Food + Culture

SNAP-Ed will be terminated in October, adding to federal cuts that are impacting national efforts to curb obesity and instill better...

I did this interview with hunter/outdoorsman Billie Ritchey for Portland Monthly in 2019. I met Ritchey through our friend Wendy Temko,...

To overcome ingredient shortages and high food costs, some restaurateurs are rethinking their staple ingredients and strengthening their...

In case you hadn’t noticed, cider is having a moment. The lightly alcoholic beverage has popped up on restaurant menus in recent years....

The author of the beloved book “An Everlasting Meal” talks about her new companion cookbook geared toward making biscuits with sour milk...

Companies from Frito-Lay to Kettle Chips are experimenting with corn starch, calcium carbonate and other materials that eschew plastic...

From growing kelp forests to making packaging out of mushrooms, these companies are reducing greenhouse gas emissions from every angle.  I wrote this round-up for Inc.'s Carbon Neutral package, in the May/June 2022 issue .  Entrepreneurs coast to coast are coming up with innovative technologies showing not only that we can live without carbon-based energy, but also that we can thrive without it. From a Maine startup that's growing kelp forests (which can sequester gigatons of

Once ubiquitous, farmers markets nearly vanished in the mid 20th century — until an array of forces converged to bring about their modern-day renaissance. Fennel, beets, and parsley, at the PSU Farmers' Market; Brussels sprouts on the vine  Visit the main Portland Farmers Market on any given Saturday morning and you’ll see tables spilling over with rainbow chard, beets, leeks and all kinds of lettuce. You’ll see vendors selling homemade salsa and tortilla chips, and cheesemak

My guide on the best places to taste wine, eat, and stay in Oregon's Willamette Valley was published alongside Ray Isle's picks on which...

Farmers and ecologists are partnering to restore the state’s natural flooding patterns, allowing native fish to thrive. I wrote this...

This book review ran in the Washington Post on Feb. 11th, 2022.  In the early 1970s, American botanist Jack Harlan proclaimed that mass...

A new pilot project in California is purchasing a mill for a school cafeteria, marking the next step in years-long effort to bring local,...

I wrote this Top Chef guide to Portland for Food & Wine back in June. In Season 18 of  Top Chef , the culinary reality competition...

I wrote this story for Reasons to be Cheerful . Amid rows of snap peas and summer squash, incarcerated gardeners cultivate job skills,...

I wrote this piece for Reasons to be Cheerful in November. A stone’s throw from the blackjack tables, bison are grazing, beehives are...

I wrote this for Reasons to be Cheerful in November. An industry that often celebrates pushing through the pain is turning its focus to...

I wrote about Grandma's Hands, a new program in Portland where grandmothers are reviving cultural connections and reducing food...

I wrote this story about one of my favorite Oregon wineries, Big Table Farm, for Food & Wine's October 2020 issue. With the wildfires still raging in Oregon right now, we here at Food & Wine debated whether it was really the right time to run a story (which appears in our October print issue) about a happy communal dinner in the middle of Oregon wine country. So we reached out to Clare Carver, who owns and runs Big Table Farm together with her husband Brian, for her take on t

This story appeared on Civil Eats on Sept. 18th.  In Ghana, when a person passes a farmer in the field, they call out, “Ayekoo,” which...

I recently did a q&A with One Fair Wage's Saru Jayaraman for Civil Eats.  In partnership with New York City, the organization is...