The age of agri-tourism: Small farms are increasingly diversifying into non-agricultural activities like farm tours, cheese-making classes, and photo safaris. The income from such activities often dwarfs their revenues from crops. New York Times
Idea ripe for U.S. implementation: The new Farmers’ City Market shop in south-west London aims to bring the farmers market indoors, while […]

Large, chain supermarkets have no smell. Even in the produce aisle, where piping sprays water over cucumbers and lettuces in a vain attempt to make them look dew-kissed, the only scent you might catch is a faint chlorine tang — possibly from the floor, possible from the misters. The apples might as well be made […]

I’ve never been inside a proper slaughterhouse, and I don’t have a burning desire to start taking tours. But the most arresting moment of the trip Sir Loin and I took to Morocco last fall was watching men in Marrakesh shop for chickens.
To see it for yourself, this is what you have to do. Go […]

Dairy Queen here: To me, one of the best parts of being involved in this blog is getting to read my five fellow Ethicureans’ points of view, hailing from different parts of the country and with varying preoccupations. In this case, I think, many cooks just makes for more interesting soup.
We would love to […]

Late last year I sat down with Walter Robb, co-president of Whole Foods Market, for an obscure business magazine.
I pitched the editor, for whom I’ve freelanced since 2000, on a Whole Foods Q&A by trotting out a few of the 27-year-old company’s impressive stats: $5.6 billion in fiscal 2006 sales, almost 200 locations, a stock […]

Damn. John Birdsall, the East Bay Express’s restaurant reviewer, totally busted me on EBX’s blog for prematurely panicking about the disappearance of Hoffman Game Birds from the Bay Area, now that the elderly owner is no longer selling at the Ferry Plaza farmers market. Doing the homework that I should have, Mr. B. called […]

Greetings from Pensacola, FL, which our most loyal readers (the ones related to us) will remember I last wrote about in June, when the Potato and I visited my grandmother. I’m back here for Christmas, having just survived a hellish bout of stomach flu.
It’s been a long week, and I’m only just now feeling sort […]

“I feel like a junkie in a strange town with no drug connection,” confessed Omniho to me a few days ago. I knew exactly what she meant.
My cousin-in-law and I, along with our respective spouses, have been spending the Thanksgiving holiday in the SOLE food desert of Phoenix, alternating large-group meals at chain restaurants […]

Last Saturday, the Butter Bitch and I made a visit to the University Farmers Market. The farmers market used to be our neighborhood market, but Interstate 5 dissuaded us from visiting often. We went to find out why the market needs to be saved and to investigate a rumor of local, organic butter. […]

Seattle’s school district has a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall. What does that have to do with ethicureanism? Well, bear with me as I connect the dots.
The District, which has been plagued with debt, school closures, fractious public meetings, and a superintendent who decided to get out while the getting is good, owns several former […]

On Sunday, Man of La Muncha and I went to the Ballard Farmers’ Market. Each of us had a goal - he wanted to find back fat to pursue his goal of making lard, and I wanted to talk to the foragers and find out more about the found food that they sell.
Once we got to the […]

Not every vendor at the Berkeley farmers market seems to enjoy the face-to-face sales aspect. And from a very random, unscientific sampling, it seems to me that the ones who enjoy it most tend not to be the actual farmers.
For this second installment in the Five Minutes at the Market series, I went to my […]

E. I. Ho and I had a wonderful time visiting the Northwest last week. We went to Seattle and then took the train to Vancouver to visit some friends. Both locations were crazy rich with wonderful local food.
Not to be Mistress of the Obvious here, but rain really does good things for local harvest choices. […]

I’m a little shocked by my newest role as a “great cook.”
I’ve always done more mixing than cooking. Pour something out of a box and add water or cream of mushroom soup. Heat. Stir occasionally.
With the bulk of my shopping taking place at farms and farmer’s markets, I find myself not only cooking more real […]

United Press International: Protesters — or “mowers” — attack genetically modified cornfields in France. Heads up: a good-looking recipe for spiced cornbread is included at the end.
SLO GE Free: A group of San Luis Obispo County, CA, citizens report on the health effects of genetically engineered crops on their community.
Washington Post*: A look at the […]