Northern California Food Movement

Social, cultural and agricultural history from the 1970s to 1990s

Collections

• Allegra, Antonia “Toni.” Papers

  (D-685)

  Antonia “Toni” Allegra founded the Symposium for Professional Food Writers in 1989 and established the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers while also serving as its first director. A lecturer and teacher, Allegra also coaches food and wine writers and professionals in publishing books and articles, as well as in developing their careers. She has held many offices throughout her career including president of the San Francisco chapter of Les Dames d'Escoffier in 1992 and culinary director of La Cocina Que Canta Culinary Center at Rancho de la Puerta, Mexico. Allegra also served as culinary director of the Beringer Vineyards School for American Chefs and was inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame in 2006.
  
  Allegra has written regional travel and wine guides including Napa Valley: The Ultimate Winery Guide, Napa Valley Expedition Guide, and Wine Country Deck. She was founding editor-in-chief of Vine Napa Valley, Napa Valley Tables, and Appellation magazines. Allegra was the San Diego Evening Tribune’s food editor, having served during the 1970s-80s.
  
  The collection contains materials including newspapers and article clippings, correspondence, event booklets and pamphlets, menus, and photographs. 
  
  This collection is not yet processed. Please contact Archives and Special Collections in advance to request access.

• Brennan, Georgeanne. Papers

  (D-739)

  UC San Diego alumna and Les Dames d'Escoffier member Georgeanne Brennan is a writer, teacher, and James Beard Award-winning cookbook author. By the time she and her friend Charlotte Glen founded Le Marché Seeds in 1982, Brennan – who always wanted to be a writer – had spent a number of years in southern France attending the University of Aix-Marseille and then after marrying her husband. Le Marché was a mail-order heirloom vegetable seed company that served home gardeners and organic market growers nationwide.
   
  Brennan’s path to her prolific cookbook-writing career was planted among the recipes that were included in the Le Marché catalog, and high demand from exposure in national magazines such as Vogue and Family Circle led them to start regular columns in the San Jose Mercury News and San Francisco Chronicle. Brennan and Glan collaborated with Isaac Cronin and soon published the New American Vegetable Cookbook (1984).
   
  After selling Le Marché Seeds, Brennan continued writing cookbooks and was a James Beard finalist for Potager: Fresh Garden Cooking in the French Style (1992) and the Glass Pantry: Preserving Flavors (1994). Her cookbook memoir the Food and Flavors of Haute Provence (1998) won a James Beard Award (International Cookbook category), and Aperitif: Recipes for Simple Pleasures in the French Style (1997), won the Wine and Spirits category at the 1998 International Association of Culinary Professionals (also known as the Julia Child Cookbook Award). Her Williams-Sonoma series, Savoring France, won a Versailles International Cookbook award. Brennan’s writing has also been featured in the New York Times, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Gourmet, and Sunset magazine. Brennan’s most recent book is Market Memories Cookbook: Celebrating 50 Years (2026), written with Davis Farmers Market co-founder, Ann Evans.
  
  The collection contains publications, photographs, articles and clippings, seed catalogs, research files, and notes. 
  
  This collection is not yet processed. Please contact Archives and Special Collections in advance to request access.
  

• Chef Martin Yan Legacy Archive

  (D-714)

  Certified master chef and UC Davis alumnus (Food Science, BA '73, MS ’77) Martin Yan is a world-renowned celebrity chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and one of the first people of Asian descent in the United States to host a daily cooking show. He first launched "Yan Can Cook" in 1982, filming more than 3,500 globally broadcasted episodes in what would become one of the longest-running food and travel television programs on PBS. 
  
  Yan is a multi-James Beard Award winner in the categories of Best TV Cooking Show (1994), Best TV Food Journalism (1996), and the James Beard Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award (2022). He is also an inductee of the Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America (2001). In 2011, Yan was awarded the Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2013, the UC Davis Distinguished Achievement Award.
  
  This collection’s digital files contain photographs, videos, media clips, and slides taken behind the scenes while filming Yan Can Cook, Inc. television productions. The physical collection includes artifacts such as tools Yan used while teaching Chinese cooking classes at UC Davis. 
  
  Chef Yan’s donated collection of several thousand culinary and cookbooks, in multiple languages, can be found in the library catalog. Some are housed in Archives and Special Collections, while others are available for browsing in the general stacks in Shields Library. 
  
  This collection is not yet processed. Please contact Archives and Special Collections in advance to request access.
  

• Corn, Elaine Papers

  (D-679)

  Elaine Corn is a food editor, award-winning culinary journalist, and author of six cookbooks. Corn's journalism career started in Texas, where she worked as a copy editor for the Dallas Morning News and the Austin American-Statesman. While working at the Austin American-Statesman, Corn lobbied to create a food section and assumed the role of food editor in 1978. In 1986 Corn was hired by the Sacramento Bee, where she spent the rest of her newspaper career. During Corn's tenure, the Sacramento Bee won awards for Best Food Reporting and Best Food Section. She is the recipient of a Julia Child Cookbook Award and a James Beard Award in 1995. This collection contains newspaper columns, freelance proposals, reviews, syllabi from journalism workshops and writing courses, published writing about Corn, and audio clips of radio stories for Capital Public Radio.

• Davis Food Co-op Records

  (D-594)

  The Davis Food Co-op was founded in 1972 by Davis, California, residents and UC Davis students. The organization began as a grocery buying club and originally operated out of members' homes. In 1976, the first store opened on L Street, and in 1978 the Co-op moved to Fifth Street. The Co-op was officially incorporated as a California cooperative corporation in 1981.
  
  The collection includes brochures, flyers, articles of incorporation, and materials related to cooperatives and small farms. The collection also includes a Rolodex file of quick answers to questions about food ingredients and additives.

• DePuy, Joanne. Papers.

  (D-656)

  Photographs, business records, correspondence, clippings, and audiovisual material related to Napa Valley entrepreneur and wine enthusiast Joanne DePuy's businesses, especially Wine Tours International; the Napa Valley Wine Symposium; and the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 (popularly known as the Judgment of Paris). Napa Valley entrepreneur and wine enthusiast Joanne DePuy (1927-2026) was the founder of Wine Tours International, Wine Adventures, the Napa Valley Docent Council, Tennis Limited, and the Napa Valley Wine Symposium. She was active in the Napa Valley wine world since 1973, when she launched Wine Tours International with the idea of creating a way for winemakers around the world to meet and learn from one another.

• Di Vecchio, Jerry. Papers

  (D-769)

  Jerry Di Vecchio is former food and wine editor for Sunset Magazine and headed the magazine’s food department between 1981 and her retirement in 2001. She edited nearly forty cookbooks during her tenure, including fifteen Best of Sunset books and the Sunset Italian Cookbook, authored hundreds of Sunset articles, and collaborated with Francoise Dudal Kirkman to write a children’s cookbook, You've Got Recipes: A Cookbook for a Lifetime. Di Vecchio has also served as a University of California Extension and California community colleges instructor, as well as a food industry consultant. Di Vecchio is co-founder of the San Francisco chapter of Les Dames d’ Escoffier and was bestowed the Grande Dame lifetime achievement award in 2001. She also serves on the board of the M.F.K. Fisher Foundation, a non-profit group dedicated to promoting the writings and legacy of the preeminent food writer.
  
  This collection includes travel files, photographs and slides, and event records and notes.
  
  This collection is not yet processed. Please contact Archives and Special Collections in advance to request access.
  

• Fujimoto, Isao. Papers

  (D-601)

  Correspondence, journals, and publications related to alternative technology, development of the Northern California food movement, and community and rural development. Isao Fujimoto (1933-2022) was a Senior Lecturer Emeritus in Asian American Studies and the UC Davis Graduate Program in Community Development. He joined UC Davis in 1967 as a founding member of the community development program and later founded the Asian-American Studies program. Fujimoto's many contributions to the Davis community include his work with the Davis Farmer's Market and the Davis Food Co-op, and development of the Alternative Agricultural Resources Project.

• Goldstein, Joyce. Papers

  (D-648)

  Her papers contain interviews she conducted and work related to Inside the California Food Revolution; columns from the San Francisco Chronicle, Sommelier Journal, and Vegetarian Times; and draft chapters of Solo Suppers.

  Joyce Goldstein is a chef, author, and consultant to the restaurant and food industries. She was chef/owner of Square One restaurant in San Francisco, California from 1984-1996 and worked for three years as executive chef at Cafe at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. She is the author of twenty-eight cookbooks, including James Beard Award winners Festive Occasions (with Chuck Williams) (1993) and Back to Square One (1992), and one of the first comprehensive cookbooks on Mediterranean cuisine, The Mediterranean Kitchen (1989).

• Jolly, Desmond. Papers

  (D-767)

  Desmond Jolly is Cooperative Extension Economist Emeritus of UC Davis and Director Emeritus of the UC Statewide Small Farm Program. Jolly’s work and research examines agricultural sustainability and diversity of small farms, agricultural marketing, and public opinions on the price and availability of organic products. Dr. Jolly taught at the University of the District of Columbia and Howard University before joining UC Davis in 1971.
   
  Appointed in 1995 as Director of the UC Statewide Small Farm Program (SFP), Jolly led efforts to connect resources to Black, Latinx, and women in agriculture, which centered SFP as a national leader in advocating for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. He co-created the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR) California Agritourism Program, publishing and highlighting the work of women and organic farmers and ranchers in the state. Jolly’s influence in California farming endures – his recommendations for deficiencies in USDA programs and policies were reiterated in the USDA Equity Commission report in 2024. His recognitions include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Farm Conference, Outstanding Black Agricultural Economist Award, and the prestigious Eric Bradford and Charlie Rominger Agricultural Sustainability Leadership Award in 2026.
  
  This collection is not yet processed. Please contact Archives and Special Collections in advance to request access.