Distinguish Between Farmer and Food Producer

As I was working on the first installment of our Food Policy series (nothing like trying to wrap-up agricultural policy in 500 words when the Farm Bill itself is 1,770 pages), a clear distinction stood out between "farmers" and “food producers.”

Pasta with Asparagus and Prosciutto

This pasta is springtime in a bowl--use the freshest asparagus you can find. You'll be amazed by how much richness and flavor just one egg yolk can bring to a dish.

The Great Burrito Challenge: Fast Versus Fresh

As the dinner hour approaches, the cheap price and sheer convenience of fast food makes it a seductive option for millions of Americans each day. But what if we broke down the “cost” of that convenience into all of its correlating parts? The quality of the ingredients; the nutritional profile of the meal; the financial cost; the environmental impact; time; flavor, texture and color; and the social experience at the dinner table. Only by examining all of these factors can we truly gauge whether, on busy nights, the drive-thru is truly the better option.

Understand Ecosystems

In this age of green, the term ecosystem gets tossed around quite a bit--from technology to tide pools. But it’s an important concept to grasp, as in really understand, when talking about creating a sustainable food system.

Early Spring Menu

Weather is so strange. In the East, y'all are just cleaning up after a veritable hurricane. Here in the West, after months and months of cold and rain, it's suddenly 80 degrees and gorgeous blue skies. So while my husband fetches a rose to pop tonight, I'm going to pull together an early spring menu:

Redefine Your Understanding of Fat

The ancient Greek language had three distinct words for love. Philia, a love borne of loyalty and familiarity, would never be used to describe the passionate attraction of eros or the deep contentment of agape. I think we need to take that concept—having words that describe the intricacies of a more general term—and apply it to fat.

Food Policy in Four Parts: An Introduction

For most, choosing what to eat seems as simple an affair as browsing the grocery store aisles. But in reality, there is an incredibly complex—and some might argue supremely ineffective—system governing what gets put before us and how it came to be.