I'll find somewhere

by Becky Lam

"I didn't realize the importance of local food until I started culinary school. The whole movement was: ‘A good cook is only as good as the produce they can get.’ And the best produce is always seasonal and local. So then I realized, that's why Castroville and Watsonville are so beloved because they're close by and they make the best of what they do." 

Roman is a pastry chef in San Francisco who grew up approximately 100 miles away in Salinas, the heart of the acclaimed "Salad Bowl of the World". The influence of Salinas Valley in the food business is undeniable and one might assume it had some sway over Roman’s decision to go to culinary school, but it didn’t. Instead, this place was his playground and a backdrop for Roman’s early memories of being outdoors. He may have grown up in the shadows of some of the biggest vegetable producers in the world, but he didn't know it back then. His family always encouraged playing outside, so Roman spent much of his time with friends wandering around the local parks and open spaces of Salinas.

"I didn't know that growing up until I left and [finally] understood that Salinas was more than my hometown of gangs and me growing up, but it was, in the farming world, a big player."

It wasn't until college when Roman realized how important Salinas Vally was to the agriculture industry and that not everybody grew up with vast open spaces to roam. "As I got older I started noticing that the fields I'd taken for granted as the outdoors were actually money, like this is where Fresh Express does all their stuff and this is their factory. But for me, they were just landmarks. Like, that's where I used to go to the doctor, but across the street was this major, well-known distributor of greens.” Though he’d spent a lot of his childhood outdoors, it hadn’t occurred to Roman how else this place was unique. And he definitely would’ve never anticipated that his hometown would have a different meaning for him later in life.

Over time, trips to his aunt's house in Watsonville, the disputed “Strawberry Capital of the World”, and road trips through Castroville, self-billed as the “Artichoke Capital of the World”, started to make a lot more sense. All of these agricultural claims to fame hadn’t registered with Roman when we was a boy who was more excited about getting outside to play. "These were the little towns that I grew up in, but I'm realizing in the larger scale, there's people with money and taste who really gravitate towards these places for their products. Whereas, I always saw it as an immigrant labor kind of thing that was disconnected from me because none of my family did farm working... but I was realizing it was a huge enterprise that was quietly booming.”

This realization - a sort of awakening to where we’re from - harkens back to a child-like sense of discovery, of coming to see and know something for the first time. Every person experiences this at some point in their lives and for Roman, better understanding the land where he grew up helped to shape his personal relationship with nature well before it meant anything to him as a chef. He recalled one of his first memories of being outside: "My aunt, my tía, likes to tell this story... she took me out to the front yard, I think after it had rained. We were just playing in the mud - I don't know, I was young and it was one of my earliest memories - but I remember she was fumbling through the dirt, playing with me, and came across a little earth worm. I had never seen one before, so she unearthed it and kept it in her hand and it started moving! I started giggling really hard and turning around in circles because it was something I'd never seen before. I was totally freaking out and she still talks about that story. She said, 'I showed you something you had never seen and you were so amazed!' "

"She knew we take for granted the things we know about the outdoor world." 

Roman tries to remember this sense of discovery and excitement as he meanders through the neighborhoods of San Francisco where he now calls home. Working in the restaurant industry, (known for demanding hours and high stress), he is now thoroughly aware of the importance of Salinas Valley. And though he’ll sometimes juggle three gigs and work 70-plus hour weeks, Roman still manages to find some time to enjoy the city and the outdoor spaces it provides, especially as a reprieve from the brutal hours spent inside commercial kitchens staring at stainless steel finishes. Growing up, his mom and aunts always encouraged him to make friends and spend time outdoors when he wasn't stuck inside at school and these same habits have remained with him today. (It also helped that he didn’t really like watching T.V.), “I was much more excited with the possibility of hanging out with friends and going outside,” rather than sitting indoors all day. Roman and his friends often adventured through nearby fields or explored random streets, which is how he developed an early love for wandering around on foot. For him, the quiet neighborhoods of Salinas blended seamlessly with the outdoors.

Roman has a thoughtful personality that feels naturally paired with a love for walking. He is an avid reader and shares a philosopher’s affection for the pace and freedom of traveling on foot, even as a kid. “I also looked at the outdoors as something to do if I was bored or wanted an escape. I could walk my dog or just get away and be with my thoughts. Or I could walk to a friends house. It might take 20 minutes, but I'd always walk... It was always kind of silly [to me] because what else would you be doing? Why do you need to go so quickly to the next spot?” This predilection for walking and taking your time is something Roman relishes. It gave him his first opportunities to explore outside spaces and develop a therapeutic relationship with the natural world. 

His family shared this appreciation for nature and its calming power. He remembers childhood trips to the beach in Monterey with his mom and aunts, who adored the ocean and imparted that fondness to Roman. Even though they didn’t swim, they loved the beauty of the Pacific Ocean and just being there on those long weekend days to look at and admire it. It was also where Roman recalls a few memories of his father who also loved the beach, but who he rarely saw growing up. “He would swim in a speedo and be WAY out there. We would just dip our toes, but he was a really good swimmer and could handle the cold.” Roman didn’t learn how to swim until he was in college, but the magnificence of the ocean never changed. “I think it influenced me to go to UC Santa Cruz because it’s a beautiful redwood college set in the mountains overlooking the ocean. So I got to look at the ocean, I got to have this big backyard!” 

Having more room to play, he took to the lifestyle of Santa Cruz and fell in love with biking. Though Roman biked as a kid, he didn’t have access to this kind of steep terrain in his boyhood. He quickly embraced the hills, giddily bombing the slopes on his bike with the ocean in full view. “I look back on those days and I think [to myself], ‘You were like an REI commercial! You were going down this big hill, off-roading and shit!’” Throughout college, he found solace in the way he could easily get around and explore the outdoors in this new way. But after two bike accidents there, the transition to biking in San Francisco proved tougher. The city has a vibrant bike scene, but the streets are much more congested and far less relaxing for a cyclist sharing the road. “I got hit by a car once. I'm obviously fine, but it was a little traumatizing.” Not only is urban biking less appealing, but the hustle of the kitchen also makes it less comfortable. “It's less easy to do here because you can't really be sweaty [when you’re trying to be presentable] and bikes get stolen a lot. I feel like I need to be more professional and put together. I don't want to go into work sweating, then work a 12 hour shift sweating, and then go home.” Although biking is no longer a daily part of his life, Roman still hangs on to his first love: walking.

Living in a city allows little time or space for quiet, introspective moments outside. For most people, public parks and weekend retreats offer some form of relief from the agitation of urban life. And for Roman, a long urban hike through the city can feel just as good as a walk in the woods. He walks everywhere. He recently trekked across town over three and a half miles to visit a friend as she was finishing work. On the way there, it turned out that she wasn't done for another couple of hours, but he was happy to continue strolling around the neighborhood and exploring. “I love walking and just wandering.” Often on these walks, Roman discovers a corner of the city he wouldn't have otherwise noticed. On this occasion, he found a peaceful nook above an inner-city park named after Willie “Woo Woo” Wong, a beloved Chinese-American basketball player who grew up in the neighborhood. "If you walk up a little bit, there's an alleyway or walkway that leads to a bunch of benches under trees that overlook the tennis courts.” From this sliver of the city, you can see the rooflines of historic buildings, elderly groups practicing tai chi, the TransAmerica Building, and the natural backdrop that makes San Francisco so iconic. Not a bad place to stumble upon.

“I love walking and just wandering.”

Besides outdoor exercise, these urban hikes also help to keep Roman mentally grounded, like when he hauls up the steep incline of 23rd Street to Noe Valley from his neighborhood in the Mission. "It's sleepy. There's not a lot of people. You get really beautiful views of the Golden Gate Bridge or Oakland or South Bay all at once and it's still pretty local. If you look on a map, you're not going very far - it's just very hilly and secluded.” It's a peaceful reminder of how lucky he feels to live in a place like San Francisco - a walkable city surrounded by abundant natural beauty.

Unlike Salinas or Santa Cruz, there are fewer wild places accessible on foot around San Francisco. Roman doesn’t own a car and still works long hours, so he doesn’t have many occasions to make it out hiking in the mountains or to be a regular outdoor “weekend warrior”. Yet it hasn't stopped him from getting outside. "On my days off, I'll think to myself, what neighborhood would I like to go into or where would I like to read? What needs exploring? Like the other day, I went to North Beach and Chinatown. I don't really know where I'm going, but I'll find somewhere!” He doesn’t have to go very far and gets to know the city he loves. For urban hikers like Roman, walking is not only a method of exploration, but also a healthy, restorative exercise he can easily practice on a routine basis. (He probably gets more daily minutes outside than most of us.) “It’s definitely a time for me to clear my head or be alone. I'll tell [my roommate], I need to have a "Roman Day" and go get coffee somewhere, walk around, do a little urban hike, and come back feeling recharged and able to talk to people and hang out." It’s something he consciously does for himself.

For Roman, getting outside isn't about doing the most or getting lost in the deep wilderness. It's about striking the right balance between indoor and outdoor everyday and engaging with his surroundings the best way he knows how. "I just like being outside. It's a change of scenery and this is an expensive city, so you should know what the Top of the Mark looks like or know places to go to in the Outer Richmond!" Much like the kid he was growing up in Salinas, there's always a little bit of excitement in his voice and a place for him outside to walk and explore.