04/05/2022
Just when I thought I couldn’t love L.A. more, the Natural History Museum opens “Kneaded: L.A Bread Stories” and gives Pedro a nod. Check it out.
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What’s your bread story? Kate McLaughlin of shares how and where global immigrant history, fresh-milled grain, and the coast collide:
“When we started San Pedro Sourdough three years ago, we believed that naturally leavened, sourdough bread made by hand the old-fashioned way would be popular in San Pedro, a long-time bastion of Croatian, Italian, Scandanavian, Mexican and Greek immigrants, all cultures with long and important bread histories.
Pedro is also a big union town with fierce regional pride, a place where people prefer things made in, by and for San Pedrans. So local bread made by a resident baker using native wild yeast from Pedro’s unique coastal micro-climate and fresh-milled California-grown whole grain made it a true place-based food, something Pedrans value. Turns out we underestimated just how much this town would throw its full support behind our small local community bread endeavor. But it did, and since the day we opened three years ago, demand has been impossible to meet. Pedrans love real bread, and especially so when it’s Pedro local bread.
The San Pedro star is an iconic local image that represents Pedro’s deep global immigrant history, strong civic pride and lively community spirit. That star together with the bread creates a mechanism where many otherwise distinct cultures, backgrounds and experiences can come together and share a fundamental food item that we all have in common. Despite our differences, most everyone can agree on bread and in that way San Pedro Sourdough helps keep the community close.”
Explore the appetizing nooks and cultural crannies of local bread with , fresh with new featured stories at NHM.org/KneadedLA, or via link in bio.
