How California’s anti-Trump resistance is defined by food

good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

Donald Trump’s return to power comes as food has once again emerged as a political symbol. Despite a seismic year, some California suburbs are refusing to repair vulnerable buildings. “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” combined to shake up the box office over the weekend. 170 million dollars. And this is today’s electronic newspaper.

Arugula and Raspberry Vinaigrette Revolution

For the California-born foodie, America’s rise under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s must have been a bit of a pain in the stomach.

Their anti-corporate, organic farm-to-table aesthetic was forged during the protests of the 1960s, when Reagan was California’s conservative governor and a fun antagonist of the counterculture. (A bit of irony: “Their sign says, ‘Make love, not war.’ It seems to me that they can do neither.”)

The biggest food obsessions of the Reagan administration included Zipper’s love of jelly beans, the administration’s efforts to have ketchup classified as a vegetable, and the nation’s bizarre obsession with government-surplus cheese. also didn’t help.

But the California rebels didn’t give up and said, “I’m supersized!” They bent over the kitchen and carefully sourced the ingredients. They took quality seriously and produced and drank a lot of wine. By the time Reagan left the White House, they had transformed the way America thought about food and changed the way we ate with “California Cuisine.”

Historian Kevin Starr captures this change in his book The Coast of Dreams, writing, “Just as they encountered politics as adolescents in the 1960s, when politics stalls and they get stuck, they turn to wine and food. “I turned my attention to it,” he said.

Ronald Reagan, famous as a fan of jelly beans, in 1968.

(Bettman Archive)

Food tolerance that changed the world

It was “intended as an escape from politics, but always managed to reassert itself as a statement of a political generation”, he added.

I’ve been thinking about this moment in the weeks since Donald Trump won a return visit to the White House and food re-emerged as a political symbol. During the campaign, Trump demonstrated the loyalty of a regular by tossing fries at McDonald’s for several minutes. And last weekend, Mr. Trump, Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr., Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others jetted together for a “Viral Dinner” featuring Big Macs, French fries, Chicken McNuggets, and Quarter Pounders. Photos from the party have been posted.

No judgment from me. I am a regular McDonald’s customer and currently have 640,509 points in the app.

But the rise of “California cuisine” as an antidote to the Reagan presidency offers a model for those struggling to adapt to the new Trump era.

After all, resistance comes in many forms, and Californians know how to play the long game.

California voters banned same-sex marriage in 2008, when America’s first black president, Barack Obama, was elected. For activists, it was a call to action, with California leading the charge and ending with the U.S. Supreme Court recognizing gay unions.

Next is immigrant rights. California currently has the strongest protections for immigrants without legal status. This, too, was the result of a years-long struggle after voters in 1994 approved the nation’s toughest measure on the undocumented and notorious Proposition 187.

Chez Panisse in Berkeley, the originator of California cuisine.

(San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images)

Haute cuisine and political division

The gourmets behind California cuisine had more than politics in mind. For them, that time and place felt like destiny, writes Joyce Goldstein in “Inside the California Food Revolution.” She wrote that there was a generation of rebels obsessed with fresh, local, seasonal food who lived in a state with “rich soil and a climate ideal for growing a variety of foods.” Ta. “People were taking their food seriously. Using fresh, local, ‘politically correct’ produce and artisan products, and having a philosophy behind the food, was paramount. ”

Its influence can be seen everywhere, from the abundance of organic produce and olive oil on supermarket shelves to the attention to ingredients and nutritional value.

California’s culinary traditions are vast but mixed. Critics say gastronomic culture can easily slip into elitism. Does America really need celebrity chefs and professionally sourced $300 dinners?

“When Ronald Reagan espoused trickle-down economics, brought the federal regulatory system to its knees, and unleashed the rapacious IDs of Wall Street, the people who thrived in this greed-is-good era started eating smoked salmon pizza at Spago in Los Angeles. I savored the truffled chicken breast at Jam’s in Manhattan,” Brent Cunningham wrote in an essay about the political weaponization of food.

The stalls at the weekly farmers market in downtown San Luis Obispo are stacked with fresh produce.

(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

The limits of President Trump’s McDonald’s politics

Ironically, the culinary movement promoted during the Reagan Revolution may have contributed to the rise of MAGA. President Trump’s lionization of McDonald’s is part of a larger conservative meme that positions Democrats as an arugula-loving elite completely divorced from the average Jones.

But looking at the chaos of America in 2024, it’s hard to find that the secret sauce is fast food. After all, good food is good food, regardless of its origins.

Goldstein talks about an early victory for food rebels in California in 1983. Queen Elizabeth visited Japan as a state guest, and Reagan hosted her at a gala dinner in San Francisco. The menu was very Californian, with Zinfandel-braised salmon, lamb salad with lentils, radicchio, and enoki mushrooms.

“Dinner included many of the ingredients that were so overused in the early days of California cooking that they became clichés. Raspberry vinegar, walnut oil, and newly acquired imported balsamic vinegar were poured over everything without hesitation.” wrote Mr. Goldstone.

Everyone loved it. California food theory ultimately won out. And it started not from the heart, but from the stomach.

Today’s top news

During the 1994 Northridge earthquake, buildings with weak ground floors collapsed on top of cars.

(U.S. Geological Survey)

Despite a seismic year, some California suburbs are refusing to repair vulnerable buildings.

In some of the suburbs closest to the widely felt earthquakes that hit Los Angeles County this summer and fall, there are no active plans to require retrofitting of vulnerable “soft story” apartment buildings. In these soft-story buildings, there is room for a carport on the ground floor. , garage or retail store. They are supported by fragile, slender pillars that can collapse if they sway from side to side during an earthquake.

Avian influenza virus has been detected in raw milk in California.

State health officials confirmed Sunday that the H5N1 avian influenza virus was detected in retail samples of raw milk from Fresno-based Raw Farm Dairy, which announced the recall. The news comes as 29 people in California, nearly all dairy farm workers, have tested positive for the virus. So far, there have been no reports of illness related to the Law Firm recall.

Traveling to California before Thanksgiving? Expect rain.

what else is going on

Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.

This morning’s must-read

(Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

California now produces so much solar energy that the state increasingly has to ask solar farms to shut down production to prevent overloading the power grid. In the past 12 months, the electricity that powers 518,000 California homes for a year has been reduced or scrapped.

The oversupply of solar power calls into question the state’s plan to generate all its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045.

How can we make this newsletter even more useful? Send your comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

for your downtime

Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda.

(Giles Keate/Universal Pictures)

going out

🧹 Why is Wicked in two parts? And what changes took place from stage to screen? The creative team behind Universal’s hit musical reveals all . 🍿 ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ rocked the box office over the weekend, bringing in a combined $170 million. 🎶 From Billie Eilish to Metallica, here are 10 must-see concerts this holiday season.

During your stay

I have a question for you. What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

There’s at least one dish that’s a real hit. What do you like to eat on Thanksgiving?

Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Your answer could be published in this week’s newsletter.

And finally… great photos of the day

Today’s great photo is from Brian Brady of Seal Beach. Lake Manly seen from Dante’s Peak in Death Valley.

“The lake was revitalized by Hurricane Hillary,” wrote Brian, who visited the area with his wife for their 35th wedding anniversary last year.

Tell us about your favorite place in California! Send us a photo you took at a special spot in California (natural or man-made) and tell us why it’s important to you.

Have a great day! From the Essential California team

Check out the top stories, topics and latest articles on latimes.com.