Author Archives: CambCooks

And thus my dinner plate in an unfamiliar city with its rivers and lighted bridges was graced not only with chilled wine and lemon slices but with compassion and sorrow even after the waiter removed my plate with the head … Continue reading →

[Here, a young Vietnamese cook, hired by a famous writer, speaks to himself:] “Quinces are ripe when they are the yellow of canary wings in midflight….But even then quinces remain a fruit, hard and obstinate – useless, GertrudeStein, until they … Continue reading →

[Because of] the Vietcong’s unsporting habit of cutting the roads, only a pathetic trickle of first-class produce reached the capital, Saigon. Somehow, though, there was always plenty of pho, the restorative anise-scented beef or chicken noodle soup, delivered to your … Continue reading →

We all know one of those extreme eaters, the friend who travels to exotic places and performs the gastronomic equivalent of running with the bulls. These people live for the goat’s eye, the snake’s heart, the putrefying cheese, the crispy … Continue reading →

In the days that followed, the farmers dutifully (and skeptically) planted Napoli carrots and spread the almond dust over the rows….Ferran Adrià may have espresso foam and olive oil capsules, I thought, but he doesn’t have carrots pre-infused with almonds.                                                                                                … Continue reading →

Plants and animals are a generous bunch. We ask a lot from them. And no matter how we treat them, we receive much in return. Except for the time that food spends on the shelf or the farm stand table, … Continue reading →

What we talk about when we talk about food: Dishing on Modern Life at WBUR Authors Night Out. Who: Authors Allegra Goodman, Margot Livesey and Adam Gopnik, in coversation with Robin Young. What: Food & Philosophy, a fundraising event for … Continue reading →

A brief and fascinating glimpse at how the Colonists dined in April, 1775. It’s Patriots Day and time for a history lesson of a different sort. We know millions of details about the Shot Heard Round the World. And the … Continue reading →

The news broke in mid-January that Chris Schlesinger is selling his famed East Coast Grill to head chef Jason Heard, general manager Robin Greenspan, and another manager, James Lozano. For those from out of town and the few locals unfamiliar … Continue reading →

Honey, How old is that fish in the fridge? The cod? I think it’s from 1856. That’s how I imagine dinnertime conversation in the home of Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald. The food of colonial America never held a special … Continue reading →