piece meal

When an unfamiliar food appears at the family dinner table, often this sacred place of communion summarily shifts to a hostile battleground, pitching parents against their young kids in the struggle to nourish them. Amongst the various domains of child rearing, the inculcation of good eating habits is one of the most common sources of frustration, falter, and perceived failure for parents. Even children willing to eat a broad spectrum of plants typically gravitate toward food

The consummate egg soufflé emerges from the oven—which dare not be either prematurely or belatedly opened—a puffy cloud cloaked in heat-kissed bronze and barely trembling in the center. Eggs are a delicate, finicky protein, prone to scorching yet nearly inedible in their gelatinous state. Learning how to cook the egg properly is a study in precision, method, and detail, the result of which is total sultry delicacy. Unlocking the key to the chicken egg’s versatility, its count

Israeli chef Michael Solomonov is both informative and pure fun today in an interview on NPR’s ‘Fresh Air.’ Talking with Dave Davies, Solomonov discusses Zahav—his modern Israeli restaurant in Philadephia, recounts tales of his former struggle with drug addiction, and shares a recipe for tehina, the mother sauce of Israeli cuisine. Listening to this interview makes one think twice about buying store-bought hummus, or even serving it chilled for that matter. Like so many chefs

On September 12, Mark Bittman announced his departure from the New York Times food editorial section, at least as a standing columnist. Bittman is moving on to greener pastures—quite literally—having relocated to the Bay Area and joined a food start-up devoted to making “it easier for people to eat more plants.” Bittman also adds in his farewell article that he believes he has fully aired his views on social issues concerning food (sustainability, the environment, animal welf

Like the promise of paradise in the afterlife, the reward for enduring a scorching hot summer day in California is the exquisite pleasure of the balmy evening that ensues. When the sun has finally set but daylight still lingers, few activities surpass the sensory experience standing barefoot in the grass with a frosty cocktail in hand, inhaling the warm, tantilizing smoke emanating from the grill. On such evenings, instead of darting back and forth between kitchen and patio,

A few San Francisco locals join the crowd of hungry tourists starting to queue around ten in the morning. After an expectant half hour, the door finally opens and uncompromisingly fresh, unadorned seafood is served up at the twelve-seat, no-frills countertop at Swann Oyster Depot. This San Francisco institution has been dealing in some of the best seafood in the country at this same location (1517 Polk St.) for over a hundred years. Purchased in 1946 by Sal Sancimino, Swann r

Those who find themselves in the San Francisco Bay Area this summer would be perspicacious in taking a detour to bucolic West Marin—whose beautiful and abundant preserved land is worth the trip alone—and splurging on a unique agritourism experience. West Marin Food & Farm Tours, operated by Elizabeth Hill, offers a wide range of tours and private tastings featuring the artisanal bounty of farms and purveyors in and around the Point Reyes area. From dairy to oyster farms, farm

There's no big secret behind marinated feta. Transforming a brined sheep or goat milk feta into marinated feta requires nothing more than some olive (or safflower) oil, herbs, and garlic. The result is a wonderfully soft and rich cheese, as the oil irradicates the dryness from brined feta. Feta is naturally low in fat and the dry, crumbly version in brine provides a perfect counterpoint to rich, fatty meats in dishes such as lamb kebabs and gyros. When used in salads and on

When the “Paleo diet” emerged, it sounded like another low-carb fad, conjuring memories of the Flinstones and mental images of raw meat on the bone. As it turns out, a true Paleo diet adheres to a comprehensive set of the most admirable, environmentally sustainable, humane, and socially responsible omnivorous eating tenants in existence. The “Paleo Approved” certification requires the same criteria many small, independent farms across the country have long been committed to:

Harvesting Chinese mustard microgreens. “With a few pots on hand, the home chef can reap a variety of microgreens to spruce and sprinkle on every meal. Victory gardens are worthy endeavors, deserving of all the accolades they amass, but they also yield dishearteningly little produce relative to the effort and expense involved in keeping them. Growing one’s own garden is a noble and enjoyable project in and of itself. It fosters a number of healthy habits, including spending t