Slaughterhouses and small farms
One of the issues I never gave much thought to before writing Eating for Beginners was slaughterhouses–by which I mean how many there are, where they’re located, and what kind of red tape they have to deal with to process meat. Like many people, I was more concerned with how my meat was raised than [...]
Locally slaughtered meat
Today I’m doing the last little edits on the chapters of Eating for Beginners (now set to come out next July, by the way) in which I write about spending time at the small Vermont farm where I met Lucy and Oliver, helping them tend to cows, sheep, goats and veal calves. One of the [...]
East Hill Farm: inside the small farm start-up
I’ve been meaning for a while now to post about East Hill Farm in Andover, VT a new operation being run by the young couple who were farm hands at one of the places I worked doing research for Eating for Beginners. Since then, they’ve moved on and they’re now deep into their first season [...]
Home Sweet Home
I am alive! And back in Brooklyn! It’s been weeks since I posted, and in that time we left Berlin, made a pit stop in England, and then crossed the ocean on the Queen Mary 2, which was quite an adventure. Among other things, I wondered over a five-course dinner every night whether it’s even [...]
Local food hits the big time
There’s a mind-boggling article in today’s New York Times about big corporations’ attempt to appeal to consumers by going “local.” Among the efforts is Frito-Lay’s new ad campaign, which will feature some of the “local” farmers who grow some of the 2 billion pounds of potatoes they use to make chips every year. “We grow [...]
Thoughts on food miles (mine and Marion Nestle's)
Thanks to the magic of Twitter, specifically Mark Bittman on Twitter, yesterday I discovered this post on Marion Nestle’s blog (Nestle is the author of a whole pile of really good food books like What to Eat, Food Politics, Safe Food and others, and she’s a great, sensible source of information on everything from nutrition [...]
Local favorites: Spargel (with recipe)!
It is Spargel season in Germany. “Spargel”, though it just means “asparagus”, tends to refer to white asparagus that are thicker and sweeter than the green ones we usually eat in the US and are much-revered in these parts. At this time of year, there’s as much Spargel here as there is cheese in the [...]
