On the Table

  You knew this was beer country. But did you know that the newest brewery in Humboldt plans to grow all its own barley and hops? And that it will sell shares of its production just like some farms sign up subscribers for boxes of fruit and vegetables? And that it will be pouring at […]

  In Italy, spring sings a berry-flavored song, with strawberries breaking the monopoly of winter fruit. My mother often featured them at the end of a meal and I have memories of picking them in friends’ gardens and in woods. Blackberries are connected to summer afternoons spent reaching out for the branch with the biggest […]

You might have seen the line of townsfolk eagerly clustered around a new booth in the mushrooming food court at the center of the Saturday Farmers’ Market at Arcata Plaza. What is the hub-bub you may have wondered, craning your neck to see over the last person in line. A waffle iron? Ice cream cones? […]

You may recall Lewis Carroll’s poetic Through the Looking-Glass tale, “The Walrus and The Carpenter,” which finds the tricky pair leading a small flock of oysters on a long walk down the beach before a sad dinner of bread and, yes, oysters. “I weep for you,” the Walrus said: “I deeply sympathize.” With sobs and […]

You are at the grocery store and a bottle with a brightly colored label catches your attention: You read the word “kefir” on it and wonder what it is. Sensing your curiosity, the bottle answers: “My name is kefir: I am a type of fermented milk. I have a creamy consistency, a slightly sour taste […]

The first time I ate garlic flowers was for breakfast on a train from Beijing to Ulan Bator, Mongolia. The dining car didn’t have a menu. You sat down and they brought you food. I went there as soon as the train left the station, and was happy to find it open. A server delivered […]

There’s one thing constant in the restaurant world: change. Menus change; restaurants come and go. It can be hard to keep track. That’s why we put out a new Menu of Menus every year. There’s a new one out, which you can find on select newsstands and other locations throughout Humboldt County. So, what’s new? […]

Gluten, a protein composite present in wheat and other grains, appears to be a kind of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a friend to bread bakers and a foe to people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. Let’s take a closer look at this “strange case.” First gluten as Dr. Jekyll: The long molecules of […]

Slipping out the back door of the Alibi way past midnight on a Saturday, my stomach growling for food, I was dreading the probable line at Don’s Donuts. There would be famished teens, street people and half-drunk bar patrons waiting to order SE Asian sandwiches, pizza slices or classic sugar-bomb donuts. But right down the […]

Parsnips are hardly a secret. Unlike celeriac or rutabagas, most have at least heard of parsnips, even if they can’t remember what they look like. The fragrant taproot that resembles an ivory-white carrot was once a big deal in the old country. Medieval folks survived northern European winters on parsnips, which were used to make […]

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, […]