Matt Kettmann’s Favorite Stories from 2020
Highlights from This Year’s Coverage of Food, Drink, COVID, and More by Our Senior Editor
Though there were rumblings of a virus emerging out of China, my 2020 started off like most years, exploring some new restaurants in Solvang and previewing the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, particularly the premiere of the Santa Barbara-focused uni film Delicacy.
As COVID-19 became more serious, we realized that certain events weren’t going to happen, including the inaugural Santa Barbara Culinary Experience, which I previewed in this article on home winemakers.
Then came a wave of COVID-only reporting by our entire staff. Here was my initial report on restaurant and bar reactions, which grew to more detailed stories about what restaurants were doing to survive and then an expansive cover story assessing the situation more deeply. In between, I detailed efforts by restaurants to work with nonprofit agencies to keep our neighbors fed during the pandemic. And during the Black Lives Matter protest, I shined a light on some of the Black-owned restaurants in the county.
