I started writing about food because I was tired of vegetarians and vegans telling me I should stop eating meat all together as my carnivorous consumption was inhumane and contrary to humanities’ evolution as a species. I eat meat. I will continue to eat meat. And I think you should too. One of my quickest responses to the vegetarian/vegan anti-meat rhetoric ...

Tricia Martin | Eating is Art [widget:tricia_martin_articles_2] This is the second in a series of articles by Tricia Martin about her "Favorite Dinners" that Chef's Blade will be featuring. At Chef's Blade, we believe that Tricia's creative and holistic approach will be a useful examples for all our culinary audiences. "The Favorite" is a series of meals Tricia is doing with ...

This article was originally published by Mountain Hardwear "Urban farming" is the hip new thing. Maybe it's the economy. Or maybe Americans are just going through a "green" phase. Suddenly, urban farming is everywhere-it's in the news, in magazines, on television. Artists are getting on the bandwagon, too. Urban farming is so trendy that the New York Times even ran an ...

In early December 2008, celebrations occurred across the United States in honor of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. The commemoration reverberated across the country—from a bar appropriately named Prohibition in New York City to the St. Helena Library in Napa Valley, which displayed photos of local winery workers celebrating the news in 1933. While this anniversary helped increase ...

Most folks see vermouth as that dusty bottle on the back bar that bartenders pretend to add to their martini, but vermouth has been totally underestimated! Vermouth is an aromatized wine, a lightly fortified wine with added botanicals. It can be either red or white. The recipe is closely guarded by each vermouth producer, the formula for Martini & Rossi dates ...

Asparagus season is short. The thin, delicate stalks soon mature, and develop a tough exterior and woody core. Here in California, the season starts in late March, and is over by mid-April. Early-season asparagus is easy to prepare — just toss it in an iron skillet with a bit of olive oil (and maybe a few pieces of bacon, for something ...

Since this is our first column in Chef’s Blade, I’d like to introduce myself. At the tender age of 21, I was selected to fill the Executive General Manager role of one of the largest and most respected restaurants of its kind in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was quite an honor and I was excited about what lay ahead. ...

Things being as they are lately, I have had more time to watch the radishes grow, literally. After just a few weeks in the ground, the radishes I planted are taking over my life. Now, this isn't attack of the killer radishes, just a four by six plot filled with shiny little red and white devils. Which got me thinking, just ...

Uncover the secrets to frying them perfectly every time. Full of fresh, tangy flavor, these delectable Fried Green Tomatoes are crusty on the outside and juicy on the inside. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but before I came to work at Southern Living, I had never tasted a fried green tomato. Call me deprived, even ignorant, but for some reason I ...

Driving home today after teaching a class at COPIA in Napa I stopped by the Stanly Lane farm stand and was struck by how quickly the seasons had changed. The last two days of rain had made the once dusty field of pumpkins into a straw-filled marsh and the produce stand was almost empty, just a couple of squash , four ...

Before we walked into Downtown, appropriately situated in downtown Berkeley, California, my mom whispered to me about the ambivalent recent reviews she'd read of the place. "Apparently the food is really good," she said, "but we may be confronted with 'surly' or 'inattentive' service." Fortunately for us, this was not at all the case. Our server was excellent, always on hand ...

I have this sick friend. Sometimes he’s bright and sharp: the life of the party, witty, and profound. Other times he has a lot on his mind: he clams up and he can be downright unpleasant. He has enraged people. Because of this I can’t trust him – but knowing the scope of his potential, I can’t abandon him either. He’s ...

A day rarely goes by when someone doesn't ask me, "What's your favorite (fill in the blank with a wine type)?" or “What should I be buying?” Even my mother will often call me up and say, "Well, we are having lamb chops and a salad, what should we buy?" Usually this leaves me blank wondering what to say since what ...

Do you remember eating Cheetos when you were a kid and thinking they grew on Cheeto trees? You might not, but I do; admittedly, I was a particularly imaginative kid. There were apple trees, orange trees, and money trees; why not Cheeto trees? Now in my mid-twenties, I have thankfully learned that Cheetos not only DON’T grow on trees, but they ...

Around 4000 B.C. the Sumerians as well as the Babylonians left a list of herbs used for medicinal purposes on clay tablets. On the list was Coriander. Hippocrates used Coriander as part of his botanical treatments and prescriptions, as an antispasmodic as well as an appetizer and applied it to the flesh for rheumatism or for painful joints. Coriander is probably ...

So I found this recipe in the "Cooking School" part of Gourmet magazine. I have long hoped for a instructional "how-to" section, and my prayers have been answered. I used to read pieces telling me that I hadn't truly tasted Mozzarella until I had eaten it fresh out of the cheesemaker's hands, seconds old. So naturally, I wanted this experience. As ...

Chefs bare their loyalty with awesome culinary tattoos Chefs are some of the most trained professionals out there, spending years perfecting their craft. Chefs work nights, weekends, and holidays in hot, hectic kitchens, proving their dedication to food and the culinary world. And, the most dedicated among them choose to mark themselves with the tools of their trade, be it ...

I was on vacation recently when a waiter asked a question that took me by surprise. When I requested red snapper, he said, “How would you like that cooked?” I would have expected that question for beef or tuna, but snapper? I thought there were only two possibilities—cooked or raw. In fact, I was under the impression that almost every meat ...

Or, The Magic of Kale Yes, I do believe kale to be a magical plant here on earth. It comes in so many forms from leafy and light to dense and quite heavy—I love them all. I felt that kale deserved its own post. This past week, I have been helping Andrew's parents move into their new home in Colorado. After ...

There are a few books I would like to finish: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee, Molecular Gastronomy by Herve This, and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. One of them is about the exploration of spatial dimensions — including a very sexist and fascist portrayal ...