Fall 2023 Publisher’s Letter
By Labor Day most years, I’m reveling in prime harvest season. It’s the beginning of the best part of the Massachusetts culinary year—when warm- and cool-weather crops comingle at the market, juicy-ripe tomatoes and melons piled up next to winter squash, apples and potatoes. I habitually overbuy at the farm stand and put up my haul for winter; I freeze bags of corn kernels and shelled beans, pickle cukes and zukes and process tomatoes for deep winter sauces and soups. Early fall is like paradise for a home cook, especially one with a family to feed.
But with our nest formally emptied and the kids happily settled into their studies up north, I’m finding it difficult adjusting to cooking for two. Without the ritual of nightly sit-down “family dinner,” it’s just simpler to put out a dish of olives, assemble a quick salad and throw some cheese on a platter than to fix an actual meal. I haven’t found it in me to pickle or can anything for winter yet; my preservation mojo is deflated without as many mouths to feed. And it was a rough summer for our local farmers—so many flooded, so many lost crops—so I owe it to them to get out there and buy their wares! I need inspiration, stat. Thankfully, this beautiful Fall issue is here to help.
When the time comes to throw a dinner party this fall, you can be sure I’ll use Claudia Catalano’s potluck supper story as my guide. A duo of composed grain and lentil salads, flecked with herbs and studded with nuts and cheese; a crunchy, tangy Vietnamese-inspired chicken salad; crispy kimchi-forward vegetable fritters and a frosted pumpkin sheet cake—all are scaled to feed a full table and go together beautifully. I’m thrilled that this season marks the return of Béatrice Peltre and her elegant, gluten-free French cooking to our pages; she brought with her a slew of gorgeous carrot recipes accompanied by her own frame-worthy photography, and I’m counting the days until the frost-sweetened carrots hit the markets to make them. And for a new department, IN THE edible KITCHEN, I procured a pair of personal, seasonal recipes from the chefs of Boston’s Cósmica and The Beehive, bringing a taste of Mexico and the Northwest to New England ingredients.
As usual, our edible FOOD FINDS this season span the region with stories of local food people doing truly remarkable things. There’s a front yard farm in Central MA and an African diaspora marketplace in the heart of Roxbury; a pickle-and-jam maker on the North Shore; a city-based motorcycle café with a Middle Eastern menu; a pair of health-conscious friends bottling shrubs in Charlestown and a Somerville-based house of Jewish learning set inside a pescatarian restaurant and bar—these stories prove that culinary innovation and entrepreneurship in Greater Boston and Worcester County is as alive and well as ever.
You know what this muggy-sticky-rainy summer was good for? Mushrooms. Chris and I love to forage in the woods near our house but we’re never more adventurous than the easily identifiable varieties: maitake (hen of the woods) and chicken of the woods—neither has a poisonous dupe and both are easy to spot on the forest floor. If you’re also interested in learning more about mushrooms and foraging for them safely, then Alex Tzelnic’s story on the Boston Mycological Club is for you.
In a departure from our typical “Loyal to Local” ethos, Jackie Cain profiles six locally based, globally inspired importers bringing the flavors of home to Greater Boston. No matter how strictly we commit to cooking with locally grown foods, we’ll always need to augment them with good, high-quality ingredients from afar. And sometimes, as Nadirah Mansour tells us in her edible ESSAY, the most important ingredients from home are found in the most unexpected of places, even tucked away inside ordinary local convenience stores.
Matt Tota takes us on a cocktail crawl through Worcester, introducing us to three new joints serving up handcrafted drinks with ingenuity and flair. New contributor Cameron Sperance speaks with five chefs running supper clubs each in their own way; from pop-ups to private dinners to communal tables with wine pairings, the outside-the-box dining opportunities in Greater Boston just got a whole lot cooler. And for our cover story, right in time for the months containing “R,” Leigh Belanger heads north to tour the only shellfish farm in Essex County, on the salt marsh between the Rowley River and Plum Island Sound. With two varieties of oysters and plans for additional shellfish—like quahogs, mussels, razor clams and scallops—this is just the beginning for a burgeoning North Shore industry in high demand.
I think this season’s edible for Kids is the sweetest one yet—The Bread Pet teaches kids the art of sourdough, and the responsibility that goes along with caring for a homemade starter. If you love this excerpt, go to the Barefoot Books website (through the QR code provided) and buy the whole book. It’ll make a great gift for the budding baker in your life.
Enjoy the fall and all our region has to offer—with all the extra time we have on our hands, you can be sure Chris and I will be out and about enjoying it, too.
Peace, Sarah
