Feel connected to your food again through ZIVA

AUTHENTIC

We named our company after Tomer's mother, ZIVA. She and the rest of his immediate family are Moroccan born.  Tomer grew up amongst olive and fruit trees, farms and ranches in the Middle East, learning to cook from his mother and grandmothers.  He learned the importance of good quality extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. He learned that slow braising overnight yields the most tender meats. He learned what a good spice blend can bring to a dish.

After working in kitchens in Italy, France, Spain and Greece, Tomer landed at the French Culinary Institute in New York where he met Jody.  There we worked for some of the top French and Italian chefs in NYC (e.g., Daniel Boulud, Gray Kunz, Lidia Bastianich). We connected with each other because of a mutual interest in how people come together within and across cultures through food.

We know Mediterranean food and with Tomer as our chef, we are CONNECTING all of these cultures and putting them into your Farmers Market basket. From Italian Acqua Pazza to French Pork Rillettes to Middle-Eastern Mujadara to Greek Tzatziki... Mediterranean food is so much more than hummus, come explore with us!

LOCAL

Throughout our travels, training and education, we realized that the one key commonality of food from all Mediterranean countries is a focus on utilizing the bounty that grows around you. 

In the Pacific Northwest, we have found ourselves in a perfect place to continue that most important tradition of Mediterranean foods. And the farmers markets make it even more perfect. We were farmers market regulars before launching our business and have to tell you that nothing is better than working with a community you love.

Whenever possible, we buy ingredients from our market neighbors. Like carrots from Dear Table Farm for use in our Moroccan Carrots and Carrot-top Pesto or tomatoes from Zestful Gardens for our Heirloom Tomato & Baharat spice soup.

And we love adding items to our menu that provide the perfect complement to other vendors’ items, such as our Shakshuka Sauce with Cascadia Meats merguez and Left Foot Farm eggs. Our dressings are another great example of this. We love helping you CONNECT the dots between all of the booths at the markets.

SMALL BATCH

You may know us from one of the many food businesses in which we’ve worked since arriving in Seattle in 2006, for example: PCC Markets, Serafina and Cicchetti, Cantinetta, Pair, Canon, Terra Plata, Westward, Branzino, Lisa Dupar catering, nomad.dinners (our own monthly pop-up dinner party series). Maybe you discovered us at a ZIVA Farmers Market booth. Or you met us at a tasting in a Whole Foods, PCC or family-owned market in the region. Yes, we are the same ZIVA you saw on the shelves of 55 stores around the Seattle/Tacoma area. 

When we decided to launch ZIVA in 2015, we had hoped to bring small batch hummus with no preservatives or junk to the masses. By 2022, we realized the batches were not so small any more and we were making products instead of food. We felt we were losing our connection to the food, and even worse, to the people eating it.

So in May 2022, we downsized that part of the business to center ZIVA on Farmers Markets and broaden our offerings there.  You can still find some of our dips and spreads at a few select local grocery stores, but that is no longer our focus.

This change allowed us to:

  • Create a larger variety of foods and share their stories

  • Make everything ourselves, ensuring quality and consistency

  • Focus on the craft, technique and ingredients

  • Interact directly with customers and incorporate their feedback into our menu planning

If you don’t know us yet, please introduce yourself! You will always find either Tomer or Jody at the farmers market booth (locations are listed on “Where to Pick Up”). We look forward to CONNECTING with you personally.

See you at a market soon!

~ Tomer and Jody