“The person who’s cooking should not have to do the dishes.”
During a recent interview with the Village Green Network, Joel Salatin called it “one of the keys to slow food.” And, no, he wasn’t talking about grazing animals on pasture. He was talking about housework, specifically about spreading it around — almost like manure on a field (metaphor mine, not his) — among the members of a household. … Read more
Glorious lamb and a story along those lines
“It’s 9 a.m. on a Sunday, and my bathrobe and hair already reek of garam masala — burnt garam masala, to be exact. Who’d have known that the key to this Indian-Pakistani recipe for lamb biryani would be the French cooking mantra of mise-en-place? Or that the minute it takes for the pile of spices to get … Read more
Top 10 Misconceptions about Ag & Farmers
Photos from the past year, covering Virginia agriculture. I got an ag email today that I just have to share. You see, it’s Virginia Agriculture Week starting March 17, so I’ve been getting all sorts of info goodies from the state’s Department of Agriculture (and it’s fabulous communications director, Elaine Lidholm) in the week … Read more
Winter veggie cravings and Farm to Freezer
Something’s wrong with me. It’s the thick of winter (or at least it was a few days ago, before 70 degrees rolled into Washington this week) and all I want is vegetables. I’m craving them. Perhaps I have a vitamin deficiency, or just a masochistic urge to eat the very thing that is not-so-available this … Read more
Highlights: Virginia Farm-to-Table conference
It took some prodding from an ice cream-making farmer I met for a story, but boy was I glad I decided to attend at least one day of the Virginia Farm-to-Table conference last week. Sure, it was a 3-hour drive to Wyers Cave, Va., but waiting there was a wealth of food story ideas and the people … Read more
Foodshed story and National Food Day
If you live in DC, Virginia or Maryland, go get the first every copy of Foodshed Magazine — formerly Flavor Magazine — and read my story about Brian Walden’s experiment with locally grown grains. He’s thinking big about locally grown, milled and baked breads, brewed beers and black beans. You can also read the story … Read more
Do GMOs have a role in the next food frontier?
There is no shortage of discussion topics emerging from Josh Schonwald’s relatively new book The Taste of Tomorrow: Dispatches from the Future of Food. If arugula can replace romaine, then what, pray tell, is the salad of the future? Could meat made in a lab instead of a cow be a good thing? What is … Read more
Camp Lejeune: lessons on breast cancer and drinking water
Ever heard of Camp Lejeune? It’s a Marine Corps base in North Carolina whose polluted water proved to be the source of myriad health issues for a generation of military families stationed there — families who got a bit of closure this week. Notably, about 80 Marine males that spent time at the base have … Read more
