Winter market, black history month, changes
A personal story I've been wanting to share and some other updates
Happy Black History Month!
I grew up in a multicultural and biracial household. My dad was a white guy from Oakland, California and my mom was a Black woman from San Francisco. Holidays were always so fun because we hopped from one side of the family to the other or took turns (depending on who was hosting/cooking).
For Thanksgiving, we usually went to my tia’s house (who I didn’t know wasn’t actually my tia until I was 16). Panamanian, Jamaican, and southern food overflowed from her kitchen into the entryway spread across three tables.
There was mac and cheese, cornbread, guinea peas and rice, oxtails, empanadas (made like Jamaican patties), and our family’s famous 7UP cake (!!). The turkey was almost an afterthought. It was the best.
On my dad’s side, there were mainly traditional American Thanksgiving foods. The turkey would take the focus and there was also tri-tip, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and my personal favorite a full dip and cheeseboard area.
I grew up experiencing the food and cultures from both sides of my family, which was incredible.
When I was a kid I was confused about my identity. What box should I check? I declared to my family at the clever age of 5 that I was a “milkshake”, vanilla and chocolate blended together. And everyone loved me because who doesn’t like milkshakes?
Insecurities about my biracial identity plagued me until my early 20s. Although I was raised in the Bay Area, a very diverse place, I didn’t grow up with many biracial kids so it was challenging to find friends I could fully relate to. And it wasn’t until my early 20s, when I went to university, that I felt like I found people that got me. And it was such a great comfort.
Maturing and becoming an adult was my savior and I think it’s why I’m not afraid to get ‘old’. Because as I’ve gotten older my friends range more greatly in age and my social network expands. And with social media, it’s been easier than ever to find people we can relate to…
For me, one of the voices that always seems to capture my thoughts around food, biracial identity, and culture and put them into vocal words is Sophia Roe. She’s a chef and Emmy award-nominated TV host. She recently put together a list of incredible Black-owned kitchen essentials, and she included EXAU! What a treat : ) Link to the article is below.
Over the past few years, I’ve been diving deeper into my family’s history on my mother’s side. It’s brought me immense satisfaction and in a way get to know my grandmother better even though she’s no longer here with us.
Get the olive oil too
Grab a bottle of the Lina or Turi directly from our website! We’ve restocked some of the sets and also updated a bunch of our blog posts about olive oil. We’ll be updating things regularly in preparation for our book release later this year!!!
Going (partially) paid
We’ve been thinking about turning on a paid option for our newsletter for a long time, but decided against it since we own an e-commerce business. We thought it would create a weird business model... But then pre-orders for our book launched and it was like… ‘oh, so you’re okay with getting paid for your writing but only if it’s from a publisher?’.
The irony of being an author and fearful that people won’t pay for your words.
Then a lovely reader and customer reached out and said she loves reading our newsletter and thinks it’s worth paying for, then pledged $8 a month. Thank you again to that person for giving me the kick in the butt I needed. After toggling with the paid options another person signed up a day later. Things clicked.
I spend hours every week creating digital content across multiple platforms but I put the most time and energy into this newsletter. This isn’t just a space for EXAU customers anymore. We’ve grown out of just being a brand. Giuseppe and I are writers, recipe developers, and so much more. Having a paid version of our newsletter creates more space and time for us to give you more of that!
And btw, none of our work is backed by VC firms or angel investors, it’s just us!
Paid version will include…
Full recipes and new kitchen experiments
Subscriber chats (Q&A)
Travel to Calabria and southern Italy updates and recommendations
More in-depth information about olive oil (usually health focused)
Deep chats, wise words from elderly Italians, and other things worth mentioning
A paid subscription is $5.55 per month or $60 per year, you receive 10% off if you decide to join for a full year. You can also gift and donate subscriptions! Or buy them for a group : )
If you’re unable to pay for a subscription at this time please email us hello@exauoliveoil.com.
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Winter Market in Calabria
There are fewer things I enjoy more than perusing a farmer’s market on a brisk morning. The citrus is bright, beautiful, cold, and sweet!!! The broccoli rabe is perfectly bundled and stacked high. And the best part are the Calabrians who lovingly yell the prices of cauliflower at you (they get lower as you walk away).
We’ve been going to the farmers market on Thursdays in Catanzaro Lido. As you meander through the market you get a beautiful backdrop of the Ionian sea, dreamy.
The winter citrus has also been especially good this year. There are many types of oranges, including blood oranges which are my favorite, as well as mandarins. We got a head of cauliflower for 1 euro, the bargain of the day. Then we caved and got tomatoes even though they’re not in season! We ended up reducing them and making our pasta al pomodoro 2.0 recipe which we can confirm works with out-of-season tomatoes and jarred sauce!
We’ve linked a TikTok video below. If you’re not on TikTok (aka the clock app) watch on Instagram!
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We’ll dive more into Catanzaro on our paid newsletter so make sure you’re signed up!
Travel to Calabria
We’ve loved chatting with you all about your upcoming trips to Calabria! If you’d like to book a call to get your trip planned email us or click the link below.
Until next time.
-Skyler & Giuseppe
P.S. Are you following on TikTok? We’re having fun over there. Also, you can find EXAU at Crate & Barrel!
The citrus HAS been extra delicious this year!