FOUNDERS: KAREN WASHINGTON + OLIVIA WATKINS Lives In: Orange County, New York, and Connecticut Working Toward: Equal Access to Capital for Black Farmers and Food Entrepreneurs As a little girl growing up in the Bronx, Karen Washington spent her Saturday mornings like most kids: plopped in front of the TV. But unlike most little girls, Washington would wake up an hour before the cartoons came on to catch her favorite program, “U.S. Farm Report.” While naturally drawn to farm work, Washington grew up in the projects and didn’t have access to land. But when she became a homeowner, she i ..read more

Clear Your Mind and the Rest Will Follow What do the following foods have in common: two roast chicken legs wrapped in foil, a half-eaten takeout container of brown rice, a partial bag of arugula that’s seen better days, and an onion sprouting a green stem? First, they all happened to be in my fridge the evening that I set out to write this article—glaring reminders of meals eaten and grocery lists shopped. Second, when quickly prepped and combined with a few eggs and a splash of milk, they form the foundation of what I refer to as my “Spring Cleaning” recipe. Shredded, chopped, sautéed, and s ..read more

Homegrown Herbs Make for Heady Cocktails I’ve never felt more like a chump than when I was in Provence. As I walked along the trails of Cap d’Antibes, the wild hedges of rosemary were easily 20 to 30 feet tall and extended—without hyperbole—for miles. And that’s just the rosemary. Add to this the lavender, thyme, wormwood, and all manner of other herbs, and it was sufficient to set the senses and mind reeling. Thinking of how much money I spend for a few small sprigs of what-have-you, when here it all grew so casually and in such comical abundance, almost made me physically ill. It was enough ..read more

Arlyn Osborne’s Dip Into Queso Ice Cream In her new cookbook, Sugarcane: Sweet Recipes from My Half-Filipino Kitchen, Arlyn Osborne draws on her Filipino heritage and the years she spent as a professional recipe developer. Her recipes flip American standards—coconut cream pie, chocolate chip cookies, lemon bars—by introducing ravishing flavors from the Philippines: pandan, rambutan, calamansi, ube, or, in this case, cheddar cheese. Wait … cheddar cheese? Says Osborne, “Of all the Philippine desserts that employ cheese (there are quite a few), queso ice cream takes first place for me. It’s as c ..read more

Pieter Estersohn Captures New York’s Neo-Ruralists in Back to the Land Just ask any New Yorker and they will eagerly tell you that their city is the greatest city in the world. But if you catch them after a particularly long day and they’re feeling honest, they might admit that sometimes, just sometimes, New York City can be a bit of a grind. If you live in the city long enough, you will either know someone who decamped upstate or you’ve dreamed about doing it yourself. Or maybe you’re already upstate, enjoying some fresh air and wondering why you ever crammed your poor body onto packed trains ..read more

The Kitchen Dreams of New York’s Most Popular Food Personalities We talked to real food and design folks about their real-world kitchens—spaces where money is an object, square footage is limited, and serious choices have to be made. We learned that, despite challenges, cooks generally find things to love about their kitchens. Sometimes it’s the light, or what they brought in when they inhabited the space. But most often, it’s the time we spend in our (albeit imperfect) kitchens, doing what we love. RELATED: Coveting Right Now (Editor’s Picks) Photography by Emily WinikerDanielle Van Noy @thef ..read more

Recipe by Dashi Okume If you’re looking for a real umami-bomb, try this dish where rice absorbs umami from a host of umami-rich ingredients, ending up with a delicious, savory, meaty-tasting result. For best results, source genuine Japanese ingredients.* *In New York, MOGMOG (L.I.C.); Dashi Okume (Greenpoint); Wegman’s Astor Place (Manhattan); Katagiri (Multiple Locations); Sunrise Mart (Multiple Locations); Dainobu (Multiple Locations); Osakana (Multiple Locations); The Rice Factory (Scarsdale); Mitsuwa Marketplace (Edgewater, NJ). Or you can order online for delivery from Weee!, OP Fish Mark ..read more

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is a unique model of seasonal food production and distribution that brings farmers and consumers into a relationship. CSA members purchase a “share” of a farm’s harvest upfront, establishing a solid financial foundation for the farm prior to the start of the growing season. In return, CSA members receive a regular selection of farm-fresh food throughout the season, whether vegetables, fruit, meat, mushrooms, flowers, herbs, grains, eggs, dairy, or a combination of products. With a range of styles and sizes, CSA shares suit a wide variety of households ..read more

Taking the Elitism out of Chef-Led Dinners Generally, when you’re talking about chef’s table experiences, what you’re really talking about is elitism; it’s all about high-cost private access to a chef in a setting that excludes other diners. At Tasting Collective, a members-only dining club operating in 16 cities coast-to-coast (with more cities planned in 2024) with over 10,000 members nationwide, the goal is not social exception: instead, it’s about forming community among passionate diners through inclusive, affordable, chef-led dining experiences at some of America’s hottest restaurants.&n ..read more

The People-First Meal Delivery Service Comes to Westchester There are a lot of origin stories in the meal delivery service world, but, generally, the main characters include an entrepreneur, a venture capitalist, and someone in tech. What sets Feast & Fettle apart is that the business developed more organically. In fact, it was started by a cook. According to Carlos Ventura, Feast & Fettle’s CEO, the enterprise was born of necessity. In 2016, Maggie Pearson—a personal chef and nanny—began cooking and prepping meals for clients in their kitchens as an extension of what she was already d ..read more