"Amber Waves (of french fries)" Photo © John Maeda 2003.

Food News 12-10-04

Sometime in 2005 you may walk into a farmers' market and find a fruit that you have never seen before and may not be able to pronounce: the peacotum (it rhymes with "sea bottom"). With the yellow flesh of a peach, the texture and juiciness of a plum, and the velvety overcoat of an apricot, the peacotum tastes more like fruit punch than any of its parent breeds and is the first three-fruit hybrid headed for the mass market.

An interview with a crabber:
Do you eat them all?
"I eat everything I catch. I've literally had 100 crabs in my freezer at one time."
What's your favorite way to cook them?
"I steam the crabs until they turn bright red. It takes about 15-20 minutes. Then I eat them with ponzu -- a Japanese sauce made of soy sauce and citrus. I also just eat crab bland, without anything on it. I like the taste. Its definitely one of my favorite foods."

Yet another reason to support your favorite farmer. Until a decade ago, organic foods were available only through tiny farmers markets, health and natural food stores, but today their growing popularity means that more organic food is now sold by chain stores like Whole Foods. Often, the food itself is produced by companies ranging from General Mills to Nestle to Coca Cola , and grown on corporate-owned farms no longer synonymous with small farms, rural communities, social justice and humane treatment of animals.

Baby, it's cold outside...but what could be colder than liquid nitrogen ice cream?

"I as a cook working alone with a cookbook in my kitchen want to feel there is a person standing behind the recipe..." Judith Jones is our hero. Ok, so she did send a rejection letter to Sylvia Plath (for the Bell Jar), but she champions real food writing and knows a real recipe from one conjured up on the spot. We'd like to see her wield her red pen on a whole list of just published cookbooks..."Yet despite the proliferation of cookbooks on almost every subject today, fewer and fewer Americans are cooking at home. They complain that they don't really have time to cook, and going out for a bite or eating fast foods and take-out is so much simpler. But I am convinced they wouldn't feel that way if they were really drawn to the pleasures of cooking--the rewards of working with one's hands creatively, enjoying the tempting smells, using good fresh ingredients and knowing that you are in charge of what you eat. So I am constantly in search of the kind of seductive writing that will lure people back into the kitchen."