Five years ago, I packed up and moved to Manhattan for my first post-MBA job. John followed about a month later, after managing a speedy sale of our house, thanks in part to our fortuitous timing before the real estate crash. I think five years is long enough to consider myself a real New Yorker. Obviously not a native, but…
Last year I started doing a tour of some of the farmers markets considered best in the country by various sources: Austin, San Francisco, Montpelier, New Orleans, and of course, New York. I love learning about a place by checking out what grows locally, what people eat there, how they shop and generally how it’s the same or different from…
A few days ago I offered a list of Newvine Growing’s greatest hits — the posts I’ve written in the last two years that have gotten the most traffic. Today I’ll do the opposite and serve up a list of some of the least-read posts. I’m curating these to look for posts I actually liked that never got traction, as…
I’ll be in Austin for the next several days at the geek spring break known as South by Southwest Interactive — all manner of people interested in the Web, mobile, social media and video games, among other things, descend on a city with the unofficial motto “Keep Austin Weird.” It’s an excellent experience because you almost can’t help but have…
This has been a week of a deep dive into farmers, farming and the food supply — I spent Monday-Friday in Baltimore at the North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association convention, then Saturday watching the live stream of TEDxManhattan, an all-day seminar called “Changing the Way We Eat.” This is all education in support of launching my new marketing…
Food writer Mark Bittman recently ended his long-running Minimalist column in the New York Times to shift into a new role as an opinion writer for the Times. This change of perspective, that food is about so much more than filling our bellies, is apparent in his book “Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating.” Bittman wrote in the announcement…
Earlier this week, I wrote about the most popular blog posts in the two-year run of Newvine Growing and about the most common search terms that bring people here. Studying those data points is part of some work I’m doing to refine my focus for 2011. I launched Newvine Growing in January 2009 with broad goal: to have a forum…
After a month of daily gratitude posts, it’s taking me a bit to regain my rhythm of regular content — but I do have some good stuff in the hopper: I sat down with Larry Kirshbaum, formerly CEO of Time-Warner Book Group and now head of LJK Literary, and he shared the unvarnished truth about moving from a corporate gig…
I’ve been traveling a lot lately, and rather than falling into my usual trap of reading fluffy magazines, I’ve used that travel time to dive into some good books. I pounded through Mark Bittman‘s “Food Matters” in just a few days. Much like Michael Pollan‘s books about what’s wrong with American food production, Bittman writes that how we eat is…
On Thanksgiving, many of us will spend the day feasting on a ridiculous amount of food, only to lay around later groaning that we’re about to burst. While we gorge ourselves silly, the AgChat Foundation is urging us to give thanks for that abundance of food — and for the farmers responsible for producing it. They explain: A…
In New York, it’s not uncommon to meet people who don’t cook. At all. They proudly talk about using their fridge only for beverages and maybe leftovers, and keeping shoes or sweaters in their ovens. I’m thankful not to be among them. As much as I do love going out for a good meal, I take serious pleasure in the…
This year I’ve embarked on a tour of what are considered some of the best farmers markets in the country. I consulted a variety of sources that rank the best markets, including: An Alice Waters interview with USA Today Eating Well Huffington Post MSNBC American Farmland Trust I marked their favorites on a big map of the U.S. to…
It’s Eat Drink Local Week in New York and I feel pretty good about representing. Among the items Edible Manhattan throws down as a challenge: 10. Cook your cast-offs! Think corn cob stock, sauteed beet tops, and pickled watermelon rinds. >> Maybe it’s my poverty mentality or perhaps my waste-nothing husband, but I’m a big fan of putting everything to…
Maybe a year ago, I made a quickie list of five people who inspired me that I’d like to meet. I reviewed the list earlier this week, after checking off my fourth: Mark Bittman. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXfarIbdaVA] I’m working on a freelance story about food and it was a great opportunity to interview one of my kitchen icons. I got off the…
When I was a kid, fall meant the start of the new season of TV, so if you watched the night soaps like Dallas or Dynasty, you needed a refresher of what happened on the cliff hanger so you could be ready. I haven’t left you with any cliff hangers this summer, but in that spirit, here’s a round up…
Since my recent post on calling a truce with cilantro is becoming one of the most popular on my blog, I thought you might also be interested in this funny story from an Indian cook — she’s preparing a meal for about 50 guests at the request of an important client and shortly before dinner time, she hears the client…
John and I finally watched Food Inc. this weekend. If you haven’t seen this challenging documentary on how the American food supply works, now is a good time to put it in your Netflix queue — Earth Day is Thursday and if you have any doubts now that what you put on your plate affects the environment, you won’t after…
Did you see Super Size Me? That terrifying movie where Morgan Spurlock eats only McDonald’s food for a month? I’m thinking of doing a similar experiment. Except less terrifying. And easier. What if I ate a half dozen raw oysters every day for a month? Why oysters? Several reasons: Oysters are associated with loads of health claims, from boosting energy…
If the current locavore food movement were a religion, a trip to Blue Hill would be its trip to Mecca. Blue Hill is perhaps best known around the country as the site of the Obamas’ New York date night dinner. That’s the Manhattan location, a good restaurant in a city crowded with good restaurants. To know the real Blue Hill…
I love Mark Bittman’s food writing. He makes cooking unintimidating. Even recipes with fancy or unfamiliar ingredients feel accessible because he explains it all so clearly. His book How to Cook Everything is my go-to when I’m trying to figure out how long to cook salmon or the best way to store raspberries. This video is a great example of…
