continued Santa Cruz County Has Taste Best of the Best Santa Cruz named one of the 12 Hippest Hometowns for Vegetarians. - VEg NEWs MagazINE The Penny Ice Creamery named one of the 19 best ice cream shops in the world. - afaR MagazINE Santa Cruz ranked as one of the top 20 healthiest cities to visit, with La Posta restaurant praised for its hyperlocal menu that includes eggs from backyard chickens. - fOOD & WINE MagazINE Shadowbrook restaurant named as one of the nation's Top 100 Romantic Restaurants. - OPENTablE® That Santa Cruz County's rich sandy soil combined with warm sunny days and cool foggy nights create one of the most distinctive geographical areas in California for fruits and vegetables. DID yOu KNOW? Farmer's markets are including outreach and educational programs so shoppers can learn more about where products come from, and how best to utilize what is in season. Farm tours are available at many of the micro-farms throughout the county. One of the best ways to experience the culinary treasures of Santa Cruz County is to partake in a field-to-table dinner. Local farms host these events, as well as some full-service hotels. In the 1800s, freight yards in Watsonville moved tons of strawberries to San Francisco by train on a daily basis, while locallygrown apples were sold nationally and internationally. When UC Santa Cruz first opened in the mid-1960s, master gardener Alan Chadwick created what grew to become the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems on campus. The Center works to develop environmentally and socially sound methods to produce and distribute crops. 2014 oFFICIAL SAnTA CRuz CounTY TRAVELER'S GuIDE 25