Joel Salatin is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. Self-described as a "Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist-lunatic-farmer," you're probably more familiar with him as the "beyond organic" owner of Polyface Farm featured in Michael Pollan's landmark book The Omnivore's Dilemma and the documentary Food, Inc. (note: if you...

Most people know instinctively to avoid bruised or blemished produce, but there is much more involved in the art of choosing fruits and vegetables.

While buying fresh food is always a little bit of a crap-shoot (and not every rule will apply to every piece of produce), these tips will...

I've resisted publishing this recipe for months because I was worried it was too simple for an entire blog post. But every time I cook it for someone (which I do all the time because it is so easy and delicious) they ask me for the recipe so...

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard a foodie proclaim that roasting a chicken is the easiest thing in the world and the perfect place for new cooks to start.

Please.

I can think of at least a hundred things easier to cook than roasted chicken,...

My post last week 8 Reasons Regular Guys Should Learn To Cook received a tremendous response, but a few people called it out as "sexist." Gasp!

Though I doubt anyone would have preferred a post titled "8 Reasons Most People Should Learn To Cook," I'm happy to balance...

Some guys I know don't consider cooking a worthwhile venture. Besides the occasional stint behind the grill, they'd rather bask in blissful ignorance than feed themselves in more than three steps: stab, chew, swallow.

But ask any woman (or man that already knows how) why it is better to be...

For myself and people of my generation, cooking represents the worst kind of irony. Feeding ourselves is our most basic human need, but for some reason no one bothered to tell us how to do it (or even that it was important to learn).

So we grew up, left the...

Grocery shopping has never been more confusing than it is in 2011.

With conflicting nutrition information coming at us from all sides, navigating the supermarket can feel as impossible as doing long division while juggling loaded bear traps. It's neither fun nor...

You know who you are. As hard as you've tried, you've never liked going to the gym. Maybe you've even hired a personal trainer a few times, hoping the added expense and accountability would be enough motivation to turn you into a regular gym rat. But it didn't work.

Every...

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that most diet plans out there are full of it. If they worked, a third of us wouldn't be classified as obese. But if you're trying to get healthy and lose weight, how can you tell the healthy diets from the lousy...

I've talked before about how much thought and preparation I put into getting all my farmers market produce home undamaged. Though the tactics I use work decently well, they are by no means perfect and are more than a little bit of a hassle.

To address my farmers...

Vacation and travel is tricky business for someone looking to live a healthy lifestyle. While your time away is meant to be a break from your regular daily restrictions, most of us would rather not return home with extra luggage around our waists.

So how do you find the balance?

Food marketers have been at it for nearly a century. They're saving us time, making it ever easier for us to consume their products, and all they ask in return is to charge us a little extra for the "convenience." Bless their hearts.

When pressed, most of us will acknowledge...

The term "superfood" gets thrown around a lot, usually by the media or somebody selling something. (Or in my column, but we'll get to that in a second)

Superfood refers to an edible plant (e.g. blueberries) or animal (e.g. salmon) that contains high levels of a...

A harsh reality hit me this past Saturday. Believe it or not, I was woefully unprepared to bring everything I wanted home from the farmers market.

It wasn't obvious to me at first. After all I had remembered to stop at the ATM for cash, brought with me my large...

I don't like the word hate and try not to use it. I especially dislike it when it is applied to any kind of food or cooking.

Do you really hate asparagus? Or are you just whining about something you haven't bothered to learn to appreciate? Yeah, I thought so.

If you haven't spent much time at farmers markets, I know they can be a bit intimidating. Locals always know exactly where to go and what to buy, and seem to possess some kind of secret, cult-like knowledge of seasonal favorites and exclusive deals.

How is a farmers market noobie...

Few things are as irrevocably tied to our health and well being as food. But while much attention is given to the kind of foods we eat, the way we eat and our relationship with food can be just as important.

Eating traditions and food culture have been all but...

Snacking can be a mixed blessing for anyone learning to eat healthy. On one hand, a small healthy snack after a workout or an hour or so before a late meal can help you avoid making bad, hunger-induced food decisions later. On the other hand, snacking can easily grow out...

Sometimes your own motivation isn't what stops you from eating healthy, but rather the nags and complaints from the people that expect you to feed them dinner.

Healthy eating is rarely a popular idea, and it's easy to understand why. What we've been told is healthy are boring, steamed, overcooked...