“The Plate,” National Geographic • Aug. 15, 2016
“What are you taking with you to eat?”
This was not the question I was expecting from April, my editor here at The Plate, when I told her I’d be reporting in China this month.
Continue reading “I’ll Have What They’re Having, China Edition”
Wall Street Journal “Off Duty” • June 19, 2015
FRESH OUT OF BANKRUPTCY and angling toward boomtown, Detroit is attracting an influx of creative young professionals and entrepreneurs to its middle- and working-class mix. Continue reading “An Insider’s Guide to Detroit”
Yahoo! Food • March 20, 2015
More than 60 years after her death, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is having a banner spring in the United States.
This March has seen the opening of both an opera and a (shared) retrospective at the Detroit Institute of Art, and in May, the New York Botanical Garden will unveil a show themed on the painter’s fascination with the natural world. Along with these celebrations of Kahlo’s artwork, some attention is at last being paid to one of her lesser-known oeuvres: cooking. Continue reading “Frida Kahlo’s Double-Fried Chicken Recipe”
Zócalo Public Square Up For Discussion • June 2, 2014
It’s easy to confuse a food fad with a revolution. Restaurant and food media exist to cover new food fads much as TMZ exists to cover celebrity snafus—trends must die, or there will be no news. But a food revolution? That’s harder to market to viewers, because it requires a fundamental shift in our relationship with food. Continue reading “When Arugula Became a Thing: How to Tell a Food Fad from a Revolution”
Slate • May 3, 2013
When I was 10, and my family needed to take some kind of snack to parent–teacher conferences, I pulled out the Betty Crocker Cookbook and made croissants from scratch. (They recalled, in taste and appearance, those from a Pillsbury tube.) By 14 I was buying whole pumpkins from farmers down the road to make pumpkin bread, and at 17 I pickled a dozen eggs as a joke for a friend. I have always been, in other words, a cook—and one who wants to do it herself. Continue reading “Kitchen Elemental”
A very quick note of thanks and appreciation goes out this morning to theNational MS Society, Publisher’s Weekly and all the other folks who make the Books for a Better Life Awards Happen. I would have been happy to walk out of last night’s event with my free wine, snacks and talking to good people — and it’s a surprise and honor to have actually won the “Green” category.
When I first heard about the Books for a Better Life Award, I confess that — as an investigative journalist — I was a little leery; they sounded a bit fluffy. But when I really thought about it, I realized that I’m pretty fully on-board. Continue reading “Here’s why I’m thrilled #AWE became a Book for a Better Life via @MSSociety. Many thx to @RebeccaLitAgent @ScribnerBooks & more”
The Boston Globe • Jan. 29, 2013
For Americans, particularly in the cold months, dinnertime mostly means home and hearth. It also means convenience and comfort.
In 2013 we are making family dinner more often than we dine out, a trend that took root before the recession. Mostly, we’re cooking with and eating a narrow range of foods — and relying, to some extent, on prepared, frozen, and canned items to feed our families quickly and economically. “It’s very boring. That’s the sad truth,” says Harry Balzer, chief food industry analyst for the NPD Group, a national market research company. “For the most part, we’re looking for what’s the easiest way out of this, what’s the cheapest way out of this.” Continue reading “Thanks for the shout-out! @BostonGlobe On the family menu: What’s familiar”
OK, weird: It did not compute that keynoting @ExpoWest would mean being the cover of their program. whoa! 
I”m still getting used to seeing portraits of myself, but I can’t complain about the roster of talent that Martha Stewart Whole Living put me in line with in their November issue’s Food Visionary List:
