Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler temperatures and changing tree colors and delight in stocking up on late summer/fall fruits and vegetables, including the beautiful beacons of autumn: pumpkins. I’m elated to be surrounded by warm hues of orange, yellow, purple, brown, and red.
The season makes me think of beer — a big IPA or Oktoberfest lager. That led us to wonder how Reno-Tahoe’s beer industry has been faring. Will demand for craft products continue to grow? Is there room for new competition? Is consolidation on the horizon? Local brewers discuss current trends and future industry potential in our story on the topic.
Fall also makes me crave mushrooms. It’s a perfect time to forage for local specimens (tasty morels, boletes, giant sawtooths). But why not just cultivate them at home instead? Learn to grow your own with local kits.
It’s time to welcome heartier meals back into rotation, including beef dishes. Are you craving premium meat from a local source? Let us introduce you to Genesee Valley Ranch, a family-run operation raising grass-fed wagyu in the tiny Plumas County town of Taylorsville. The Palmaz family truly knows how to raise the steaks.
As we move closer to the holidays, a time of plenty for many (packed with feast-filled gatherings), I’m concerned for those who suffer food insecurity. Among those most affected are Indigenous peoples. As writer Barbara Twitchell shares in our cover story, food insecurity in our Indigenous population is a serious and complex problem that’s rooted in our country’s history of forced colonization and exacerbated by challenges brought on by the pandemic. Luckily, many individuals and programs are focused on helping these people and not just temporarily. Local tribes and community partners are setting up long-term pathways toward tribal food sovereignty, and their initiatives give me hope.
I bet you didn’t know that you can take a trip to another country by traveling less than an hour’s drive from Reno. In a feature story, learn about a micronation, The Republic of Molossia. Its currency is cookie dough, and its people observe several food-and-drink-related festivals and holidays, including Chocolate Mint Day (Feb. 19), the Moonpie Festival (Sept. 15), and Day of the Dude (March 6), featuring white Russians. Visit between April and October, and don’t forget to take your passport!
We’re constantly amazed by our fascinating and varied food-and-drink scene, and we love discovering and sharing stories about it. Please reach out via phone, email, or social media if you have a story to share.
Happy fall!
About the cover From left, Loren Decker with his wife, Melissa, and their granddaughter, Priseis Decker, in front of the garden and hoop house on their property in Sutcliffe near Pyramid Lake, on the Paiute Tribe’s reservation. Photo by Asa Gilmore
