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Finding Inspiration in 20th-Century History
Thinking about the combination of tariffs, inflation, and climate impacts on our food supply inspired me to explore what meals looked like during the Great Depression of the 1930s. I won’t dwell on chipped beef on toast or the dish…
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Celebrating Spring with Vegetables
Spring’s finally here! Let’s celebrate with some creative spring vegetable meals. If you’re a forager, that’s all the better – as my daughter pointed out to me when she spotted some wild garlic and wild greens in my yard. It’s…
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Eat Like a Canadian
One of the best parts of traveling is the ability to sample what the locals eat. On a recent trip to Montreal, I had a chance to try some foods that were new to me. There is plenty of French…
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Another Take on Thanksgiving Contributions
Are you, like me, celebrating your upcoming Thanksgiving feast as a guest? Are your hosts asking you for a dish to share? That’s a great deal! True, you won’t have those heavenly aromas in your kitchen, or leftover turkey and…
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A Meditation on Farm Foods of My Youth
During these dog days of summer, I’m having a hard time gaining any enthusiasm for cooking a meal. Instead, I find myself musing upon the favorite foods of my youth. Food nostalgia is built into our DNA early in life,…
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Cool It This Summer
The heat of summer is upon us. Growing up on the farm in Illinois, for me, July and August were centered around baling hay, harvesting oats, and then baling the oat straw. That meant spending those 90-degree-plus, extremely humid days…
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This Spud’s For You
Spuds get no respect. I was reminded of that when, this past week, we needed a no-nonsense evening meal. A late meeting meant that we would not be dining until about 8:30, so we needed a fast repast. Thanks to…
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Harvest Pick: Japanese Sweet Potatoes
Some people (like me) grow a few vegetables in their garden plots. Then there are my friends Catherine and Greg, who live nearby. Their large gardens yield bushels of vegetables throughout the growing season. As we approach a potential frost,…
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Old-Fashioned Family Food Nostalgia
Each of us has a portfolio of recipes that we ate as children, but that are no longer on our adult menus. Think about your own experience. You can probably come up with a goodly number of meals that were…
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Modernizing Classic 1950s Farm Recipes
On a rainy spring day, I’m musing about some of the recipes that I miss from my wastrel youth, and I’m thinking that some of those out-of-favor dishes deserve a second, modern look. I’m not talking about tuna noodle casserole,…
