On the Table

Seeing freshly picked zucchini at the Farmers’ Market gets me into a celebratory mood. I admit that I get excited about many kinds of fresh fruit and vegetables, each one for a different reason. With zucchini, it is a desire to make amends. I did not get along with zucchini during the first part of […]

MyPlate, the USDA’s new symbol of dietary correctness, was unveiled on June 2. It replaces the agency’s Eating Right Pyramid (est. 1992), which succeeded the Four Basic Food Groups (1956). Those four in turn represented a consolidation of the seven food groups the agency pushed in the 1940s, pared down from 12 during the Great […]

As the season progresses, a wider variety of fresh fruit and vegetables becomes available at the Arcata Farmers’ Market. But from the very first day, Swiss chard could be purchased from several farmers. If you managed to walk all around the Plaza last Saturday and go home without any chard in your basket, you’ll have […]

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 dark brown, pleasantly bitter, chemically complex substance we know of as chocolate bears little resemblance to the pulp-surrounded seeds of the cocoa plant from which it is produced. One would never suspect that one could be derived from the other. — Sophie and Michael Coe, The True History of Chocolate In a space inside […]

“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 […]

MoM 2011

Carrots love garlic, and garlic doesn’t mind carrots. Those are some conclusions I reached last year when I finally got sick of looking at all the blank space between my garlic plants and decided to do something about it. They’re planted six inches apart, and if it weren’t for the straw mulch between them, most […]

“Cheese is one of the great achievements of humankind. Not any cheese in particular, but cheese in its astonishing multiplicity, created anew every day in the dairies of the world.” — Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking The multiplicity of cheese is astonishing and can be intimidating if you’re learning to make cheese by carrying […]

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 […]

On March 17, 1861, Vittorio Emanuele II (hitherto King of Sardinia) was proclaimed King of Italy by the first Italian Parliament. On March 17, 2011, Italy turns 150. I don’t expect flags will be displayed from windows and balconies: Italians reserve that for the national soccer team’s big games. I choose to celebrate Italy’s sesquicentennial […]