Fall had barely begun when I needed to finalize the articles for our Winter 2010 issue. This is the first year of our revised publication date, delivering the winter issue just after Thanksgiving. I felt we needed to address the tradition of the season, the holiday meal.

Looking through year’s worth of food magazines, I found that every November issue had a turkey on the cover. Was this necessary, or just an expectation that readers have, or maybe just tradition? The intent of the covers is to entice the readers to cook the “perfect” holiday meal and to remind us of the traditions of the meal.Well, here at Edible Boston, we do not believe the world is perfect and while tradition is important individually, we do not believe it dictates what we cook or eat!

I also came to realize that my favorite memories of holiday meals happened later in the winter, on cold nights in January or February when the heat of the kitchen kept me warm along with the anticipation of a pleasant meal with friends, family or sometimes stragglers.

Hence our Winter Feast menu evolved. We realized we also wanted to create this meal using ingredients that are
local in New England in the winter months. This proved easier than we thought. Quite a bit has changed in the past few years. More and more farms are growing wintergreens and building root cellars, giving us access to root vegetables and fruits well into the dark days of winter. While this menu features locally raised venison for our meat course, a variety of other local meats are available as well.

Procuring the ingredients for this meal took a little time, not one-stop shopping, but the process only increased the pleasure of the meal.We hope this inspires you to create your own local winter meal, which may become part of your winter tradition.

Enjoy!
Ilene Bezahler
Publisher/Editor