Not only had I not eaten these things before 2006, I didn’t know what in the hell some of them were. I still don’t really know how to pronounce chevre — I usually tag on a vague “ruh” sound at the end. And tomatillos? I thought those were decorative. But I […]

See those people in the picture above? No, they’re not waiting for PlayStations or concert tickets. They are anxiously, competitively queuing for pizza. Not just any pizza, mind you — the “Best Pizza in America,” according to Ed Levine, the author of 2005’s “Pizza: A Slice of Heaven,” who ate a thousand contenders before […]

Several years ago, I worked for a local natural food chain store in Portland, Oregon as a wine, beer, and cheese monger. One of my regular customers at the time was a man named Peter. Peter came in on a regular basis, bringing his absolutely adorable daughter with him. We would talk […]

Visitors to the Emerald City who read the Seattle P-I’s Getaways section must think that Seattle hates itself more than an angst-ridden teenager. Once or twice a month, the section reminds Seattle residents that everything is better in Portland. The Rose City does feature a superior brewpub scene, a thriving coffee culture, and […]

I planned to name this post “Char Times,” but I realized that attentive readers might think that I’d recycled an old post about chard and introduced a typo. A new title was needed, and I returned for inspiration to my friend Charles to provide me with a title about char.
I’ll stop punning now.
For […]

New York Times*: Our Daily Bread, a new documentary opening today, takes viewers inside the industrial food chain with no narration or text. Writes the reviewer: “[It] can be extremely difficult to watch, but the film’s formal elegance, moral underpinning and intellectually stimulating point of view also make it essential. You are what you eat; […]

New York Times*: The youth organization once known as Future Farmers of America is thriving, having dropped any reference to actual farming from its name. The membership has changed as well: more FFA members now come from towns & suburbs and want to be not farmers, but food-industry scientists, seed bioengineers, florists, landscapers and renewable […]

There’s SOLE food and there’s soul food, and rarely do the twain meet. Last night, however, Miss Steak and I got to indulge our tastes for both at farmerbrown restaurant in San Francisco.
Open since spring, farmerbrown is a labor of love by chef-owner Jay Foster, formerly of Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack (a great late-night comfort-food joint) […]

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. […]

This weekend, Man of La Muncha and I made two trips to Tilth, which is the second restaurant in the country to receive Oregon Tilth organic certification. We had heard about the restaurant from various friends, who felt that it was right up our alley. We’ve had an uncharacteristically busy schedule over the […]

There was an advance screening of “Fast Food Nation” at UC Berkeley last week, followed by a freeform discussion with food detectives Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan. Because Pollan teaches journalism at Berkeley, I got to cover the post-screening chat for work, which to me is almost as great as getting paid to eat cheese.
I […]

Last Tuesday, Man of La Muncha and I picked up our final CSA box of the season.  Along with a bounty of winter squash (including tasty delicatas), we received the final newsletter of the year, which informed us that Helsing Junction produce would be featured on the menu of Pair, a local small-plates restaurant.  We […]

Sea Breeze Farm, on Vashon Island in Puget Sound, is a hive of activity that produces an impressive array of products, including cheese, cow milk, chicken eggs, chickens, duck eggs, lamb, and wine. We visited the farm as part of King County’s Harvest Celebration Tour.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Sea Breeze added honey to […]

Updated with photos!
Our long residence on the West Coast gave us the impression that there is no decent beer east of the Rockies until you cross the Canadian border or reach Europe. This bias could have been argued until the mid-1990s. I remember business trips to the East Coast where the only alternatives […]

Update: We’ve added photos after a slight delay.–MolM.
This last weekend, Man of La Muncha and I traveled to Baltimore for a friend’s wedding. The wedding was wonderful, and we met (and in some cases, re-met) a lot of very fun and interesting people. But, of course, any trip involving Ethicureans involves checking out […]