It’s been a few years at least since we’ve had snow at the holidays. There’ve been flurries, sure, but nothing that accumulates or sticks around for very long. As far as I recall, the last time was in 2020, which was a very different sort of holiday season, sequestered at home in our “bubble” without extended family and friends—but at least there was snow. Every year since it’s been unseasonably mild through the New Year, and the weather folks aren’t too optimistic about this coming December, either. You’d think we’d be due for a terrifically snowy winter by now, but in a La Niña year the chances of that are sadly slim.

Winter is coming, though, snow or no snow, so we’re going to need to get into the spirit of the season somehow. Thankfully, our longtime contributor Claudia Catalano has set the tone with her gorgeous cover story—this collection of snow white desserts full of fluffy meringue, creamy custard and blizzards of confectioners’ sugar will be the icing on anyone’s holiday meal. Elle Simone Scott lets us in on her not-so-secret dream of life as a Northeast innkeeper, with a comforting menu straight out of a cozy front room, fire blazing, warming all our hearts. And Fred Yarm returns to our pages with another historical treatise on a favorite traditional American cocktail: the hot buttered rum. Make a batch of that “butter batter” and stir it into any hot drink you like, with or without the booze.

Speaking of “without the booze,” our Edible Food Finds features an innovative nonalcoholic bottle shop and four other fabulous local businesses worth seeking out this winter. With a CrossFitting sourdough baker, an elegant Ukrainian patisserie, a North Shore sea salt “farm” and a local family’s secret pancake sauce, there’s certainly something for everyone.

Further along, Matt Tota brings good news from Worcester and the Regional Food Hub’s impressive kitchen build-out at Union Station; with the renovation nearing completion, many more Central MA food entrepreneurs will have the space and support they need to grow their businesses. Jackie Cain’s story was nearly a year in the works, a sweet series of interviews with the families behind some of the country’s most recognized food brands, all based here in Massachusetts—some you know and some you may not. Lesley O’Connell sits down with a group of female foodand- beverage professionals, the local chapter of a national entrepreneurship collaborative, coming together at a time when symbiotic industry support is most needed. And Nina Livingstone treats us to another of her famous get-to-knowyou Q+As with the North Shore–based star of NBC Boston’s “The Chef’s Pantry,” the effervescent Anna Rossi.

Our continuing partnership with Mass Farmers Markets brings a Caribbean touch to a locally sourced fish soup; ingredients for Nicola Williams’s habanero-infused Jamaican Fish Tea, full of North Atlantic seafood and sturdy storage veg, can be procured at any local farmers market throughout the winter. And while we’re on the topic of local fish, Annie Sherman tells the story of two Japanese sushi chefs, one in Charlestown and one in Gloucester, bringing their reverence for quality ingredients and traditional technique to the seafood species most available to them here.

Barefoot Books’ seasonal section comes just in time for Ramadan in early 2025—a collection of three kid-friendly recipes from three diverse regions of the Muslim world, all excerpted from a wonderful book (coming soon but available for preorder), Ramadan on Rahma Road: A Recipe Storybook.

And again this year we’ve got a printed preview of the online Local Holiday Gift Guide. As always, pledge what you can to support local businesses with your holiday budget—gifts, food, experiences, too—and do your part to keep the fabric of our communities intact. Follow the QR code to find an expanded, clickable guide on our website and, as always, shop small and shop local.

I’m writing to you on the first of November—mere hours before we send this issue to press—and struggling to wrap up this beautiful magazine in a nice, tidy, gift-worthy bow. You see, I’m still four days from the election. You’re out there on the other side of it: Is my anxiety warranted? What’s the vibe like in late November? Will I look back at this week of sleepless nights and too much wine and wish I’d just taken a deep breath and believed? I reread my letter from the Spring issue of 2017, written in the first crazy months of that tumultuous administration, and I was struck by how little the narrative has changed. So I’ll quote myself in closing, a reminder of our values and ideals:

“In just a few short weeks we’ve been reminded that people seeking refuge and a better life in our country don’t always have the means to arrive here legally, but they do fuel our economy— especially our food economy … that multiculturalism has always made our nation great; we are all immigrants, after all, having brought with us our diverse flavors and tastes to add to the melting pot. Without the influence of immigrants, what would the American diet be? And in order to grow clean and sustainable food the environment needs laws to protect it, and that safe food and clean water are rights, not privileges. So we stand with immigrants and refugees, with women and marginalized communities, with the Earth and clean water and air … and for us, in the end it always comes back to food. A strong local food system can sustain our region in troubling times. Support your farmers, fishermen and restaurant workers, no matter their country of origin. Imagine what the world would look like without the important work they do.”

Peace (on Earth, good will to all),

Sarah