It took me a long time to come around to the idea of turnips. Although the root vegetable has always been part of the southern culinary repertoire, I’ve often found it tough and woody, preferring instead its spicy greens, added to whatever other pot greens I had on hand. Eventually, I acquired a taste for […]

Nothing delivers brightness and body faster than Dijon mustard. I learned this at a young age, when a family friend brought my mother a big ceramic jar of the condiment from France. It was so noble looking, it probably would have remained untouched on a pantry shelf for years if it hadn’t been for the […]

I am not an ambitious seafood cook. I would rather keep it simple and fast, which is why I don’t often turn to actual recipes for inspiration. Last week, though, when I was pruning a bookshelf—a donation to the Housing Works Bookstore was in the offing—I came across Leslie Revsin’s Great Fish, Quick: Delicious Dinners […]

Most innovative concepts are really very simple, and this one is no exception: Exploring the intrinsic beauty found in fresh fruits and vegetables encourages children to make smart food choices that also happen to be delicious. That’s what the community of professional artists known as Studio in a School thinks, at any rate. For 35 years, the […]