This year was the first time I have ever eaten just-picked asparagus: I tagged along when my husband photographed Vision Cellars winemaker “Mac” McDonald for an upcoming Edible San Francisco out at his place in Windsor, CA; Mac plucked a tender head straight off a stalk shooting out of the dirt and offered it to me. … Fresh lemonade is one of my favorite things, and I have been experimenting with making a spicy version of Marc’s Whole Lemon Lemonade , using less organic evaporated cane sugar than the recipe calls for, plus finely diced fresh ginger (I usually supplement with powdered too, to get the full strength I’m after), and a few dashes of cayenne.

The current issue of Wired magazine has an infoporn (that’s infographic to non-geeks) I put together, on the cost of a calorie. Believe it or not, it wasn’t my idea.

This Hook’n’Go cart, specially designed for farmers markets — a birthday gift from my mom last year, when it was NOT $60, I hope — has been a lifesaver when my personal pack mule husband can’t accompany me on my big shops.
Saturday was some sort of record — I think I have 50 pounds of […]

A list of ideas that won’t leave a bad taste in your mouth, whether giving or receiving.

I spent part of a beautiful sunny afternoon last weekend watching a documentary about a grocery store.
That’s right, a documentary about a grocery store.
Some of you might be thinking that I saw Robert Greenwald’s "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price" or some other muckraking exposé. No, this was "Eat at Bill’s," an inspiring, cheerful, […]

Spring is sprung — even though it is officially over in a few days — and our farmers markets are finally showing some local produce besides last years carrots.

Most importantly, asparagus is here. I have been buying and grilling it for almost a week now, and I don’t see Noshette and I getting bored of […]

There’s something weirdly fascinating about seeing what your friends really eat, and even more compelling if it’s people who care a lot about food. Whenever I go to people’s houses for the first time, I wish I could rummage around in their fridge. I’m never tempted to snoop in medicine cabinets, however, like people do in the movies. That seems weird.

To celebrate Passover, a time when the Jews wandered 40 years in the desert searching for the land of milk & honey, Noshette and I wandered 4 hours westward in search of organic milk and wild honey (and some other sustainable foods). Noshette was born and raised in Toronto, so we were going there to […]

Josh’s Organic Market - Hollywood, Florida
After our 1-nighter in the Gulf Coast of Florida, where we saw a memorable Leon Redbone concert and enjoyed a good meal of local fish and seafood, Noshette of the North and I drove back to the Atlantic coast along the famous “Alligator Alley”, where we saw plenty of gators […]

Eating ethically isn’t especially easy.
For one thing, it means cutting down on my meat consumption, at least until I find more sources of meat that my stomach can stomach, now that it is actually attached to my brain. Also, Noshette is a born-again omnivore and it still getting her meat-feet wet, so we are eating tofu […]

Horizon Organic (the largest organic milk producer in the U.S.) today announced it had published a new set of guidelines governing “Standards of Care” on its company-owned farms.
Under fire from the Cornucopia Institute, a family farm watchdog group, and others for keeping cows in feedlots — and even going so far as to fake their […]

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 […]

This has been a pretty hard week for me.
You see, I’ve spent the last two or three years getting more acquainted with the environment and sustainable food sources, but I never really felt accountable to anyone but myself — and I was a pretty forgiving person, to myself at least. I tried to do […]

Last week I asked readers how they eat locally in winter. A few MidWesterners responded, and I decided to call Mom of La Muncha, who lives in Northern New Mexico, to see what local options are like in in the high country. Also, check out our guest post from Montreal.
Meanwhile, here in Seattle […]

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 […]