Farming
Why Does Corn Have Silk?
Why does corn have silk? I mean, I think it's fun to tear through the husk to reveal the ear, like unwrapping a present, but picking those sticky little strings off the kernels quickly turns tedious.So why doesn't someone invent silk-less corn, like seedless watermelon, to make life easier for lazy...
August 06, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Ugly Watermelons Get a Second Life
Today is one of those odd unofficial holidays that I never noticed until I became a food blogger: National Watermelon Day. (Picked up this fact from Foodimentary via Twitter.)Which makes a convenient excuse to keep pigging out on the luscious melon I bought this weekend at a local farm stand. It's ...
August 03, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Food of the Moment: Squash Blossoms
I'm used to being invaded by squash at this time of year, as many of you probably are too—paper sacks full of zucchini left on the front porch by neighbors were a common perk (or hazard) of small-town Vermont summers.This summer, I'm noticing squash all over the place again, but in a less familiar ...
July 30, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Discovered: A Prehistoric Pantry
Our prehistoric ancestors didn't have supermarkets stocked with corn flakes (or crunchberries, fortunately), but they apparently found ways to stock up on cereal grains as long as 11,300 years ago—even before they managed to domesticate plants.Anthropologists Ian Kuijt and Bill Finlayson have disco...
July 28, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Terrible Terroir
Vintners in two of the world's biggest wine-producing regions, California and South Africa, have been fretting lately, and not just about the global recession. At least the economy affects all grape-growing nations more or less across the board. But the problem these winemakers have is decidedly si...
July 17, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Swiss Chard Pizza
As I mentioned earlier, Mr. FaT and I are buying most of our fruits and veggies through a CSA share program for the first time. A month in, I'm totally hooked, and the produce section at my local supermarket seems almost like a different planet—what are those rock-hard things masquerading as tomato...
June 15, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Honey, I Shrunk the Watermelon!
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the increasing popularity of mini-cattle among budget-conscious farmers, and expressed my personal reservations about eating something so petite and adorable. I have no such compunctions, however, about the Pepquiño, a newly available fruit that resembles a tiny ...
June 09, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Downsizing Livestock with Mini-Cattle
The other day, the Los Angeles Times did a story on the increasing number of ranchers and farmers raising miniature cattle to cut costs and produce meat and milk more efficiently.These cows average 500 to 700 pounds, about half the weight of their full-figured counterparts, but they are not genetic...
May 29, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Asparagus Fries
Hi, my name is Amanda, and I'm addicted to asparagus. In all forms, really, but my latest obsession is a little embarrassing, since I like to think of myself as a healthy eater: Asparagus Fries. Or in other words...Fried Asparagus.I blame an old friend for getting me hooked. A few months ago, she t...
May 28, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Kicking off CSA Season
It's finally here! The first batch of seasonal produce we'll be getting every week from now through October, through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. This is the first year that my fiance (who shall henceforth be referred to as Mr. FAT, because it makes me chuckle) and I have partic...
May 27, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
The Etymology of Food, Part I: Why Nothing Rhymes With Orange
One of my college history professors once claimed that the reason there is no English word that rhymes with orange is that it is one of the few words derived from Persian. He was only partly right; according to the Dictionary of Word Origins, by John Ayto, the word entered our language in the 14th ...
May 08, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Learning About Heirloom Tomatoes
Amy Goldman talks about heirloom tomatoes the way oenophiles talk about fine wine. She discusses the acidity and sugar content of various varietals, and raves about nuances of texture, taste and aroma. The Orange Strawberry oxheart tomato "makes (her) heart sing," and the muddy color of the Purple ...
May 06, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Food Matters on Earth Day
Lately I'm reading a book called "Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating," by Mark Bittman (a.k.a. NY Times' "The Minimalist"), and Earth Day seems like the perfect time to tell you about it.Bittman's thesis is simple but sobering: What you choose to put on your plate has a direct impact on the...
April 22, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Insulation Made Out of ... Mushrooms?
If having fungus inside your home's walls sounds like a bad thing, the judges of the 2008 PICNIC Green Challenge would disagree. In October, Eben Bayer, a 23-year-old from Troy, New York, won 500,000 euros in the second annual Dutch-sponsored competition for the best solution to reducing greenhouse...
April 17, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
The Plate as Palette
When I was in New York City recently, I noticed a listing for an intriguing event that combined art and cuisine (two of my favorite things) at Monkey Town, an art venue and restaurant in Williamsburg. For the Color Palate Project, ten international artists were invited to create a monochromatic wor...
April 14, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Remote-Controlled Cattle
This piece of news isn't directly about food, but I find it fascinating. I mean, I don't run across too many press releases that manage to combine satellites, computers, stereo headsets, and...cows.The USDA's Agricultural Research Service recently licensed a new method of cattle herding, something ...
March 30, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Spring Flavors: Ramps, Morels and Fiddleheads
I’ve always loved spring, even when I lived in the mild climate of California, because that’s when wild flowers dusted color over the usually brown hillsides. Now that I live where the winters are harsh, my appreciation for spring verges on rapture.
One of the reasons, as always, is food-related:...
March 23, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Hot Off the Presses: What's So Hot About Chili Peppers?
As someone who considers hot sauce a kitchen staple, I've been especially looking forward to the April issue of Smithsonian magazine—it includes this feature by Brendan Borrell about an American ecologist who studies chilies in Bolivia to deduce nature's method behind the spicy madness. It's a live...
March 20, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
A Brief History of the Potato
You know how sometimes, strangers on the plane or train will seek matter for chatter by peeking at what you're reading? It usually works. But I've discovered the perfect conversational stumper: "Potato: A History of the Propitious Esculent," a new hardcover by Yale University Press.As they stare at...
March 17, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
A Week Without Groceries
Well, I haven't seen the inside of a grocery store almost a week now, since joining the "Eating Down the Fridge" challenge issued by Kim O'Donnel of A Mighty Appetite. By the way, she's hosting a live chat on Washingtonpost.com at 1 p.m. (ET) today, check it out if you get a chance!Are any of you d...
March 12, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
