To most of us, the sustainable food movement is a relatively recent phenomenon. But to chef/author/food activist Alice Waters, it began four decades ago, before "sustainability" was even a word. That's when she opened Chez Panisse, the Berkeley eatery that helped pioneer the now-popular concept of serving local, organic, seasonal food. Over the last forty years, Waters and Chez Panisse have......read more
Believe it or not, there was a time not too long ago when the only root vegetables anyone ate were carrots and potatoes. Thankfully, as Mark Bittman points out at NYT Mag, that's changed, "in part because it was all wrong; in part because if you’re going to eat seasonal and local, you are going to eat roots in winter, even if you live in California; and in part because roasted root......read more
Today, Alice Waters is the queen bee of sustainable food movement. But it was flavor, not sustainability, that led the owner of Chez Panisse to local, organic food. Since founding the Berkeley eatery 40 years ago, Alice has helped inspire nothing short of a culinary revolution. These days, you won't find her in the restaurant's kitchen because she is too busy heading up the Chez Panisse......read more
The artisanal geniuses at Blue Hill Farm in New York's Pocantico Hills have created what may just be the world's best pickle. That sounds lofty, but if you've ever bitten into one of these, you'd be obliged to agree. The flavors are so subtle, so intricate, that it's hard to believe that the list of ingredients is so simple: Kirby cukes (from Cherry Lane Farms in Bridgeton, NJ), white wine......read more
There may be no better way to eat than with the seasons. That's the time when food is at its peak in both freshness and flavor. The time when foods can be grown locally. When you can avoid eating fruits and vegetables shipped from halfway around the globe, which have ripened on their journey to your grocery store. Not only will seasonal food taste better, you will be causing less impact on the......read more
Last week you learned a little bit about asparagus. So what’s next on the list for seasonal eats? Rhubarb!Another vegetable (or is it a fruit?) that pops up in early spring in many locations around the globe. Before writing this piece, I will admit I had never cooked with or tasted rhubarb ever before. I knew that it looked like a mix between celery and red chard but that it’s......read more
In Jonathan Safran Foer's latest book "The Eating of Animals" the lauded novelist dives deep into the complex morality of eating meat. An avowed vegetarian, Foer stops short of preaching the vegan way of life, but presents some pretty damning testimony about factory farms and the lives of animals raised on them. The Atlantic correspondant Jeffrey Goldberg had a discussion with Foer......read more
In this clip from ALTER ECO, Denevan discusses his work cooking impromptu meals from local ingredients and making temporal art in the sand....read more
Like so many fisheries around the world, the seafood stocks off the Southeastern coast of the U.S. have been decimated by overfishing. The situation is so critical that regional fisheries managers believe that many of the most commonly fished species, including grouper, sea bass and red snapper, are in danger of disappearing for good. Recreational and commercial fishing for those species have......read more
As I write this I think back on the past few days’ efforts to make small daily changes to my eating habits. Believe me, I’m not one to deny myself the things I enjoy; I’m more likely to find something that both satisfies my cravings and that I can feel good about eating. Applying it has actually been much easier than I expected. If I stick to satisfying the senses, I find......read more