ANNA MINDESS

Freelance Food, Culture, and Travel Journalist

United States

Anna Mindess is an award-winning writer with a passion to explore the connection between food, culture, and travel. Her 200+ articles have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Lonely Planet, AFAR, Atlas Obscura, Fodor's, Saveur, Edible East Bay Magazine, The Chocolate Professor, The Cheese Professor, KQED, Berkeleyside, Oaklandside and other print and online publications.

Anna also works as an American Sign Language interpreter and is the author of Reading Between the Signs, a book used to train sign language interpreters around the world., which has been translated into French, Chinese, and Hungarian.

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Portfolio
Edible East Bay
02/13/2025
Sixteen Chefs | Edible East Bay

Most of the hundreds of diners who come to the elegant dining rooms at Oakland Chinatown's Peony Seafood Restaurant each week sit in groups-large and small-around tables covered with white damask tablecloths. They relax, chat, and share a wide variety of dim sum delights that come piping hot from the Peony kitchen.

Edible East Bay
08/15/2025
Here's to Grandmothers | Edible East Bay

Grandmothers hold outsized places in many people's food memories. Here are stories of three award-winning East Bay restaurant entrepreneurs who named their spots in honor of their grandmothers, not necessarily for their recipes, but rather for their spirits: feisty, indomitable, and unceasingly supportive of their grandchildren.

Edible East Bay
11/09/2025
The Best Tea in the World | Edible East Bay

"Tea is in my blood," says Milindha Morahela. An Emeryville resident, Morahela grew up in Sri Lanka on a huge tea estate managed by his stepfather. Now age 66, he's looking back at a long career as a tea taster in his homeland while realizing a long-held dream of starting a tea company of his own.

Edible East Bay
02/11/2024
That Hausa Vegan | Edible East Bay

Sitalbanat Muktari's life made a turn on a vegan donut. Born in Utah, Muktari (now 32) lived for many years with her family in Northern Nigeria, steeped in the local Hausa culture.

Berkeleyside
09/09/2022
Cafe Ohlone's triumphant return

Cafe Ohlone, now open at UC Berkeley, isn't just a restaurant - it's an expression of Indigenous culture and an illustration of its vibrancy.

Edible East Bay
02/24/2022
Crystal Wahpepah Celebrates Spring and Native Foods in Her New Restaurant

The Oakland restaurant, which opened in November 2021, is the culmination of a lifelong dream for Chef Crystal Wahpepah. A member of the Kickapoo nation, Wahpepah spent many childhood summers with her grandparents in Oklahoma, and she credits her Kickapoo family there for teaching her how to cook her Native ancestors’ dishes.

Edible East Bay
Three Tales of Festive Rice

Every day, more than three billion people around the globe eat rice as part of their daily meals. While many enjoy and even revere a plain bowl of rice, celebratory gatherings may call for something special.

Paste Magazine
5 Must-Eat Dishes in Beijing

Between excursions scaling the sinuous Great Wall, admiring the grandeur of the Forbidden City and exploring Beijing’s quaint hutong alleyways, you’re bound to get hungry. China’s capital naturally hosts restaurants representing the nation’s diverse regional cuisines.

KQED
Dim Sum Delights in their Hong Kong Homeland

Dim sum in its homeland, Hong Kong, is flourishing in a culinary balancing act of tradition and innovation. Every day, cozy family-run spots, all-vegetarian teahouses and elegant dining rooms create over a hundred varieties of steamed dumplings, baked buns, and deep-fried delicacies.

Atlas Obscura
08/17/2022
Deaf-Owned Restaurants Offer Cuisine and Community

Imagine walking into a restaurant in a trendy neighborhood. Instead of hearing, “Good evening, how many in your party?” you are greeted by a silent but smiling host, who uses gestures to show you to your table.

Atlas Obscura
10/18/2022
The French Art of Cheese-Label Collecting

TYROSEMIOPHILIA IS A MOUTHFUL TO pronounce. Breaking it down, the meaning is still murky: in ancient Greek, tyro means cheese, semio is sign or label, and philos is love. The term does not refer to savoring rich, creamy cheese. Rather, it defines a surprisingly popular hobby: collecting the cheese labels that have been affixed to French Camembert’s round wooden boxes for over 100 years.