full days of 80-degree-plus weather and that they favor recently disturbed earth, either from fire, logging or new landscaping. This bodes well for creating new morel sites (there are a few websites dedicated to this kind of how-to), especially considering the market price per pound -- $40 or more depending on quality, adding up to about $10 million in wild harvests each year. But nature hasn't been cooperating much, either with the required warmth or sufficient water. Things finally kicked into gear this past week and -- weather and conditions permitting -- we should see morels into June.

Cultivation attempts aside, no one has been able to make a commercial operation of morel farming, and for this we're mostly grateful. There's a seasonal anticipation of their late-spring arrival that manifests in genuine excitement. One marketgoer smiled next to me as she was filling her bag with some of the larger mushrooms, like she was visiting with a cherished friend. Granted, a friend she intended to sauté in brown butter and chopped parsley and then eat, alone, paired with a dry and crisp Riesling, but we could hardly fault her. They're that special.

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A. Scattergood

Snow Angel peaches from Scott Farms

It's May at Los Angeles farmers markets, which means the arrival of stone fruit -- yes, already, if you can believe that -- with the first cherries and peaches, nectarines and even apricots. Also in late spring markets right now: English peas, fava beans, peppers, artichokes and strawberries. Check out our virtual grocery list, taken at the Wednesday Santa Monica farmers market. And yes, it tastes as good as it looks.

Flickr/kelso

flor de calabaza (squash blossoms)

This week's Twitter war began innocuously enough: On May 8, Portland-based food blogger and restaurateur Nick Zukin, who owns a Mexico City-style snack shop called Mi Mero Mole in PDX, inquired via Twitter where to find jarred flor de calabaza (squash blossoms) on a recent trip to Orange County. When no one in particular piped up with a particular location, Zukin (@extramsg) lamented that the item was easier to find in Oregon than in Southern California.

That statement attracted the attention of food blogger Bill Esparza (@streetgourmetla) and O.C. Weekly food editor Gustavo Arellano (@gustavoarellano), who responded that the statement was patently false, and that Zukin wasn't looking hard enough. Food-based barbs were traded, words like pendejo and gabacho were thrown around, and Zukin was compared unfavorably to a character in a Portlandia sketch. Zukin then pulled out the Rick Bayless card by suggesting L.A. was lacking a Mexican food expert on the level of the Chicago chef, a statement that definitely touched a nerve with two of our city's foremost authorities on the cuisine. The back and forth battle continued for a couple hours, like a electronic version of this year's Australian Open finals.

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Felicia Friesema

Sequoia cherries from Murray Family Farms

The big news at farmers markets this week had little to do with actual fruits and vegetables as much as our access to them. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced $4 million in awards to help states expand availability of wireless technology in farmers markets so they can participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a.k.a. food stamps.

"This funding will help SNAP customers increase their opportunities to access healthy, local foods," said Merrigan. "When we couple this approach with strategies like the education, cooking demonstrations, and community support often found at farmers markets, consumption of healthy foods should rise even more."

The bottom line for local markets could mean an increase in revenues to the tune of thousands of dollars. Right now, approximately 1000 of the nation's 7000 farmers markets accept SNAP. The down economy has also resulted in a 400% increase in SNAP purchases at participating farmers markets. Adding the wireless technology to accept SNAP knocks down a pretty big barrier to fresh food access, especially in neighborhoods where the closest apple is at the local convenience store.

But you came here for the cherries. Our favorite of the firsts -- the Sequoia -- unsurprisingly sold out before we could hit the Murray Family Farm stand at the Hollywood market this past Sunday. The Sequoia is a cherry game changer.

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Ryan Robert Miller

mini peppers

At first I was skeptical of the colorful mini peppers packaged in the clamshell at the grocery store. I can be wary of produce not sold from crates at farmers markets, and these glossy, firm, petite yellow, red and orange babies looked just too plastic-perfect and remarkably un-heirloom to be any good. But eventually the mini-me cuteness and a giant, bargain-priced bag proved too tempting.

The little peppers turned out to be as fun as they look. Not only are they honeyed as the name implies (they are marketed as both Sweet Mini Peppers and Veggie Sweet Peppers), their flesh is tender and they are practically seedless. Tasty cooked or raw, you can eat the peppers whole, and when roasted or grilled, the skin is so thin it needn't be removed.

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Felicia Friesema

Large-leaf basil from Tutti Frutti Farms at the Hollywood market

The big news on the tables this week was the arrival of not one but two favored stone fruits -- Spring Snow white peaches from Boujikian Farms at the Hollywood market on Sunday and the first cherries from Murray Family Farms at the Wednesday Santa Monica market. The cherries will be here through June and we'll see a big curve of peach varieties though August. But it was the sight of the lush leaves of basil that brought the coming summer harvests into full focus. They'll be around well into fall.

The sweet basil at Tutti Frutti Farms is as fragrant as flowers, throwing off clovey perfume from large, juicy leaves. Keep that similarity in mind at home -- pull a jar out, fill it with water, and keep the basil stems submerged, as you would a bouquet of flowers. They'll last longer, droop less and keep their flavor.

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Felicia Friesema

Green sour plums from Mark Boujikian Farms at the Hollywood market.

Most tree fruit farmers would dearly like to sweep last year under the rug. The last winter frosts nailed several prominent growers hard -- Scattaglia and Tenerelli among them -- reducing or completely eliminating whole crops of apricots, peaches, pears and plums. The cool spring that followed didn't help, delaying ripening and setting back harvest times by at least a week. But this year the ripening calendar looks more on target. Right now the cherry farmers are all eyeing the sky and hoping it stays dry.

"If Mother Nature cooperates, we'll see how the cherries do," said Teri Laughlin from K&K Farms out in Orosi. "Rain at this point will pop the fruit open. We're crossing our fingers."

Even with all the lucky weather, it's a bit early to see sour plums at the market. Mark Boujikian Farms out in Fresno decided these were ready for their 2012 debut, though they admit the early picking made them a bit small. "Next week they'll be bigger," said Freddie (just Freddie) at Mark Boujikian's Hollywood market table. "Still a great snack at this size, though."

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