Lately I've been more curious about my own family history, since my mom sent me an old photograph from 1910 of my maternal great-grandmother, Maisie. Maisie lived in San Francisco during the winter for several years (the rest of the year she would spend in Wisconsin). Eventually she moved to Southern California, and lived to be 101 years old. I look quite a bit like her and share her love of baking. I wonder what her life was like in San Francisco, what restaurants and grocery stores she visited, what ingredients were readily available and what she liked to cook while living here.
Maisie on the left at 101 years old; Maisie on the right
Living in the Bay Area, I am often focused on how its beauty and vibrancy is juxtaposed by its underbelly of turmoil and growing economic disparities. In some ways that can be generalized to all cities, but it feels especially relevant and palpable here. The film The Last Black Man in San Francisco, which came out in June of this year, does a beautiful job at highlighting these often painful and complex contrasts, particularly for people of color, who have been and continue to be particularly vulnerable to displacement. In looking at the living history that exists in the old Victorian buildings in the city and parts of the East Bay, it can be easy to romanticize the past or at least long for a less tech-driven, simpler world at times.
Along these same themes, I stumbled across Ratto’s International Market and Deli in Old Oakland. Old Oakland struggles with these contrasts and ever-present impacts of gentrification. With construction going up seemingly constantly, there are still hidden gems that exist from another time; another life. Ratto’s is one of those gems.
Started in 1897, Ratto’s is a 4th generation family owned deli and market. Giovanni Battista Ratto was an Italian immigrant who came to Oakland by way of Buenos Aires. G.B. Ratto imported many of his products he would sell in his deli/market, and his family continues to sell many imported products alongside local offerings as well. This celebration of other cultures, particularly through food, is especially inspiring to me given the era of xenophobia we are living in.
Visit Ratto’s on a week day around noon and you will witness a scene bustling with people eagerly awaiting homemade sandwiches (there’s a long list and always a weekly sandwich special and soup of the day). Because I can’t eat gluten, I tend to forget about the simple satisfaction of a well made sandwich. Ratto’s has gluten free bread so I was able to sample a few of their Italian-influenced offerings, and they did not disappoint. The interior of their space is filled with bulk foods, spices, pasta and sweets imported from Italy, pickles and cheeses and homemade pesto. The charm is in the details, whether it’s the antique stove that serves as the community flyer display, the cash register from another era, the chalkboard signs or the enlarged photograph of Ratto’s in its early days with a horse and buggy outside. It’s an homage to a different time, not that those times were perfect, but it reminds me more of a deli you would find in Brooklyn than anywhere in California. In a way it's like traveling without leaving home. Like those Brooklyn delis, the common theme is the ability to endure and thrive as a neighborhood staple amidst decades of change. Ratto’s has endured a fire, an earthquake and the economic rollercoaster that has made up the last 122 years. While the one constant in life, no matter the location, is change, I hope that places like Ratto’s are here to stay for the long haul.
You can learn more about Ratto’s on their website, where they feature original recipes. Better yet, go visit Ratto’s for yourself and let us know what you think. They offer live music on Saturdays and are open every day but Sunday. If you're in the neighborhood on a Friday, make sure to check out the farmer's market right outside. Buon Appetito!
Comments