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I got to interview one of my favorite Oregon winemakers for Portland Monthly's Long Story Short column . Cameron Winery's John Paul, a longtime advocate of dry farming, isn’t worried about this summer’s heat waves. John Paul was finishing his postdoc in chemistry at UC Berkeley when he found himself drawn more to the wineries of Napa than to the lab. By 1984 he and his wife, Teri, had purchased a vineyard site in the Dundee Hills, and Cameron Winery was born. Since then, Pau

Friends always ask me where they should eat when they visit Portland. I have my personal shortlist: Ned Ludd , Nostrana , Navarre (why...

In a famous early sketch on Portlandia , Peter (Fred Armisen) and Nance (Carrie Brownstein) interrogate a server about the chicken on the menu. Who was he? (He was Colin.) Where did he come from, and how did he live? (Very nearby, free range.) What did he eat? (Sheep’s milk, soy, and hazelnuts.) Finally, Peter, still not quite convinced he can devour Colin in good conscience, asks, “Does he have a lot of friends—other chickens as friends?” A parody, the scene nonetheless capt

{This story was published on Civil Eats on July 27th.} Sofresh Farms , in Canby, Oregon, is not what I expect. When I finally find it, on...

Dr. Karin Selva, a pediatric endocrinologist at Legacy Emanuel’s Randall Children’s Hospital, saw her first transgendered patient in 2010. A 15-year-old who was born male, the patient suffered from Type 1 diabetes and depression. After seeing a counselor, the patient revealed she identified as female. “When I first met her she was sullen, reclusive, depressed, wouldn’t make eye contact, and had dropped out of school. She was a very sad individual,” says Selva. But after cou

Oregon's famously strict land-use laws are what make our state so desirable. But with a new flurry of farm stays, European-style hiking...

If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with craft bakeries, particularly my local one in Portland: Tabor Bread. The baker at Tabor makes a...

Two years ago, when my husband and I went on our honeymoon, we decided to leave our iPhones at home. The decision seemed radical to me at...

I got to write about superstar organic plant breeder Frank Morton for Communal Table , a new literary and food publication created by the...

{This story was published on Civil Eats earlier today.} Last fall, after wondering for years about whether I should buy produce from...

This book review was published in the San Francisco Chronicle on Jan. 25th. Lentil Underground author Liz Carlisle A series of books...

My latest story for Civil Eats ran earlier this week—just in time for Christmas: Each winter, tens of millions of Americans buy and...

It's hard to keep up with all the money flowing into Oregon to defeat Measure 92, the state's GMO labeling measure. The day after I wrote...

Tam Alemu sells 25-pound bags of teff at his Williams Street Market  {Photo by Cheryl Juetten} I've been pleased to see the re-emergence of local grain economies across the United States, including here in Oregon. Farmers are growing grains—like Red Fife, spelt, and kamut—that haven't been grown here for a long, long time, and they can't seem to produce enough for local bakers, who are creating magnificent loaves that sell out quickly. As I was doing some digging for another

California-based Jackson Family Wines just bought Zena Crown Vineyard, in Salem's lovely Eola-Amity Hills This story appears in the...

This book review was published in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sept. 10th. “Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are,”...

This story ran on CivilEats.org on Monday, Aug. 18th. Whenever we go to the farmers’ market together, my husband and I disagree about...