I report on food + culture …

Pioneer Press……………………..

On the Minnesota barrel-maker innovating on tradition for tastier whisky; on the Minnesota State Fair convenience store that connects the owner to his grandfather; on what happens when sacred Native items show up in an online auction // full staff page here

Racket MN………………………….

On the Minnesota cheesemonger competing at the wacky national Cheesemonger Invitational tournament

Boston.com…………………………

On why Guy Fieri’s new Mexican restaurant in Boston is so disappointing; on how restaurant staff are responding to the statewide dine-in ban amid the COVID-19 pandemic; on messages in restaurant windows responding to COVID-19 (with photos)

Eater…………………………………..

On the kitchen hardware you need to serve a killer cheese board, according to cheesemongers

Food Tank…………………………..

On the new Regenerative Organic Certified standard; on the need for community-based seed diversity during the COVID-19 pandemic [co-written with Gary Paul Nabhan]; on the social enterprise working to equip leaders to meet UN sustainability goals; on the Minneapolis winery that makes cider from apples they pick from your front yard; on Food Network chef Justin Warner’s perspectives on the food system

City Pages…………………………..

On offering the inventor of Go-Gurt a tube of Go-Gurt (and hearing the story of how he created it) [link is a PDF]

Extra Crispy………………………..

On the classic Danish dessert (and mindbending tongue-twister) rødgrød med fløde; on the poorly-named first successful gelatin dessert powder Bromangelon

Roads & Kingdoms………………

On sfenj, the Moroccan breakfast doughnut that nearly became a Jewish Hanukkah staple

Vox Magazine……………………..

On mid-Missouri catfishing culture and the debate between catch-and-release and catch-for-dinner; on the early 20th-century black chef Annie Fisher and her erasure from (and revival in) local history; on the artistry of plating; on a medical professor’s views on discrimination faced by Native American patients

Plateselector………………………

On Restaurante Last Monkey, an Asian-fusion joint in Barcelona [article in Spanish]

Columbia Missourian…………..

On the barriers transgender people face when seeking health care; on the challenges posed to pharmacists by Missouri’s lack of a prescription drug monitoring database

MOVE Magazine………………….

On a new late-night pizza-delivery window at a popular local slice shop; on the linguistic differences between “donut” and “doughnut”

The Tower Magazine……………

On the virtues of Amba, an Iraqi-Israeli spicy mango condiment 

Boston Globe Opinion Section……………………………….

On the benefits of bookstores at memorial sites