Thanksgiving is the easiest and best time of year to “eat local,” for the simple reason that the Native Americans and the Pilgrims were “locavores” back when “fresh and local” were not marketing terms, but just the way it was. This means that most of what you find on a traditional Thanksgiving menu has its […]

This beautiful green bunch of stalks was once used as a bouquet of flowers! Nowadays celery is more often eaten as a versatile crunchy snack–with peanut butter, a sprinkle of salt, or as an addition to your crudite platter. The subtle flavor is also an essential in Thanksgiving dishes, and I personally love to make […]

Red, black, yellow, white, purple, green—these were the colors that wild carrots (also known as Queen Anne’s Lace) started out being – pretty much every color but orange! First cultivated in Afghanistan in the 7th century, the original domesticated carrot was purple outside and yellow inside, similar to the Purple Dragon carrots you see at […]

Well, not quite. But it was a certain Italian American, Albert Broccoli, born into a family that worked in the vegetable business in Queens, who went on to produce all of the Bond films made during his life, and his heirs continue the legacy today. A couple hundred years earlier, in another Italy-America connection, Thomas […]