Southern California
Vegetable Breeder & Third-Generation Chef
Hans Fama is a vegetable breeder and third-generation chef working at the intersection of culinary tradition and agricultural innovation in Southern California.
Origin
From Kitchen to Field
After spending over a decade in restaurant kitchens across Los Angeles and the Bay Area, and deepening his craft through culinary studies in Italy and Spain, Hans returned to the source by shifting his focus from cooking vegetables to growing and breeding them. His rare perspective, shaped by experience in nearly every stage of food production, allows him to breed with the grower, chef, and consumer all in mind.
Philosophy
Tradition Meets Progress
Hans's work is driven by a devotion to both tradition and progress. He carefully selects beloved heirloom varieties for their flavor and character, then crossbreeds them with modern genetics to improve vigor, yield, and climate adaptability. The result: vegetables that honor the past while thriving in our changing future.
I spent years learning how to coax the best out of vegetables in the kitchen. Now I'm doing that work in the field, before they ever reach a cutting board. Every variety I develop has to answer one question: would I want to cook with this?
— Hans Fama
The Work
A New Class of Storage Tomato
For the past five years, he's concentrated his efforts on developing a new class of storage tomatoes. These varieties preserve the depth and keeping qualities of classic long-keepers while delivering the fresh eating experience modern palates expect. He's proud to introduce these unique varieties to the public for the first time, alongside rare heirloom selections he's sourced from Italy and Spain.