It's been a tumultuous few years for Isabelle Cossart. First, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, then Hurricane Katrina tore through her neighborhood, then her husband left her for her best friend. In the ensuing divorce she was left with a three-plus acre fruit orchard, and was suddenly transformed into a farmer. Turns out she's pretty good at it. The produce from Cossart's......read more
A few years ago, when animal studies starting linking BPA (bisphenol A) to various cancers, the resulting consumer uproar forced a mass recall of reusable plastic bottles. Safety-conscious mothers everywhere let out a giant sigh of relief as baby bottles were pulled from the shelves. A big win had been scored for consumer safety. The problem? Those aren't the only things that contain BPA. In......read more
It’s a fairly unassailable assertion that you’ve heard a bazillion times (possibly from a Brazilian?) – food cooked outside tastes better. I know. Duh, right? And there are many who would go further and argue that food cooked over charcoal is far superior to food cooked on a gas grill. I count myself among them. Then there is another smaller circle in the Fuel Preferences of......read more
Never mind, for now, fast food's negative nutritional value and its contribution to America's obesity problem; the one thing that really irks us about the industry is all the garbage it generates. If you're wondering where all those boxes, wrappers and cups end up when you're through, look no further than your local landfill, where they sit, for all intents and purposes,......read more
Farmbox Ingredients: * Beets * Mixed color carrots * Hardneck garlic * Pea shoots Listening to: * Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion * Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run * Mission of Burma – Signals, Calls and Marches All these root vegetables and nowhere to go but to the braised shortribs. Mario Batali’s shortribs from his Babbo cookbook......read more
St. Patrick's Day is here, which means green food coloring sales are through the roof. No offense to food coloring companies, but we'd rather do it the natural way. Ann Hodgman, writing for Slashfood, has some ideas: Add some green peas to your mashed potatoes to change the color (but not the taste). Use pesto to double green your spinach pasta, or to make green garlic bread. Green......read more
It almost sounded like some hippie mantra. I was on the patio, staring at an odd collection of building materials I’d gathered in the past week, reminding myself over and over again that "Nature required my patience." Well, actually, she didn’t actually need a damn thing from me; she’d get along just fine without me. I would need to accept the pace of things if I......read more
Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the the international Slow Food Movement. Celebrants around the world took part in the first ever Terra Madre Day last Thursday, which marked two decades since the signing of the Slow Food Manifesto in Paris in 1989. The manifesto laid the groundwork for the eco-gastronomic, member-supported non-profit, which is intended to revitalize local food traditions......read more