On the Table

In the days when we thought we had money, we used to go for breakfast to The Crest House in Culver City, a big "family restaurant" with a dark, dingy bar attached. We’d play racquetball for an hour, shower, then sit in the bar (away from the "family" section) and have Bloody Marys and a […]

Food and agriculture issues might not make the headlines very often in a presidential race, but they affect everything from health to energy policy, and touch on a lot of ethical, economic and environmental issues along the way. Thus, I’ve been trying for weeks to reach Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton […]

Are we obsessive about food? The popularity of Michael Pollan’s recent books (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, preceded by The Botany of Desire, and followed by In Defense of Food) suggests that we are. Pollan is a serious science writer and director of UC Berkeley’s program in Science and Environmental Journalism. But science battles pseudo-science in the […]

I am glad the Arcata Farmers’ Market has started its 2008 season. My Saturday mornings are once again convivial and exciting. I have already tried two kinds of previously untasted greens (purslane and amaranth greens) as well as the hulled barley I mentioned in a previous “Table Talk” article. A round of culinary explorations is […]

The Kentucky Derby is a hard luck race in a hard luck town. It was settled by people who tried to beat life with a pair of treys. The pickpockets are the only ones who go home winners on Derby Day. Unless you count the concessionaires, who put a nickel’s worth of bourbon in a […]

If you’ve been grocery shopping lately, and paying attention at the check-out stand, you know the food we eat has gone up in price. Basic things like bread, milk and eggs are all more expensive than they were last spring — a lot more. And if you’ve been watching the news, you know food prices […]

Stephanie Silva directed her own modern dance company in New York City and is a student of American poet Diane di Prima. She teaches movement and writing. When I was 10 years old I came home with the rehearsed narration of a grown-up joke I had overheard. An impending flood of momentous proportions is about […]

A different kind of crop is currently growing on approximately 12 acres of farmland in the Arcata Bottoms. After experimenting with wheat and other grains in test plots, Kevin Cunningham decided to expand his production and established the Shakefork Community Farm and its Grain Share Program, based on the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. When […]

Coney Island was a seaside resort as early as the 1820s. Close enough to Manhattan to afford easy access by ferry, it was distant enough to be an escape from city routines. Walt Whitman wrote of "the long bare unfrequented shore I had all to myself … and where I loved after bathing to race […]