The 4th annual...

I was raised in the fast-food test-marketing capitol of the United States. Nearly every major fast-food chain and prepared grocery product company tests its new ideas in Columbus, Ohio. Twenty major fast-food companies (they prefer the term "quick service") are headquartered in the Columbus metropolitan area, including White Castle, Bob...

They'll tell you not to judge a book by its cover, but in this case perhaps you should make an exception. In A Girl and Her Pig: Recipes and Stories, April Bloomfield delivers exactly what the book's cover implies -- a...

There are only two human activities that involve all five senses simultaneously. One is eating. The other is sex. Concurrent metaphors abound, lending credence to the suggestion that the two are very closely related. While people can be described as "hot," "steamy," or even "tasty," food can often be called...

Chances are you've experienced it at least once -- studies say 75 percent of adults have. Veisalgia, or what we more commonly call a hangover, is one of the more persuasive negative side-effects of overindulging. The French have my favorite term for it, "Gueule de bois," which translates loosely to...

In the United States, each state has its own set of laws regulating the production, sale and consumption of alcohol. Naturally, this results in a variety of goofy, arcane or sometimes just plain stupid liquor laws. Some are enforced, others are not, and still others see that very enforcement lead...

It is indeed heartening to see people in the streets, indignant over what the 1% is doing to the 99%. They're right to complain about such excessive and flagrant greed. But one thing they seem to be missing is that the Wall Street fat cat tycoons have nothing on the...

When it comes to rich, flavorful, tender meat, it is hard to beat veal. While still enormously popular in Europe, especially in France, Italy and Germany, it is much harder to find in the U.S., and harder still here in Iowa. This may be due in part to its price,...

Very few people in Iowa have had a greater impact on the movement to protect real food than Diane Ott Whealy. Co-founder of Decorah's Seed Savers Exchange, she is the author of a new memoir detailing a life obsessed with seeds and soil, farm and family.

In Gathering:...

Indulge me, if you will, in something of a birthday rant.

Today my daughter turns 21. Although it has been legal for her to drive, vote, smoke and kill and die for her country for quite some time, she now is officially permitted by society at large to enter a...

With summertime nearly here, it's time to start talking about that contentious issue: coleslaw. This is one of those fun ones to discuss because everybody has some little secret that makes it great, and everyone has some great aunt Lulu who makes the best coleslaw you ever had.

There is...

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UPDATE:

The Washington Post is reporting that the Ag Gag bill (Iowa SF431) has stalled in the Iowa legislature and likely will not be passed, at least not this session. Many thanks to the 40k of you who signed the petition below to let legislators know...

About two months ago Kim and I set out to accomplish a long-held goal: to build a roasting spit in our backyard and spend no money doing it. The inauguration of our successful endeavor occurred Memorial Day weekend. Here's how we did it.

Building The Spit:

A spit is little...

First let's get one persistent canard out of the way. Yes, the tomato is technically a fruit, not a vegetable, but for purposes of economics the USDA classifies it as a vegetable, and as such it is the second most popular vegetable in the nation after that other burger staple,...

Among the foods that gardeners and gastronomes fawn over, yet others rarely even know, stands sorrel. An early spring green with brash lemony flavor that comes from an abundance of oxalic acid, it is a powerful addition to soups and sauces, and is tasty in salads when picked young.

Sorrel...

"Sustainability doesn't mean a thing if we can't get people to cook." -- Elissa Altman

"The more I work on these issues having to do with our whole food system, the more I realize that our problem is a cooking problem." -- Michael Pollan

The impressive growth...

Excerpted from Chasing Chiles: Hot Spots on the Pepper Trail, By Kurt Michael Friese, Kraig Kraft, and Gary Paul Nabhan. Visit their blog here.

One of the most delightful food discoveries for us in Mérida was xnipek (pronounced SHNEE-peck). The name comes from the Mayan language...

Remember all those videos you've seen lately depicting various forms of animal cruelty and other heinous practices in some large agribusiness facilities? Here's one I told you about last year. In Florida, the newly ensconced legislature is about to make the production of such videos a felony punishable...

Food and politics often come together in peculiar ways. It's not that their coming together at all is unusual -- far from it. Civilization and politics are both a direct result of agriculture. But these days, food's impact on political discourse can lead to some odd sights, such as free...

Good morning and welcome to day 2 of Edible Institute 2011. I'm you're host, Kurt Michael Friese, publisher of Edible Iowa River Valley. You are invited to follow me on Twitter (@KurtMFriese), visit my restaurant, check out my blog, and preorder my...