Meet Christina Ng: Foundation Cultivator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christina Ng and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christina, how does your business help the community?
Berry Good Food aims to empower our community by building bridges between farmers, chefs, scientists, and citizens to challenge the industrial food system while advocating for access to healthy food for all. Food is not a only source of sustenance, but a wonderful vehicle for connection and education. Via our garden, kitchen, and food based programming, we hope to build lasting relationships between the community and the source of their food. 

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Prior to being the Foundation Cultivator at Berry Good Food, I began my San Diego career path as a cook for multiple businesses that all had a consciousness for the local, sustainable food movement. I learned quickly that San Diego, primarily the food industry, held a tight knit network, and I was eager to be a part of it. Luckily for me, this small-town esque vibe (e.g. consistently running into fellow cook/chef, while ingredient shopping, events, etc.) allowed me to extend my web of contacts relatively quickly. They became the foundation for my current role at Berry Good Food. These relationships I’ve built and maintained over my years in San Diego are EVERYTHING! Every day, I look forward to continuing to build many more.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We would definitely dedicate our day to San Diego local food! Our first stop would be the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, an open air fish market where consumers buy direct straight from the fisherman. It doesn’t get fresher than that! With our fresh fish in tow, we’d then head over to Specialty Produce, a family owned wholesale and retail food distributor, who’s slogan says it all… “when it is about food”. A visit to their Farmer’s Market Cooler would give us some great seasonal produce to accompany the fresh catch. To help us gain perspective on our fresh ingredients, our last stop would be Home.Ec store. This amazing little gem of a store has everything kitchen related from cookbooks, to cook’s tools, to locally made condiments and ingredients, and everything in between!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Giving a huge shout out to our organization’s founder, Michelle Lerach, who has supported and helped foster my role in the San Diego food community! Without her, I would have never discovered my true passion of food education. Thank you, Michelle!

Website: https://berrygoodfood.org/
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