Peter Glatz

According to a recent survey, beets are the second most disliked vegetable in Am erica, second only to turnips. Even the Obamas hate beets – so much that they insisted that no beets were to be planted in the White House vegetable garden. Yet beets are one of our most nutritious vegetables and are extremely […]

A few years ago I was camping and I asked my companions: “Who would like grilled cheese?” The response was enthusiastic; everyone loves grilled cheese. “That sounds wonderful!” they exclaimed, “But we didn’t bring any bread.” “We don’t need bread,” I responded. “Have you heard about halloumi, the grillable cheese that doesn’t melt?” They eyed […]

It is commonly accepted that our tongues have taste receptors that allow us to perceive five primary taste modalities: salt, sweet, bitter, sour and umami. To this list, some food scientists have added a sixth taste known as kokumi. The first four tastes are pretty straightforward – the last two less so. The word umami […]

Primavera is the Italian word for spring – or, literally, first green. Pasta primavera is made with sautéed spring vegetables in a rich sauce of butter, cream and cheese. But pasta primavera isn’t Italian. It was conceived in Nova Scotia in the early 1970s by vacationing New Yorkers. Italian cuisine has its own dishes that […]

Fat Tuesday marks the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before beginning the Lenten ritual of self-sacrifice and fasting. In South Louisiana, Catholics go to Mass on Ash Wednesday, give up meat on Fridays and make small sacrifices until Easter to signify their piety and atone for the excesses of Mardi Gras revelry. The […]

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of this cookbook like a grandparent anticipating the arrival of a grandchild. Two years ago we loaded up our belongings into our bus and headed out of Oklahoma City. We were supposed to be relocating to Michigan to start new jobs at Milkweed Inn, but the pandemic had shut […]

I love browsing through seed catalogs. They arrive just in time to nudge me out of my winter doldrums. By now I’ve grown bored with my off-season romaine salads and I’m longing for farmers market salads made with local spinach or leaf lettuce, spring onions, green garlic and tiny radishes. But springtime starts, and then […]

It was one of those times in February when the night was frigid but the afternoon was warm, when the sky changed from grey to blue and the sun had melted the morning frost. I was walking my dog through the woods behind my old house when I felt what I thought were tiny droplets […]

In Japan, kare raisu, or curry rice, is the equivalent of our beloved mac and cheese in the blue box. Kare raisu is a rich, velvety roux-based stew and is considered to be Japan’s national home-cooking dish. It’s consumed two to three times a month on average in Japanese households. Kare raisu is the number […]

I doubt that I’ll ever become a true-blue vegetarian. I just love bacon, a simple roasted chicken and a nicely seared steak way too much to totally eliminate animal protein from my diet. But I am convinced that a predominantly plant-based diet is what I should be working towards. To that end, I’m always looking […]

Seaweed is regarded by many as the future of food. It’s one of the world’s most sustainable and nutritious foods. Seaweed is zero-input, meaning that it does not require fresh water, fertilizer, feed or arable land to thrive. Seaweed has the ability to absorb excess nitrogen and phosphorus deposited in the water by agricultural runoff […]

When the days have grown short and the weather stays cold, people used to say, “It’s hog-killin’ time.” Before we had packing plants and supermarkets, farm families depended on their fields and flocks for sustenance, and the tedious process of whole hog butchering usually took place in cold weather. Breaking down a 200 to 300-pound […]