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Food / Dining

Michael Pollan is the author of the new book "Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation." (Courtesy photograph)

Let Them Eat Whole Foods

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Michael Pollan hasn’t been the only writer to bring attention to the follies of industrial agriculture, an oxymoron if there ever were one, but he is arguably the most influential, much as Rachel Carson exemplified the ethos of the environmental movement when she wrote Silent Spring. Cooked, Pollan’s latest exploration of the intersection between food, science and culture, shows him at his most engaging but also exhibits a tone-deafness that comes when the preacher is proselytizing those who are already converted. The premise of Cooked is that there have been dire consequences from the post-war advent of so-called convenience foods. With an abundance of scientific …

Rhubarb Breaks Out, for a Sure, and Sweet, Sign That Spring Is Here

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

A lilac bush, a clump of rhubarb and a stonewall may be all that remains of a homestead abandoned a hundred years earlier. The dark green leaves, full of oxalic acid, are poisonous, but the bright pink or drab green stems are loaded with flavor. Rhubarb is the most forgiving plant in my garden. It doesn’t need much attention; an occasional scoop of …

Co-op, Residents Discuss Mascoma

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Enfield — By the end of yesterday’s meeting with representatives from the Co-op Food Stores, organizer Dorothy Heinrichs had the names of more than 100 residents who supported her cause. She’ll need them all and more for her goal of opening a Co-op store in the Mascoma Valley to become a reality. Although Co-op Food Stores Finance Director Tony Alongi said they will …

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Oxbow’s Nate Smith slides into home for a run during the Olympians’ home game with Randolph yesterday. Oxbow prevailed in eight innings, 4-3. (Valley News - Sarah Priestap) O’s Nip Ghosts
Randolph at Oxbow baseball in Bradford, Vt., on May 21, 2013. Oxbow won, 4-3. (Valley News - Sarah Priestap) Photo Gallery: Randolph at Oxbow Baseball
In West Fairlee yesterday morning, Shay Paffenroth reaches for the fish she just caught, which she called a “pumpkin seed.” Paffenroth, of West Topsham, Vt., and her husband, David, were fishing in Lake Fairlee for the first time. “A lot of people don’t like catching small fish,” she said, laughing. “I don’t give a damn, as long as I catch something.” (Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Catch of the Day
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This March 12, 2013 photo released by the Maine Forest Rangers shows an illegally tapped maple tree in northern Maine. Thieves are illegally tapping trees across Maine and stealing the sap that runs each spring that's used to make sweet maple syrup. Forest rangers say the illegal tappers are damaging valuable maple trees before they are harvested for lumber. (AP Photo/Maine Forest Rangers)

An Increasingly Sticky Situation

Friday, April 5, 2013

Portland, Maine — Sticky-fingered thieves are stealing the sap right out of Maine’s maple trees. With little more than a spout-like tap and a bucket, people are looting the liquid out of trees on private property and hauling …

The beer selection at many area gas stations, such as Jake’s Market in Lebanon, can include a surprising amount of high-end beers. (Valley News - Chris Fleisher)

On Tap: The Upper Valley Has Good Taste When It Comes to Gas Station Beer

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The menu of beers before me was like some kind of “Greatest Hits” album, each selection just as good as the last. Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. Stone Arrogant Bastard. Victory Golden Monkey. Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. …

Baked Ham Has Many Uses

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

On Easter I baked an enormous ham shank that I’d brined in apple and hard cider with a mixture of cloves, bay leaf, juniper berries, cinnamon, allspice and mace. I’d glazed the ham with my own home-made marmalade, …

Put a twist on traditional egg salad with this Mediterranean version featuring Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts and cheery tomatoes. (Ellise Pierce/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT)

Excessive Eggs? Make Egg Salad

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Easter still makes me think of vinegar. A clear wax crayon, drawn onto the white shell, not able to see the childish designs, hoping for the best. Dipping into the colored, vinegary dye with a flimsy wisp of …

Some of the 300 tiny immature tilapia wait to be released into the fish tank from a plastic bag where they were acclimating to their new home, January 4, 2013, at Waukesha West High School where special education teacher Joe Jenna has been very involved with others in setting up a Aquaponics operation in the schools mostly unused greenhouse. (Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/MCT)

Time for Tilapia: High School Tries Fish Farming in Its Greenhouse

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Waukesha, Wis. — The high school greenhouse was built with the school in 1992. But it was never really used. Teachers kept some plants there, but it was basically a storage room. That all changed this month, when …

In this Wednesday, March 28, 2013 photo, David Moore of the Crooked Chimney sugarhouse poses in front of one of his tapped white birch trees, in Lee, N.H. Moore, New Hampshire’s only known commercial birch syrup producer, got his start in 2008, when he was a student at the University of New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Sugar Makers Add Birch to Syrup Menu

Monday, April 1, 2013

Lee, n.h. — Unlike maple syrup-drenched Vermont and lobster-rich Maine, New Hampshire doesn’t have much to call its own in the food world. But it could find a future claim to fame in birch syrup, a nontraditional but …

Ray Chung holds some edamame at a processing plant in Mulberry, Ark., on Wednesday, March 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Jeannie Nuss)

Farmers See Growth in Edamame

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Mulberry, Ark. — A small but growing number of farmers have been experimenting with an edible soybean as they look to capitalize on Americans’ interest in adding non-meat proteins to their diets. The United States is one of …

Peeps are marshmallow candies that are shaped into chicks, bunnies, and other animals. (Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles Times/MCT)

Make Your Own Sweet, Fluffy Peeps

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Maybe they slowly grew on me. Or maybe it was the sheer sugar rush — from testing close to 75 dozen chicks — but I’ll admit it. I’ve grown fond of Peeps. For most of us, an Easter …

Attleboro Organic Farmers Grow the Business Indoors

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Attleboro, Mass. — Cooks who favor organic ingredients in their salad could be getting their next batch of bean sprouts or lettuce from an indoor farm. Friends and health food enthusiasts Ashley Driscoll of Seekonk, Mass., and Brad Rao and John Irving of Attleboro, Mass., have teamed up …

Heady Topper from Waterbury, Vt., has been called the world’s best beer by BeerAdvocate.com. (Valley News - Chris Fleisher)

On Tap: “World’s Best Beer’’ Is Made in Vermont, but Can You Get It?

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Montpelier — The shipment was scheduled to arrive Friday around noon, and I’d heard from a guy who knows a guy that I’d better be there on time if I wanted my share. Sure enough, when I rounded …