Berkeley Food & Culture
Taste the Berkeley revolution: food, free speech, and counterculture history.
A walking food and history tour through Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto, UC campus, and Telegraph Avenue. Five tasty stops, some of the best stories in the Bay, and a lot of ground covered.
Highlights
A slice from the Cheese Board
Grab a slice from the worker-owned collective that bakes one pizza a day. Always vegetarian, sold by the half-pie, and routinely named one of the Bay’s best.
Gregoire’s potato puffs
Duck into this tiny Berkeley sandwich shop for the crispy little potato puffs that built a cult following one bite at a time.
The block that changed how Americans eat
Stand on the corner where Peet’s, the Cheese Board, and Chez Panisse all opened within a few doors of each other in the 1960s and 70s. All three are still going.
The Mario Savio Steps
Stand on the Sproul Hall steps where a 22-year-old grad student climbed on top of a police car in 1964 and kicked off the Free Speech Movement.
The UC Berkeley campus
Wander the first campus in the UC system, past the world’s largest Blue Gum Eucalyptus grove and up to the Campanile; a 307-foot bell tower with sweeping Bay views.
Berkeley Food and Culture Tour | igniTours
Five food stops, three hours of walking, and the stories behind a neighborhood that quietly rewired American cooking. You'll eat your way through the Gourmet Ghetto, climb onto the UC Berkeley campus past the Campanile and the Mario Savio Steps, wander down Telegraph for records and cupcakes, and finish at People's Park. Bring your appetite and shoes you don't mind logging some miles in.
The Story
Berkeley gets overshadowed by its bigger neighbors, but a lot of what people love about American food and a fair chunk of modern political life started right here. We’ll walk you through it on foot, with five food stops along the way.
We start in the Gourmet Ghetto. In a few short blocks in the late 60s and early 70s, Alfred Peet started hand-roasting beans and basically invented specialty coffee in this country. A few doors down, the Cheese Board Collective opened as a tiny cheese shop and ended up popularizing the French baguette in the US. And around the corner, a 27-year-old Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse and decided the menu would change based on whatever was fresh that week. None of these people were trying to start a movement. They just happened to be on the same block.
The food stops on the tour change a little depending on what’s open, but expect a slice from the Cheese Board (one pizza a day, always vegetarian, no substitutions, and yes it’s that good), potato puffs from Gregoire that have a cult following for a reason, and a few other neighborhood favorites we’ll keep as a surprise.
From there we cut onto the UC Berkeley campus, the first school in the UC system. You’ll walk through the largest grove of Blue Gum Eucalyptus trees in the world (planted by the university as a windbreak, now a fire hazard nobody can agree what to do about). We’ll look at the Valley Life Sciences Building, which was the biggest concrete structure west of the Mississippi when it went up in 1930, and the Campanile, the second-tallest clock tower of its kind anywhere.
We’ll also stop at the Mario Savio Steps. In 1964, a 22-year-old Savio took his shoes off, climbed on top of a cop car so he wouldn’t scratch the paint, and gave a speech that lit the fuse on the Free Speech Movement. A few months later he gave another one on these steps, in front of 4,000 people, and got arrested along with 800 others. The steps got renamed for him in 1997.
Heading down Telegraph, we’ll stop into Rasputin’s, the original Berkeley record store. The owner has a long and pretty entertaining feud with Amoeba Records, including a story about a suitcase of cash that may or may not be true. We’ll grab one more sweet bite at Cupcakin’, and then end at People’s Park, where in May of 1969 a peaceful protest over a vacant lot turned into Bloody Thursday. Reagan called in 2,700 National Guard troops. One bystander was killed, another was permanently blinded, and 128 people ended up in the hospital.
FAQs
About 2 to 3 hours, depending on the group and how long we linger over the good stuff.
We meet at Saul's Restaurant and Delicatessen on Shattuck Avenue. Look for your guide out front.
We keep it small at 12 people max so everyone can hear the stories and we don't overwhelm the spots we visit.
Yes. Kids are welcome, and there's plenty along the way to keep them interested (especially the food).
Absolutely. The Cheese Board pizza is always vegetarian, and most of the other stops have vegetarian options.
Comfortable walking shoes are the big one — we cover a fair amount of ground. Dress in layers, since Berkeley weather can swing a lot in an afternoon. Bring a water bottle and a little cash for anything extra you might want to grab along the way.
Roughly a mile and a half over the course of the tour, mostly flat with a few gentle hills on the campus portion. We go at a relaxed pace with plenty of stops.
Yes — all five tastings are covered. You won't leave hungry.
We run in light rain. For heavier weather, we'll reach out about rescheduling.
Schedules vary by season, and a couple of our stops are closed certain days (the Cheese Board is closed Sundays and Mondays). Check the booking calendar for available dates.
Tips aren’t included but are always appreciated by our guides. If you think your guide did an outstanding job, a tip is a great way to show that.