Joseph Byrd

The islands of Erba Verde, reached by secular humanists fleeing the late 15th century Venetian tyrant-priest Girolamo Savonarola, remained a lost, mythical place for centuries. Tales of this magical land, whose name could mean "green grass" or "green herb," fascinated the Portuguese and Spanish, but did not distract them from their obsessive pursuit of gold. […]

Recent quarter-page displays in local newspapers have advertised The Martha Washington Cookbook, by mail, $24. The headline says "Old Cookbook Reveals Amazing Detail’s of Washington’s Dining Habits." There is such a relic, but it is not a cookbook. Several annotated editions have been published since the original manuscript was given to the Pennsylvania Historical Society […]

When I was 16 and had my learner’s permit, my father conscripted me to drive him to a mine site several hours into the Chiricahua Mountains. We left Tucson at 5 a.m. and had breakfast around 7 at a truck stop in Wilcox. For the first time in my life, I could order anything I […]

Fish has always had one problem in American cuisine: Americans don’t much like it, except battered and fried. Prior to the Age Of Sushi, you pretty much had to go to a fish restaurant to get anything except fish and chips. Not counting shrimp, which we adore (the longest lines in Vegas buffets are for […]

For nine weeks during the summer of 1962 I was in northern New Mexico, on a fellowship to the Santa Fe Opera. In Santa Fe I was introduced to a new kind of Mexican-American food; it was the first since my childhood in Southern Arizona, which had been limited to the tapatio cuisine of Sonora. […]

A pox on all your damned pasteurized cheeses! There, I’ve said it! I am now the enemy of American cheesemakers, and you will doubtless hear from them in response to this column. Well, after all, they are colleagues and friends. But just as significantly, they profit from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s delusion that […]

"There is no ‘American cuisine’?" inquired Nero Wolfe. "Have you eaten Maryland terrapin stewed with butter and chicken broth and Bourbon?" "No." "Have you eaten a planked porterhouse steak, two inches thick, charred on the outside, but surrendering hot > red juice under the knife, escorted by thick slices of fresh King Bolete mushrooms faintly […]

When Brad Bird’s Pixar/Disney animated film Ratatouille was released last summer, we were overwhelmed with buzz. Seldom has any movie gotten so unanimous a lovefest: The online movie review site Rotten Tomatoes gave it a critical 97 percent, with an audience rating of 100 percent. Even in the food world, there was a passionate response. […]

My wife Beni was in Cleveland recently, where she dined at Lola, a cutting-edge restaurant owned by Chef Michael Symon. Several years ago, we read a biographical sketch of the young Symon in Michael Ruhlman’s book The Soul of a Chef. When Beni returned, having had a spectacular meal, and having met Symon (she bore […]