New Oakland-Made Saurkraut Takes Shots at Uber, Mayor

This week in food-related political shade-throwing: Apparently the North Oakland-based food justice collective Phat Beets Produce has just released a new product called “Uber Bitter Kraut,” a sauerkraut variant made with locally grown dandelion greens. The tagline, written underneath a large photograph of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, reads: “Unlike Libby, this creates youth jobs.”

[jump] The dandelion kraut is a product of Phat Beets’ Phat Beetz Pickle Youth Pickle Company, which does in fact provide employment to young people in Oakland. But the attention-grabber is, of course, the shot that Phat Beets is taking at Schaaf — presumably for her welcoming attitude toward the ride-sharing mega-company Uber, which is opening its new headquarters in Uptown Oakland, and for her office’s recent failure to apply for a $2 million federal grant that would have paid for summer jobs for Oakland youth. According to an Oakland Post report, the mayor’s staff simply missed the deadline.

(Hat tip to @ArtActivistNia.)