Some of my favorite stories I’ve written for The Washington Post and other publications.
POLITICS & SUSTAINABILITY
• Sean Brock reimagines Southern cuisine, Aug. 25, 2010
The Charleston chef is opening a new restaurant, Husk, to “preach the gospel of cornbread and country ham.”
• Green cuisine not always as ordered, December 6, 2009
Think you’re dining green? Menus can be misleading. Award-winning restaurant Founding Farmers in Washington struggles to deliver on its promises.
• A squeeze for tomato growers, April 29, 2009
Appalled by grim working conditions for farmworkers in the Florida tomato fields, Bon Appetit Management promised to boycott winter tomatoes if growers don’t change their ways. The threat is the latest salvo on a new front of the sustainable-food wars: social justice.
• Simplicity becomes a selling point, April 4, 2009
Michael Pollan recommends people steer clear of processed food with more than five ingredients. The ones taking it to heart? Food marketers who have quickly realized that simplicity sells.
• Go slow foodies, it’s the way to win, January 23, 2009
Food reformers want to fix, well, everything. To succeed in Washington, they need to focus their message and their ambitions.
• The CSA that isn’t one, January, 6, 2009
To spread the gospel of organic produce, one company is catering to the masses but keeping its core values.
• What’s in a number?, September 17, 2008
How the press got the idea that food travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate.
• In a trial run, Chipotle heads for the farm, March 2, 2008
Serving local pork at Chipotle was easier said than done. The company’s experiment is emblematic of the enormous hurdles that face national chains hoping to embrace the eat-local trend.
ESSAYS
• Snob appeal August 12, 2009
Why won’t someone knock heirloom tomatoes off their pedestal?
• Let them eat chicken December, 2008
When Chris Kimball founded Cook’s Illustrated, he broke all the industry rules. Now he’s beating the glossies at their own game. Has his scrappy, undeniably geeky enterprise in Brookline Village come up with a new recipe for successful magazines?
• Typos a la carte: Ever the specialty of the house, June 17, 2008
Most people have a superhero fantasy. In mine, I enter a restaurant, order and sweetly ask the waiter if I can “hold on to the menu” during dinner. Then, using a distinctive purple pen, I copy-edit the descriptions of the dishes.
• Craving a dimmer for dinner, January 27, 2009
Come on DC restaurateurs. Would someone please turn down the lights?
• Surprise Slice of My Cook’s Tour, August 28, 2007
It was an epic journey in search of an undiscovered culinary delicacy. But sometimes the best things to eat are easy to find.
INGREDIENTS & TRAVEL
• DIY Not? Aug. 11, 2010
Could homemade ketchup beat Heinz?
• The next big thing in bacon: Discuss, June 23, 2010
Where bacon is celebrated, people will come. But Camp Bacon was a one-day Davos of America’s favorite meat.
• The kimchi fix, January, 20, 2010
Since I made my first batch of kimchi several months ago, there has been only a single 13-day period when I haven’t had some in the fridge. They were 13 very long days.
• Marinated in the morning, grilled at night: The charms of Peru’s fusion cuisine, March 31, 2009
Eating ceviche, the South American country’s best-known dish, is a must in Lima. But there are also tiraditos, a Peruvian take on sashimi; Chinese stir-fries spiked with Peruvian chili peppers; and sushi rolls filled with scallop and Parmesan cheese.
• The big cheese: Burrata, October 23, 2007
Burrata is the “it” cheese of the moment. And it’s no wonder why.
• Trail of tiramisu, July 10, 2007
Did a pastry chef in Baltimore invent one of Italy’s most famous desserts?
• If it tastes good, it’s in Charlottesville, May 6, 2008
College towns are known for greasy pizza and late-night takeout. But in the city best known for Thomas Jefferson’s architecture, there’s sushi worthy of Nobu, rustic but transcendent tapas, plus standout bread, real espresso, artisan chocolate and locally brewed beer.
LOCAL INTEREST
• Sometimes love means asking for separate menus, February 10, 2009
Food obsessives divide the world into two kinds of people: those who seek out truffles, sea urchin and single-estate chocolate, and those who don’t. And when an avid food lover falls for one of the others, life gets complicated.
• H is for happening, June 24, 2008
Independent, inexpensive and quirky are the hallmarks of the new restaurants on H Street in Northeast Washington.
Recent Work
Some of my favorite stories I’ve written for The Washington Post and other publications.
POLITICS & SUSTAINABILITY
• Sean Brock reimagines Southern cuisine, Aug. 25, 2010
The Charleston chef is opening a new restaurant, Husk, to “preach the gospel of cornbread and country ham.”
• Green cuisine not always as ordered, December 6, 2009
Think you’re dining green? Menus can be misleading. Award-winning restaurant Founding Farmers in Washington struggles to deliver on its promises.
• To help change food policy, Michelle Obama looks to children, July 15, 2009
In three short months, Michelle Obama had accomplished what other food advocates could only dream about. Good food was no longer just virtuous. Now what?
• A squeeze for tomato growers, April 29, 2009
Appalled by grim working conditions for farmworkers in the Florida tomato fields, Bon Appetit Management promised to boycott winter tomatoes if growers don’t change their ways. The threat is the latest salvo on a new front of the sustainable-food wars: social justice.
• Simplicity becomes a selling point, April 4, 2009
Michael Pollan recommends people steer clear of processed food with more than five ingredients. The ones taking it to heart? Food marketers who have quickly realized that simplicity sells.
• Go slow foodies, it’s the way to win, January 23, 2009
Food reformers want to fix, well, everything. To succeed in Washington, they need to focus their message and their ambitions.
• The CSA that isn’t one, January, 6, 2009
To spread the gospel of organic produce, one company is catering to the masses but keeping its core values.
• What’s in a number?, September 17, 2008
How the press got the idea that food travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate.
• In a trial run, Chipotle heads for the farm, March 2, 2008
Serving local pork at Chipotle was easier said than done. The company’s experiment is emblematic of the enormous hurdles that face national chains hoping to embrace the eat-local trend.
ESSAYS
• Snob appeal August 12, 2009
Why won’t someone knock heirloom tomatoes off their pedestal?
• Let them eat chicken December, 2008
When Chris Kimball founded Cook’s Illustrated, he broke all the industry rules. Now he’s beating the glossies at their own game. Has his scrappy, undeniably geeky enterprise in Brookline Village come up with a new recipe for successful magazines?
• Typos a la carte: Ever the specialty of the house, June 17, 2008
Most people have a superhero fantasy. In mine, I enter a restaurant, order and sweetly ask the waiter if I can “hold on to the menu” during dinner. Then, using a distinctive purple pen, I copy-edit the descriptions of the dishes.
• Craving a dimmer for dinner, January 27, 2009
Come on DC restaurateurs. Would someone please turn down the lights?
• Surprise Slice of My Cook’s Tour, August 28, 2007
It was an epic journey in search of an undiscovered culinary delicacy. But sometimes the best things to eat are easy to find.
INGREDIENTS & TRAVEL
• DIY Not? Aug. 11, 2010
Could homemade ketchup beat Heinz?
• The next big thing in bacon: Discuss, June 23, 2010
Where bacon is celebrated, people will come. But Camp Bacon was a one-day Davos of America’s favorite meat.
• The kimchi fix, January, 20, 2010
Since I made my first batch of kimchi several months ago, there has been only a single 13-day period when I haven’t had some in the fridge. They were 13 very long days.
• Marinated in the morning, grilled at night: The charms of Peru’s fusion cuisine, March 31, 2009
Eating ceviche, the South American country’s best-known dish, is a must in Lima. But there are also tiraditos, a Peruvian take on sashimi; Chinese stir-fries spiked with Peruvian chili peppers; and sushi rolls filled with scallop and Parmesan cheese.
• The big cheese: Burrata, October 23, 2007
Burrata is the “it” cheese of the moment. And it’s no wonder why.
• Trail of tiramisu, July 10, 2007
Did a pastry chef in Baltimore invent one of Italy’s most famous desserts?
• If it tastes good, it’s in Charlottesville, May 6, 2008
College towns are known for greasy pizza and late-night takeout. But in the city best known for Thomas Jefferson’s architecture, there’s sushi worthy of Nobu, rustic but transcendent tapas, plus standout bread, real espresso, artisan chocolate and locally brewed beer.
LOCAL INTEREST
• Sometimes love means asking for separate menus, February 10, 2009
Food obsessives divide the world into two kinds of people: those who seek out truffles, sea urchin and single-estate chocolate, and those who don’t. And when an avid food lover falls for one of the others, life gets complicated.
• H is for happening, June 24, 2008
Independent, inexpensive and quirky are the hallmarks of the new restaurants on H Street in Northeast Washington.
• Online, A community concocts a restaurant, July 26, 2008
Washington food lovers are shooting to be the first to “crowdsource” a restaurant.