Is it just me or has every major food magazine in the country had a cheeseburger on the cover as we gear up for summer? One of the magazines asked the question, “Did you have a happy meal?” and goes on to report how McDonald’s had experienced a state of…

Who does not love won tons? These ethereal purse like morsels of food first appeared in the Pearl River Delta port of Guangzhou during the Tang Dynasty around 618-907 A.D. Then they followed the Cantonese diaspora, drifting east to Hong Kong. If you are not yet familiar, but do know…

When I was a young child our home was a solid, two story, wooden structure perched on a sloping, gentle hill near a lake in Northern Illinois. We had all four seasons and we had them in full measure in that geography. Equal to them was my father. His nature…

Spring is the prime time of year when the wild mushrooms known as morels are shooting up in one more example of Mother Nature’s urging, beckoning, tantalizing and delivering magic. And though we are now past that month there are dried versions that can still be very nice.  When the…

When I was about six years of age our paternal grandmother we grandkids all called, “Gra” took me to a fancy restaurant in the city of Chicago. I was excited by the menu. I ordered the Sirloin Steak Haché. I was absolutely crestfallen when what arrived looked like a damn…

We opened a cooking school in the Wynwood Arts part of Miami. Many people assume it is a school for professional types that are seeking a degree in cuisine. Nope. That is not what sparked me into seeking a way to do this. I have never been a student at…

There are ingredients that are so closely associated with a geography they seem inextricably tied to them and their terroir. The great Georgia born writer Flannery O’ Connor wrote this about the craft of storytelling, “When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs as you do, you…

Those of us who have lived here in South Florida for some time may remember when conch, freshly harvested from the sea was available in the grocery stores and fish markets.  My first recollection of conch was watching young boys pulling them up on to the pier at Higg’s Beach…

We didn’t grow up eating okra. It was not part of the Midwestern table. At least not the ones I was sitting at. It didn’t enter my field of vision until I moved to the sunny southland. And the first time it really made an indelible print on me was…

A friend pointed out that today’s date; 4.20 was perfect timing for my show titled, “Pizza Joints”. It took me a second or two… but now I get it. Heads up! Hit the “Listen” button to hear the remainder. Thanks All! “A Word On Food” airs on WLRN every Saturday…

Almost everything in life seems to have two sides. Its ups and its downs. Love almost inevitably suffers loss. Salt finds its way into the sugar bowl. Men are from Mars and Women from Venus. The apple Eve gave Adam was the fruit that spoiled a Celestial Garden. Where oh…

When I was a little boy I spent a lot of time holding my breath. I was at a difficult age and in a difficult time. Our mother and father had split up. It was a long stretch of confusion. One of the ways I tried to escape it was…

From the Intro: Those among you who speak French or are culinarily ‘in the know’ know that beurre blanc means “white butter”. Beurre blanc is one of the mainstay tools in many chefs repertoire. It is a classic sauce and one cannot know haute cuisine without beurre blanc. I had…

Yes it is that time of the week for my WLRN/NPR radio show… “A Word On Food”. We air it originally on WLRN 91.3 or 91.5 every Saturday around 8:30 a.m. Did you ever think you’d hear ‘Brown Sugar’ on this station? You all know me as the “Word on…

You don’t eat caviar because you’re hungry. But the portion set before us at a dinner in the late 1990’s was capable of staving off a serious quantity of pang. Hit the link to read or listen! My radio show, “A Word On Food” airs originally on WLRN 91.3 and…

Do you love French Onion Soup? We do. Have a look, a listen, a taste. WLRN. ‘A Word On Food’….