By Tanya Henry
Growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with Greek-Italian parents, Angela Ginsburg thought that everyone was like her own family—really into food and going to the grocery store and preparing big meals together. And while she was working as a barista and in restaurants during high school, she never thought that she would make her living preparing food.
It wasn’t until Ginsburg was learning about bodywork and reiki in workshops at Big Sur’s Esalen Institute in 2002 that she found herself in the kitchen preparing food for large groups of people and realized that it was the kind of work that she wanted to be doing.
“I decided that I would incorporate my Midwestern roots and cook food that was approachable, timeless and nostalgic, but was also refined and seasonal,” says Ginsburg, who eventually made her way to Marin and started A Fork Full of Earth, an organic catering business based in Fairfax.
Next year, Ginsburg’s operation, which currently employs 42 people, will turn 10. “I wanted to create a thoughtful, grounded culture—the experience of communing around food,” she says.
A Fork Full of Earth, whose tagline reads, “sourced locally and produced mindfully,” offers full-service—as well as partial—catering options. “We really tailor menus for every individual event,” Ginsburg says. The caterer offers straightforward guidelines on her website, but says that it’s just a starting place for customers, as her approach is to create unique experiences for everyone.
“Our niche is to keep as close to home as possible—we offer as much fresh, hand-picked, locally grown products as possible, and most of our customers are in the Marin/Sonoma area,” she says.
A sampling of some of the sumptuous offerings that Fork Full has created for past events include an appetizer of steamed romano beans with fig and smoked paprika glaze made with dried figs and hazelnuts and cherrywood-smoked pork tenderloin with sherried leek sauce; a Napa vineyard luncheon included roasted garlic-baked chicken thighs with white wine, and fennel and tarragon compote. Lemon pound cake, vanilla bean buckle and chocolate chunk cookies represent some of the dessert selections, and a host of seasonal options are available whether customers opt for a full-service party or simply want a charcuterie board or cheese platter to pick up.
A Fork Full of Earth; 415/448-7060; forkfull.com.
