Spring 2025 Publisher’s Letter
If there were ever a time to go out and get lost in the woods, this might be it. To cut out the incessant noise, the chaos, the disruption of it all. To envelope yourself in the quiet and just breathe deeply.
If you’ve got a good eye (and a good nose), you might even stumble on one of our region’s most prized early wild foods: ramps. A member of the allium family, perennial ramps are native to the Northeast in spring and are prized for their delicate onion-garlic flavor and cleansing, tonic-like properties. Chefs adore them, pickling and preserving their harvest for use throughout the season; knowledgeable foragers can earn good money collecting them, especially when they harvest the right way: with scissors, leaving the bulbs behind for another season’s growth. Last May we sent writer Annie Sherman and photographer Adam DeTour on a ramps foraging expedition, tagging along with two local chefs to their secret patch where they harvested a few pounds of the wild leeky greens and cooked them up on site—charcoal grill, cast-iron pan, a gourmet’s dream tailgate in the bed of a pickup, out in the quiet of the wilderness. A lovely place to escape to on a spring afternoon.
In fact, if you take my advice, you’ll use this entire issue as a guidebook for some old-fashioned springtime escapism; you’ll be in for a delightful set of excursions and some very good food. Our edible FOOD FINDS feature a bucolic dairy farm in Pepperell; an allergen-friendly family-run café in Lowell; a French-inspired wine-and-cheese shop in Wenham; a weekends-only supper club inside a beloved South Hamilton bakery; an Egyptian-style “third place” just outside of Harvard Square, where locals gather over coffee and pastries, soccer and pastirma; and a unique Cambridge dessert-and-wine bar where chocolate reigns, conviviality is welcome and cellphones are not.
A few years back we introduced our readers to Nibble Kitchen, an innovative restaurant run by the Somerville Arts Council at Bow Market. Jackie Cain went back for more info, and found that Nibble’s culinary entrepreneurship program has morphed into a cultural development initiative with rotating restaurant pop-up opportunities; visit Nibble for a taste of Jordanian, Bengali or Salvadoran food—depending on the schedule—and help preserve the diversity of gentrifying Union Square. And follow the lead of the Martignetti family, new owners of two of Cape Ann’s most iconic seaside hotels, currently under renovation: Take a drive north to check out their progress, and support the local community’s many galleries, restaurants and artisans while you’re there.
With spring comes lamb, and our friend Carl Dooley of Top Chef fame has tackled his favorite seasonal ingredient in a global way; seasoned with vibrant herbs and colorful spices, Carl’s chops, shanks and meatballs are his tribute to the diversity and multiculturalism of Boston’s ever-changing food scene.
Alison Arnett visited a handful of diversified farmers taking their soil health seriously—a practice as important as ever, now that environmental protections were gutted by the courts late last year and federal agricultural grants were recently halted. It’s a necessary reminder that healthy soil means healthy food, and our local farmers need all the support they can get. Buy a CSA share now and help them regenerate their land, renew it in a natural way, for generations to come. And for the kids, Barefoot Books created an adorable way to celebrate Earth Day this year: two gardening projects and a recipe in four brightly colored pages just for them.
On April 19th, my home town of Concord will commemorate 250 years since the great battle at The North Bridge, the “shot heard ‘round the world.” It’s not lost on me that we’re in a similarly fragile period, and that once again it’ll be incumbent on us to defend against tyranny, to protect our neighbors and our way of life. We can fuel ourselves on Patriot’s Day morning with a “revolutionary repast”: PhD food historian Jessica Carbone researched a true-to-the-era breakfast menu just for us, inspired by a true heroine of that fateful morning in 1775. All hail, Rebecca Barrett! Stir up a batch of Stallions with Boston Harbor Distillery’s Putnam Straight Rye and get yourself into the tea-dumping frame of mind… It’s up to us now. It’s our republic, if we can keep it.
And with that, I’ll remind you that each and every one of these stories was produced by human beings, without AI, written and photographed by interesting, talented local creatives with brains and heartbeats and a commitment to show and tell the most wonderful stories of local food. None of this comes easily, nor cheaply. If you would like to support our mission—alongside our longtime partners, the businesses advertising in these pages—please consider subscribing. It’s easy: Just sign up on our website, and $35 later you’ll have joined our family of subscribers, receiving all four upcoming issues mailed directly to your door. Think of us like a CSA for information—with your help, we’ll keep bringing you the independent local food content you love, your Community Supported Journalism.
Peace,
Sarah
