Edibles & Potables

Edibles & Potables: The Portuguese oasis of Madeira (2018 & 2022)

 I head to a traditional eating house in the northern hills (of Funchal) called Casa de Pasto Justiniano. Here, espetada is cooked and served the old-fashioned way. First, the meat is grilled on bay laurel skewers in a hearth in the corner of the room. Then the skewer is brought to the table and hung […]

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Edibles & Potables: Obatzda, a Bavarian riff on beer cheese

It will suffice to say that there is no better way to spend an evening in Prague than to be guided by a native through the city’s warren of ancient alleyways and archaic streets, past numerous watering holes, places where the malodorous Czech beer cheese can, at least in high summer, be smelled a block […]

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Edibles & Potables: Let’s examine Italian s*x worker-style pasta

Headline titillation? That’d be rare. Almost as unlikely as the sight of me downing an ice-cold Miller Blah Life after a Sunday morning bicycle ride. Rather, we’re gathered here today to discuss the ideal edible vehicle for the Mediterranean ingredients I routinely crave: pasta “in the style of a prostitute.” Note that when someone says the […]

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Edibles & Potables: Remembering Mary Jane Rathbun, a.k.a. Brownie Mary (1922 – 1999)

“All human beings are practicing historians. We live our lives; we tell our stories. It is as natural as breathing.” — Gerda Lerner Food as activism? You’d better believe it. One needn’t care a solitary jot about psychoactive drugs like marijuana (it isn’t this beer-centric correspondent’s cup of hallucinogenic-infused tea, you know) to be fascinated […]

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Edibles & Potables: The story of Thomas Downing, the Big Apple’s Black oyster king

(Updated and revised) Amid the continuing late spring monsoon here in Louisville metro, my thoughts turned to oysters. Long Island oyster operations look to bounce back after winter temperatures cause severe damage (Eyewitness News ABC 7) SUFFOLK COUNTY, Long Island (WABC) — “This winter was unprecedented, weather-wise – at least in my lifetime,” said Peeko […]

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But is it a good idea to serve humble pie for Thanksgiving?

From our family to yours: Food & Dining Magazine wishes all of our readers a warm, happy Thanksgiving in 2025. Following is a holiday rerun from the “Edibles & Potables” file circa 2021. Today’s cover photo comes from the BBC’s recipe for humble pie. — Edibles & Potables is here for you, engine idling at the […]

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Edibles & Potables: Eastern European Sauerkraut Soup (with proper beer accompaniment)

 Once upon a time at Facebook, I observed that “beer is good food.” Somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain-wave labyrinth, I knew the Dead Kennedys recorded a song back in 1985 called “Soup Is Good Food,” the title of which will make sense to certain more chronologically advanced readers as a Campbell’s […]

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Edibles & Potables: “Bread and Oil,” and a Majorcan way of eating

It’s time again to spin one of the columnist’s favorite broken records, because for me, Europe is a recurring fascination. New discoveries forever await: history, geography, music, art, food and drink. So it was a few years back when I discovered the relatively recent English translation of The Island of Second Sight, written by the […]

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Edibles & Potables: Among the autumn rituals, behold the persimmon

I grew up in the Southern Indiana countryside. During my 16th birthday year of 1976, the surroundings were hastily being repurposed into tidy residential suburbs. But we still had pastures and woods, raised some Angus, kept a garden, and looked upon a single gnarly persimmon tree just down the hill from our house. When late […]

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Edibles & Potables: Gaga over Wawa? Nahnah. WHYWHY?

Recently it was revealed that New Albany’s North Side would be GETTING A WAWA. Knowing my luck, they’ll probably have a float in the Harvest Homecoming Parade. Perhaps appropriately, given the usual fan boy ‘n’ girl hosannas greeting the prospective arrival of a glorified convenience store, NA’s new gas station-cum-driver salvation dispensary will displace a day […]

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Edibles & Potables: Marmite and the persistence of umami

(This column originally appeared at F&D in 2021) In 2011, the British Broadcasting Corporation published a list of ten things “you’ll love/hate to know” about Marmite, the longtime British culinary staple which, we must concede from the outset, is a divider of opinion. Marmite does not just come in jars. Other products in the range […]

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Edibles & Potables: Vegan restaurants in the UK are closing (“or adding meat to the menu”)

The plant-based problem is complicated. Granted, the following is Brit-centric (so am I), but the issues are in all likelihood universal. There is no paywall at The Guardian, so feel free to indulge. The plant-based problem: why vegan restaurants are closing – or adding meat to the menu, by Isobel Lewis (The Guardian) There seem […]

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Edibles & Potables: Garum, the (better) ketchup of the ancient Roman gods

Roman fish sauce, along with oil and wine, formed a triad of commodities which dominated Mediterranean trade. The fish sauce is garum, and the quote comes from a publisher’s tout for The Story of Garum: Fermented Fish Sauce and Salted Fish in the Ancient World, a book by Sally Grainger published a few years back […]

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Edibles & Potables: Food halls, from Market at Malcolm Yards to Hietalahden Kauppahalli

In 2022 we booked an Airbnb in Minneapolis and took a few days off to see the Twins play the Tigers (twice), search for home plate from the team’s former ballpark as ensconced at Mall of America, explore the respective Twin Cities downtown districts (the other is St. Paul, of course), eat a lot, and […]

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