This is the 75th printing of Edible Boston. It’s the 22nd printing of Edible Worcester, the 20th since Chris and I became publishers and the 57th issue I’ve worked on since I joined the magazine in late 2010. In the years since our founding we have never missed a quarter, consistently printing through good times and bad, fat times and lean, supporting the local food system throughout these nearly two decades—and oh how that landscape has changed since 2006.

The business of print media is also dramatically different. The region’s alt-weeklies have all but gone—RIP The Improper Bostonian, The Boston Phoenix, Stuff Magazine. We’re in the minority now: a free periodical, a print publication relying on local business advertising and subscriptions, telling the best and most interesting stories of local food and employing talented freelance creatives, all in pursuit of strengthening our urban and rural food communities, both in and around Boston, north and west of the city—for 18 years and counting.

And we have you to thank for that. With readers like you in our corner, and our dedicated advertisers alongside—the ones in this issue and all those that came before it—our small, independently-owned and -run publication trucks along happily toward its 20th year. We’re the old guard now, surrounded by young and talented influencers out ’gramming and TikTok-ing their way through the city’s restaurants, an ever-important venture in the wake of the pandemic. Thankfully, timeless longform print journalism and still photography do still have a place in our cultural zeitgeist, and we appreciate your continued inclination to consume both through our pages.

So for this 75th issue we’ve collected an eclectic bunch of stories just for you: The Edible Food Finds include one husband-and-wife team making wine from locally sourced fruit in an Acton warehouse; another married duo serving exquisite Mediterranean dishes with New England ingredients in downtown Salem; and an intrepid do-it-yourselfer practicing no-till farming up in Essex.

Just in time for the autumn leek harvest, Claudia Catalano wrote us a quartet of recipes using that noble allium. Part green vegetable, part onion, leeks are an ace in the hole for any home cook; with intense sweetness and earthy depth, they’re useful for so many other dishes besides the traditional puréed potato soup. Try all of Claudia’s recipes, but definitely don’t sleep on her custardy leek and carrot gratin. It’s a winner side dish for any fall meal.

Our In the Edible Kitchen series continues with a set of recipes from Mario LaPosta and Dan Calin of Newton’s Pizzeria Artigianale da LaPosta. Once you try Mario’s nonna’s meatballs, they’ll become a staple in your house, and his eggplant parmigiana is every bit as authentic as one you’d find in Southern Italy. Rounded out by a very fall salad and a light, autumnal spritz, this is a menu you’ll want to recreate again and again.

Lisa Zwirn spoke with Jared Auerbach at Red’s Best, a local seafood company specializing in fresh and frozen seafood, about his commitment to eating frozen fish. His friend, Andrew Wilkinson, culinary director of North Coast Seafood, contributed three excellent recipes so you, too, can keep a steady supply of better-than-fresh fish on hand in your freezer (including a straight-from-frozen swordfish dish that is an absolute revelation). With a few important defrosting tricks up your sleeve, you can serve healthy, local seafood at the drop of a hat.

Our ongoing partnership with Mass Farmers Markets brings us an any-veggie-will-do style of cooking this go-around. Sarah Carlisle’s versatile braised chicken is adaptable to all seasons, but it’s especially delightful in fall when prepared with frost-kissed brassicas like turnips, broccoli and kohlrabi, a favorite crop at farmers markets that’s still unfamiliar to many.

I first met Giulio Caperchi and his wife, Carol, in 2018 when we featured their company, Seven Hills Pasta, as an Edible Food Find. Giulio’s passion for his new venture, the Agro-Eco Project, encapsulates what it means to be a locally-minded producer; Greg Levinsky visited with him and his team in Rutland to learn more about this intersection between regenerative agriculture and food philanthropy.

Speaking of new ventures, this one has been years in the making: Island Creek Oysters has opened its very own seafood cannery on New Bedford’s waterfront. Jackie Cain took a spin through the nascent factory and reports back with excellent news for lovers of tinned fish everywhere.

Further along, Tamika R. Francis documented a very special experience for us: a supper club dinner with strangers, full of essential Thai flavors reflecting a chef’s familial culinary memories. Barefoot Books’ latest installment is darling incarnate: Old Clothes for Dinner? highlights a list of traditional dishes from around the world with names that can be confusing to kids. Alison Moore took a look at the Seacoast Regional Food Hub, meeting the needs of the food-insecure population across the lower Merrimack Valley. And lastly, Margaret LeRoux revisited a business she first profiled way back in 2012: Rose 32 Bakery has found its new owners, and kept it all in the family.

At the end of an especially busy (and historic) summer, I’m looking forward to the peace and quiet that comes with an empty nest. We’ll deliver our first born to college next weekend, and our youngest back to boarding school at the same time. We’ll head up to Maine for a meeting of the minds with our fellow publishers at the Edible Institute. We’ll trek across the Northeast for a busy fall of soccer games, parents’ weekends and the best produce of the year. And by the time you and I meet again on this page, we will have voted, too. Because we’re not going back.

Peace,

Sarah