Photo: Flickr/bruce_bruce948
LOCAL BITES
Maple Month
Woo-hoo! It’s tapping season! The Massachusetts Maple Producer’s Association will be kicking off ‘Maple Month’ March 4 in Northampton. Visit four sugarhouses with the new Maple ‘Passport’ for a chance to win Massachusetts maple syrup. Or check out their website to find the sugar shacks closest to you. Support this utterly New England and delicious food bounty!
New Brew, Contest
Sam Adams is announcing a new brew this month, the “Wee Heavy” Scotch Ale, an addition to the brewery’s Imperial Series. If that doesn’t quite wet your whistle, brew your own and enter Sam’s Longshot Homebrew contest, beginning next month. You’ll get nationally distributed! All the deets you need can be found on the company’s website.
Chefs Cook for Mom
In this instance it’s Jodie Gilson, mom to Will Gilson, Chef/Owner of Garden at the Cellar, and wholesale grower of herbs and perennials. Jodie lost her greenhouses and her livelihood (J. Gilson Greenhouses) two weeks ago to the weight of the snow. On March 5th, local chefs will gather together to create a pop-up restaurant featuring their moms’ favorite dishes that evening, only, at the Boston Center for Adult Education. It’s Mother’s Day in March! All proceeds will raise funds for Gilson’s rebuild.
“Very Nice, that Risotto”
Boston brothers Frank and Anthony Gesualdi, struggling owners of Davide in the North End, had a Q&A with Devra First of The Boston Globe about their upcoming appearance on Fox’s “Kitchen Nightmares” with the (in)famous Gordon Ramsey trying to set them right. Will the show help or hurt? The episode is set to air on Fox, Friday, Feb. 25th at 8 p.m.
Boston Cooks’ Books
If winter blues have set in and begun to affect your cooking, take heart and get inspired! New ideas can be yours from this list of chef-authored cookbooks posted by BostonChefs.com.
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NATIONAL TREATS
Not so Sweet
This is normally sweet season for chocolatiers, but a ban on cocoa exports from the Ivory Coast is raising cocoa prices, with potentially deleterious effects to producers and consumers around the globe. As reported on “All Things Considered.”
New Blaaaaahhhk
City goats are the new chickens in your backyard, or so suggests The NY Times. Forewarned is forearmed: goats may require a bit more work than their feathered counterparts, and it seems they really do eat tin cans. And houses. And mango trees.
G.M.O. Labeling
Should you be leery of the foods you eat? Yes, opines Mark Bittman, if foods containing genetically-modified ingredients are not required to be labeled as such. Yikes. Read his essay here. The laws are changing.
Cod, Salt, Stories
Mark Kurlansky, author of Cod and the new Edible Stories, spoke with Ellen Kanner at Culinate about food with meaning, food traditions that endure due to their historical underpinnings. Sorry for the pun, but this interview is great food for thought. Want more? Listen to Kurlansky (and JJ Gonson!) on “On Point, ” where they ate and spoke with WBUR’s Tom Ashbrook.
You Can Be Top Chef
Check out the Grub Street blog’s run-down on applying for Top Chef.