While driving south of Fresno recently, I passed through the city of Selma, which proudly proclaims itself to be the world’s raisin capital, its emblem a plump bunch of purple grapes on a globe. Nearby is the world’s largest box of raisins, a roadside tourist attraction, and a community quite literally named Raisin City.

I knew about Gilroy and garlic, Castroville and artichokes, Oxnard and strawberries. And here was yet another crop that had left a distinct cultural legacy in California. This got me thinking about how we define which foods are most Californian, given the sprawl and diversity of our state, and it prompted me to ask you to help choose a quintessential state food. (Though California has a state flower, state reptile and state rock, lawmakers have shied away from choosing an official state food.)

Well, several hundred of your emails later, the results are in.

More of you suggested avocados than any other food, by a wide margin. California is the nation’s leading producer of the fruit, and the especially creamy Hass avocado was even invented in Los Angeles County.

Perhaps you think avocados aren’t a meal on their own, but my fifth-grade teacher in Southern California ate one with a spoon every day for lunch. And as one reader, Regan Davis, pointed out, “Just about any food with the word ‘California’ in it contains avocado.”

The runners-up were tacos and burritos, with their Mexican roots, affordability, regional twists — think San Diego fish tacos and San Francisco Mission burritos — and their magical ability to be a satisfying breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack. Yum.

Other honorable mentions: San Francisco sourdough, almonds, In-N-Out Burger, Dungeness crab, Napa Valley wines, acorn flour, Santa Maria tri-tip and cioppino. (Sadly, not a single person wrote in about raisins.)

Today I’m sharing some of your thoughts, lightly edited for clarity, about why you feel certain foods scream California:

“Though it’s only recently that it’s shown up on restaurant menus from Northern to Southern California, California moms have been introducing avocado toast to their kids for at least a century. Back in the ’50s, sliced avocados on sourdough toast sprinkled with salt was a regular breakfast in my home. My parents had grown up eating it, and I have happily introduced it to my own children and grandchildren.” — Ellen Robinson-Haynes, Sacramento

“The quintessential California food I crave more than anything in the world is a California burrito. The homemade flour tortilla, tasty steak and French fry combo with guacamole is amazing. I can’t find them in New York City where I live now, and I have to eat at least a couple when I go back to California. I’ve even had my mom freeze and ship them to me from San Diego when it’s been too long.” — Tonie Baez, New York City

“My California childhood included artichokes, steamed to perfection, the leaves dipped in melted butter, scraped clean and then discarded in a communal bowl. Years later while living in New York, at a neighborhood green grocer, I saw someone pick up an artichoke, turning it this way and that. I told him about trimming, steaming, dipping, scraping, cleaning the choke from the heart. ‘What’s wrong with this one?’ he asked, picking up an artichoke blistered with dull gray flecks. ‘That,’ I said, ‘is the best one; it’s been fog-kissed, so you know it was raised on the California coast.’” — Janet Galen, Menlo Park

More on California

“I had an ITS-IT ice cream sandwich every day in high school, and when I went away to college in Connecticut, I realized for the first time that not every part of the country had the same food, and this delicious treat in particular. It’s still one of my go-to desserts.” — Meghan Imrie, Portola Valley

“Your invitation to identify quintessentially Californian food brought the following instantly to mind: a platter of cold, cracked Dungeness crab, my mom’s special sauce — mayonnaise mixed with ketchup — plus San Francisco sourdough bread and butter. No vegetables needed. Our family always eagerly awaited the start of crab season. We have eaten this since I can remember, still do — I’m now 69 years old — and plan to continue for the next 30 years or so.” — Nancy Baldwin, Elk Grove

“The unmistakable aroma of garlic is pure California. I cannot walk by the garlic fries at a Giants baseball game without buying a basket!” — Bob Weisend, Saratoga

“Nothing says California to me like apricots. Growing up in Salinas, we had two apricot trees in our backyard. When the fruit was ripe, we gorged ourselves on the juicy orbs and Mom made apricot ice cream, apricot jam and apricot pie. Dried California apricots, with their intense flavor, better than candy, kept us kids happy in that long gap between fresh apricot seasons.” — Paula Ball, Roseburg, Ore.

“A few years back I was living in Morro Bay, having a few local oysters and watching the sun set over the bay behind the rock. Our server was lamenting that she had too many ripe avocados because a local farmer came in regularly and gifted them to the staff. California is the only state where the server tips the table in the form of ripe avocados from the farms on the hills behind you. I’ve never left a restaurant so blissfully content in all my life.” — Talia E. Mobley, Brookhaven, N.Y.

For more:

Why California doesn’t already have an official state food.

How California ended up with so many farmers’ markets. (It wasn’t easy.)

Your favorite fast food is probably from California.

The rest of the news

Kennedy campaign: More than half a century after his father sought the White House to end a calamitous war in Vietnam and salve the country’s racial strife, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who lives in the Los Angeles area, announced a presidential campaign on Wednesday.

Letter to the governor: Michael Weinstein, a powerful nonprofit executive, is paying $2 per signature for a draft letter addressed to Gov. Gavin Newsom that calls for lower housing costs in California, Politico reports.

Overnight train: More than 50 years since an overnight train connected Los Angeles to San Francisco, a start-up wants to bring the service back, The Los Angeles Times reports.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Police suspension: An officer with the Los Angeles Police Department has been suspended for 10 days without pay in connection with a 2021 incident in which the department’s bomb squad detonated a bundle of fireworks and damaged a South Los Angeles neighborhood, The Los Angeles Times reports.

Reparations: Black and Mexican American families that were displaced from a Palm Springs neighborhood in the 1960s are seeking $2.3 billion from the city, The Associated Press reports.

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

Air quality: While the air quality in Fresno improved last year, the city remains one of the most-polluted areas in the country, The Fresno Bee reports.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Oakland teachers’ strike: Parents began a community petition opposing a threatened strike from the Oakland Education Association, arguing that the work stoppage would be disruptive to students, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Baseball: A group of Oakland A’s fans are putting together a novel plan for a boycott: packing the stadium on a weekday game in June to prove that management, not the fans, has left the team behind.

What we’re eating

Bittersweet chocolate-almond cake with amaretti cookie crumbs.

Where we’re traveling

Today’s tip comes from Laurie Twilight, who lives in Felton:

“One of my favorite places is Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in Southern California. It is the largest state park in California and the second-largest state park in the United States. The blooming desert is wild and spectacular. My favorite cactus is the ocotillo, and there are hundreds upon hundreds there. When in bloom, this cactus has long, fingerlike red flowers on every one of its spiny branches reaching up to the sky, eight to 20 feet high, in various spreading angles and twists. Seeing them spread across the desert floor gives me the sense of freedom or joy like arms opening wide to receive.”

Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to [email protected]. We’ll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

Tell us

After a rainy winter, spring has arrived in California. Tell us your favorite part of the season, whether it’s road trips, festivals, sunny afternoons or wildflower sightings.

Email us at [email protected], and please include your name and the city where you live.

And before you go, some good news

Keeping with today’s food theme, Eater just published an extremely comprehensive and fun guide to the best burritos in California, what the outlet called “a celebration of the burritos of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, in both their traditional and genre-pushing forms.”

As Matthew Kang, the Eater Los Angeles editor, wrote: “Peel back the foil and dig in.”

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Soumya

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword.

Briana Scalia, Isabella Grullón Paz and Bernard Mokam contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].

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