Morning Lookout: Eaters Digest, standout seaweed and UCSC’s Dolores Huerta connection

Hello, hello, hello. It is Friday, Sept. 23, and a sunny day is ahead for Santa Cruz County, with a summery spread of temperatures — 70s closer to the shore, into the 90s in the mountains.

If you’re warmed up and ready to hit Lookout’s latest on your own, get after it.
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If you’re sticking with me for the tour, I hope you brought your appetite. Fridays at Lookout mean Eaters Digest, and not only has Lily Belli found an exquisite pastrami sandwich, she’s got the goods on a variety of festivals happening this weekend around the county and plenty more.

We also have another profile in our Farmers Market Fridays series, with Thomas Sawano sampling the locally foraged seaweed you can find at Seaquoia’s downtown stand. (And don’t miss our definitive guide to Santa Cruz County’s vibrant farmers market scene here.)

On campus, UCSC is naming its Research Center for the Americas after civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, and Hillary Ojeda has a Q&A with center director Sylvanna Falcón about how it went down. And for the students among you, or anyone with a student in their life, Student Lookout is back with deals, tips and more.

Before we get to the headlines, though, I wanted to let you know about a great chance to support both local journalism and a great local organization. Become an annual Lookout member now and 10% of the price of your membership will support the O’Neill Sea Odyssey’s Adam Webster Fund, a program that funds educational experiences for individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities. This program needs our help in ramping back up after being hit hard by the pandemic. It gets better — that donation will be matched by O’Neill Sea Odyssey donors. Click the links below for more info and to join Lookout.

Now how about some headlines?

Fall festivals, a succulent plum and Reef Dog’s perfect pastrami

It’s officially autumn, and that means harvest celebrations, Oktoberfests and a Bonny Doon standby. In this week’s Eaters Digest, Lily Belli also sinks her teeth into a farmers market gem and heads to Capitola for a warm hug. Consume!

➤ MORE FROM LILY: Dig into all of Lookout’s food & drink coverage here

Seaquoia harvests the deep (under the bay) forests to produce captivating edible kelp

Seaquoia, a homegrown seaweed merchant, is one of the only of its kind around Monterey Bay, and sells a wide range of products made from wild kelp. Thomas Sawano has our latest Farmers Market Fridays profile.

➤ ALL ABOUT FARMERS MARKETS: Our definitive guide to all of Santa Cruz County’s offerings

And that is a wrap for this week in Morning Lookout. That’s not to say the Lookout machine is slowing down, though — follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so you don’t miss what we have in store. Click here to sign up for text alerts and all of our other newsletters, which includes Sunday Reads, a specially curated selection of the week’s best stories.

None of our content is possible without community support, so if you’re not already, please consider becoming a Lookout member. And to all of our members, thank you! We appreciate each and every one of you.

Make the most of what’s shaping up to be a swell Friday, and have a safe, relaxing weekend!

Will McCahill
Lookout Santa Cruz