Farming
What's Your Beef? Grass-Fed and Other Beef Terminology
Have you had a chance to read the April issue of Smithsonian yet? I recommend "Breeding the Perfect Bull," a wonderfully written feature by Jeanne Marie Laskas about a family of cattle ranchers in Texas. Judging from readers' response, she really captured the flavor of the modern cowboy's lifestyle...
April 08, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Cesar Chavez: A Life Devoted to Helping Farm Workers
According to proponents of local, organic and/or humane foods, we all "vote with our forks" three (give or take) times a day. It's true that consumers have a certain amount of power to influence food producers to change their ways. This idea predates the locavore movement; some of its most effectiv...
March 31, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
How Food Shaped Humanity
A few months ago I wrote about the book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham, which claimed that eating cooked food was the central factor that allowed us to evolve into Homo sapiens. I recently finished another book, An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage, that essen...
March 26, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
In a Pickle
Salty and crunchy cucumber pickles have been a mainstay in American refrigerators for decades. But The Daily Beast recently listed pickling as one of its top trends for 2010. And the trend isn't just for cucumbers—you can pickle just about anything. At the restaurant where I work, we serve pickled ...
March 09, 2010 |
By Abby Callard
Food Summit: Steps Toward a Safer Food System
Yesterday, I attended the first-ever Atlantic Food Summit, a series of panel discussions convened by the Atlantic magazine and hosted by the Newseum in D.C. Those of you who follow me on Twitter already heard some tidbits, but here's a more complete summary.There were three main themes, each with i...
March 05, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
The ABC's of Maple Syrup
March can be an ugly month in the northeast, all mud and slush and wind—some compare it to a lion, but I think of it more like cranky old Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace. Like him, it conceals a current of sweetness beneath its bluster.It's hard to predict exact dates for maple sugaring season beca...
March 02, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Salmon Farming Can Be Sustainable
Smithsonian magazine staff writer Abigail Tucker is our guest blogger today.I have avoided eating salmon since the spring of 2008, when I reported on a die-off of West Coast chinooks that shut down much of the California fishery. Unfortunately for me, salmon was the only fish I knew how to cook (in...
January 22, 2010 |
By admin
Can Wasabi Save Lives?
A few weeks ago, I wrote about making sushi at home and mentioned that I was upset when all I could find at the grocery store was imitation wasabi. I decided to look up a little more information about the green stuff and found out that it has some interesting characteristics I wasn't expecting.Wasa...
January 21, 2010 |
By Abby Callard
Five Ways to Eat Fresh Fennel
I met a new vegetable recently, and I'm totally infatuated: fennel.I'd heard of fennel, but had never eaten it until I visited my husband's family for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. The appetizers included a veggie tray with familiar snacks like peppers, cucumbers, broccoli and baby carrots. B...
January 20, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Five Ways to Eat Jicama
I've always like jicama (pronounced HEE-kuh-muh), a starchy, slightly sweet root popular in Mexico. It looks like an ugly brown turnip (and is sometimes called Mexican turnip) and, when raw, has the crunchy texture of a firm pear or a raw potato. Until a few weeks ago, raw was the only way I'd ever...
January 13, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Sub a Veggie for Spaghetti
I love pasta as much as the next person. It's easy, it's cheap and it's convenient. But it's not exactly packed with nutrients. I think I have found a great alternative to the simple pasta dish. Don't get me wrong, I will eat pasta, but subbing in a healthier alternative once in a while can't hurt....
January 12, 2010 |
By Abby Callard
Five Ways to Eat Pomegranates
Post-holidays, most people take at least a passing interest in eating healthier. I know I do, anyway. That's what motivated me to pick up a whole, fresh pomegranate at the grocery store a few days ago—I'd heard that this round, red fruit is a "superfood," packed with antioxidants and vitamins. Neve...
January 04, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Oh My Darling, Clementine
There are two small, sweet treats on my desk right now, and I predict that they won't make it to lunch break. I can't resist; I end up downing dozens every holiday season. But that's not so bad, since unlike cookies and candy, clementines are fat-free and full of vitamin C (though I suppose their n...
December 08, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Five Ways to Eat Rutabaga
The first time I tasted rutabaga—or so I thought—was when I started spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with my fiancé's family. Bowls of mashed rutabaga, seasoned with salt and pepper and a little butter, are a staple of their holiday table, although some of the cousins turn their noses up at it. ...
December 03, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Learning to Love Olive Oil
Olive oil has never been a particular passion for me, although I cook with it almost daily. Its main appeal is utility—creating texture and moisture; browning without sticking—more than taste. But after attending a recent Smithsonian Resident Associates event about Italian foods, I won't be taking ...
November 30, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Taking Sides: A Vegetarian Thanksgiving
The New York Times food section recently featured a fun face-off between writers Kim Severson and Julia Moskin over what you might call a silly question: What's more important on a Thanksgiving table, the turkey or the side dishes? Moskin wrote an article titled "Show-Off Sides to Rival the Pull of...
November 23, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Loofah on the Menu
There aren't too many foods that are equally at home in a stir-fry or a shower caddy. But on a trip to New York City last week, I spotted an ingredient on a Chinese restaurant menu that I would normally associate with smoothing rough elbows: loofah.Until then, I had no idea that loofah was edible, ...
November 18, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Five Ways to Eat Beets
I ordered a salad with roasted beets when I was out with my parents recently. They looked at the hunks of purple of my plate and wrinkled their noses. The "I remember when…" statements weren’t far behind. They recalled stinky, pickled beets from a can, which is something they never subjected me to ...
November 11, 2009 |
By Abby Callard
Baking Apples in a Schnitzer
While visiting an Irish friend in the Kilkenny countryside a few years back, I admired her mother's charming wood cookstove. It was nearly the size of a twin bed, was always kept burning, and produced daily loaves of delicious brown bread and amazing apple pies. But, until I moved to New York from ...
November 06, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Five Ways to Eat Brussels Sprouts
Yes, I said "eat" and "Brussels sprouts." Oh, stop making that face...Properly prepared, these tiny brassica plants can be a real treat—and they're nutritionally noble (low-cal and fat-free, yet just a handful will provide all the vitamin C you need for the day, plus several grams of protein and fi...
November 05, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
