Last week Michael Pollan visited Madison (see my posts The Soul of a Carrot – Michael Pollan at UW Madison, Corn: How Do You Like Yours? , and In Defense of Food (and Books) Michael Pollan leads “Go Big Read” ), and for many of us it was kind of […]
Sunday when I was sitting outside enjoying a potluck picnic at Tom Brantmeier’s farm near Monroe WI, the blustery wind was keeping the flies at bay on a balmy, cloud-scudded, 72 degree afternoon. The wind picked up, and that night a pounding rainstorm quite literally poured cold water on the […]
Food is more than nutrients – much more, as Michael Pollan told me and 7,000 other eager listeners at the UW-Madison Kohl Center, (See my post In Defense of Food and Books) where huge crowds gather to cheer and jeer at basketball and hockey games. Last night they were all […]
What tastes better than fresh hot – almost-too-hot-to-hold – corn on the cob, still sweet from picking? Whether each succulent kernel is coated in melted butter, or my new favorite, melted blue cheese (I get an award winning block of Blue Paradise from its friendly creators Tony and Julie Hook […]
I was caught short my first winter as a serious locavore. I did not know what any kid 4H would have known in 1950. I decided in the fall to depend on what area farmers could offer when it was too late to put any local fruits and veggies in […]
So, last weekend my husband, two grown daughters and I settled comfortably into our daughter’s Toyota Corolla (the greenest car among us as present) and motored down to Chicago to refill our spiritual cisterns from the wealth of cultural treasure only a city can amass and to check out some […]
If you love to cook, you will love Richard Wrangham’s cooking hypothesis. This British primatologist proposes that we humans stepped away from the other apes (who still spend most of their time grinding bitter berries and fibrous roots between their massive molars) when we tossed those tubers into a fire […]
When you decide to be a farmer, you have to start somewhere. How about a row of raspberries? Last April I drove an hour and a half to East Troy WI for the “Berrylicious Workshop” at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute , which promised and provided hands-on training in pruning, […]
I vividly remember the fireworks of flavor that erupted with my first taste of pizza. I was about 10, and our family was dining with friends. The pre-Martha Stewart mothers in our crowd competed to feed 10 to 20 people at a time with something tasty that didn’t break the […]
I totally believe that we are what we eat and that food is profoundly political. Likewise, I believe we are what we read. Those two concepts will be blending together this fall as my alma mater, University of Wisconsin-Madison, (Go Badgers!) launches its first common reading program that will reach […]
Digging in the Driftless 