Jada Calypso Brotman

Ah, autumn. So soft, so gray, so indistinguishable from what passes for summer here in Northern Humboldt. You southern Humboldters must feel so smug all wrapped in your golden layers of summer tan. Here in Arcata autumn is primarily evidenced not by weather changes but by fresh green produce and visitors. The highway exits are […]

I have been known to throw fits about cheese, citified, hoity-toity fits that publicly I eschew and privately I pursue, defending my position alone in my head for hours. We who live in this veritable cornucopia of verdancy, overflowing with local organic meat, produce, grains and dairy, we who positively wallow amidst plump, cream-producing cows, […]

At the Tuesday Farmers’ Market in Arcata, I was pleasantly surprised to learn how cheap basil is right now. Big, verdant bunches, redolent with pungent anise scent; they seemed almost impossible to refuse. With basil so inexpensive, now’s the time for making and freezing batches of pesto (and canning tomato sauce, but that’s another column). […]

Hooray, it’s summer! And it totally is less crappy thus far than last summer. Sun, bearable wind, not too much rain. While I appreciate our temperate clime, I sometimes long for the psychologically comforting seasonal delineators of Actual Weather Changes. In the Midwest and back East, seasons are specific. There’s snow. You wear a big […]

Sometimes I long for the simple days of classic American cooking and culturally assigned gender roles. Ah, to be a woman trapped in the kitchen, with five squalling brats and an apron collection fit to beat the band. That’s the problem with today, all these exhausting options and freedoms. Not only do I have to […]

“The purpose of Food First is to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger.” — Food First mission statement   Food activist, agroecologist and political economist Eric Holt-Giménez came here last week as part of HSU’s Sustainable Futures series to speak about solutions to the root causes of the global food crisis. Coauthor of the book […]

Yes, Passover started at sundown on Monday. For a Jewish girl like me it’s Pesach and time for Elijah’s cup. For most of you it just means you’ll see a display with matzoh at the grocery store, probably not far from the Easter candy. I always thought once I lived in Brooklyn I’d eat a lot of […]

I tried out the new Cambodian joint recently, accompanied by a posse of ‘rents and friends. I’d heard that some Cambodian food can be completely alien to American palates, but Annie’s Cambodian Cuisine turned out to be quite accessible and totally delicious. Cambodian or Khmer cooking is similar to Thai in its liberal use of […]

Well, Humboldtians, I am just bursting at the seams with thrilling foodiness. We’ll start with our stalwart olive-maker friend, Henry Robertson, who has new additions to his usual smorgasbord of delicious unctuousness. His latest olives come from the Winnett Vineyards, a small organic winery and olivery in Willow Creek. The eventual plan is to make […]