Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Nov 6, 2011, 8:43 am
Just a quick note - this new flipcard format is especially good for an archived blog like Basic Eating!  I hope this enables you to take a quicker look around and learn about lots of different foods, book reviews, and thoughts about environmental eating.
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 13, 2011, 8:59 am
Hello everyone, I've come to realize that it's much harder to shut down a blog than to start one.  Maybe because starting takes effort whereas ending can happen through effort or lack of effort.  I'm afraid that I've lapsed into the latter these past nine months or so, with a smattering of posts.Â...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 16, 2011, 8:22 am
Going organic isn’t the only way to save the planet and eat healthier. Eating local can bring fresher food to your fridge, minimize your food’s carbon footprint, support farmers in your area, and preserve farmland. Of course, you probably won’t be able to eat ALL local ingredients day in and d...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 4, 2011, 9:17 am
On occasion, I've written posts about simple recipes or foods that are particular to one region or another. My limited effort has been happily eclipsed by a Wiki project called "MyCityCuisine.org."  This site is impressive and has information about many obscure and wonderful dishes that you might ...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jun 5, 2011, 10:27 am
Those of you who follow this blog know that the food system is incredibly complicated in many ways.  One frustration (albeit one that I haven't written very much about) is the increasing use of crops for ethanol.  This "sustainable" solution has already resulted in spiking corn prices and deprivat...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jun 3, 2011, 8:38 am
Here it is!  After a long flirtation with the ancient rulers of Egypt, the USDA has come up with a new graphical representation of what foods and how much of those foods you should be eating.  This was released yesterday after many months of secrecy.  I have to say, it looks an awful lot like tho...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Apr 22, 2011, 6:20 pm
I don't know too much about them, but I've heard that they are traditionally eaten on Good Friday (that would be today).  Interestingly, some sources claim that they predate Christianity, and that the cross is in fact a Greek symbol.  Whatever the case may be, we came across these while exploring ...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Apr 3, 2011, 5:55 pm
Sarah and I celebrated our six-month wedding anniversary yesterday by splurging on a deluxe French meal at Bistro du Midi, a relative newcomer to the Boston restaurant scene.  I decided to try the "authentic" bouillabaisse, which did not contain a one of the five fish laid out by the Marseilles Bou...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Mar 20, 2011, 6:22 pm
After a nearly six month hiatus from this blog, I've been thinking about posting again.  The first day of spring felt like an auspicious occasion, as the gloom and gray of New England winter is gradually giving over to crocus and daffodil and the promise of a real spring! Sarah and I also took this...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Nov 8, 2010, 12:01 am
I have been writing this blog for a little over two years, including through some very momentous and important times in my life.  Through passion and at times a certain tenacity, I've posted around 530 posts exploring what it means to eat simply and possibly sustainably.  Recently, through the nat...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Nov 2, 2010, 10:07 pm
France may be a vegan's nightmare, but there are some really good eats to be had.  Now that I've been back in the United States a little over a week, I can reminisce about five foods I enjoyed that were very, very French.  Cheese, wine, and chocolate mousse are excepted from this list since they a...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Oct 28, 2010, 12:01 am
One thing we knew for sure going to Paris is that we didn't want to dine at musty fusty multi-Michelin starred restaurants.  Yes, yes I know some are surely stellar, but it just wasn't our scene.  In fact, we didn't even want to make any reservations, period.  So when we came across Clotilde's bo...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Oct 25, 2010, 12:01 am
Sarah and I are back from our honeymoon in France, with the added excitement of general strikes and scattered fuel shortages, considered the most disruptive since the 1960's.  While many of the monuments were closed, solidarity didn't seem to extend to the restaurants, bistrots, brasseries, cafes, ...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Oct 6, 2010, 12:01 am
At first, I thought I might actually get a post out this week.  But the small matter of a wedding and a honeymoon (starting today) have definitely superseded the blog!  We are off to Paris to enjoy the sites great and small, not the least of which will be markets, fromageries, charcuteries, boulan...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Sep 29, 2010, 12:01 am
If you can learn to make dal, you can seriously consider becoming a vegan.  And trust me, making dal is definitely within grasp of pretty much anybody who can boil water.  I'm only going to include the most basic recipe here, but variations are endless and this is a great meatless main dish. Histo...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Sep 22, 2010, 12:01 am
When you think about it, cole slaw is one of the most versatile salads/condiments out there.  You've probably had a lot of cole slaw in your life and none of it is ever quite the same. History: At the most basic, cole slaw is shredded cabbage with some sort of vinegar or mayo-based sauce.  The wo...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Sep 16, 2010, 12:01 am
You can use all sorts of beans to make baked beans, with the obvious point that they need to at least be dried beans. Dark colored beans such as black beans or kidney beans just don't seem like they'd be right, although I can't exactly tell you why. The first two below, you can find anywhere. The...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Sep 15, 2010, 12:01 am
We've had a cold snap this past week in New England, which is a good reminder that fall and winter really aren't that far away. So what better time to start thinking about baked beans! This recipe will keep the oven running for three hours so doubles as a decent way to heat the house on a cold day...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Sep 9, 2010, 12:01 am
With something like 7,500 varieties to choose from, how are you going to select apples for your applesauce?  It's hard to go wrong, although if you use a lot of tart apples like Granny Smith, you will probably need to add sugar.  With some guidance from PickYourOwn.org, here are five varieties tha...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Sep 8, 2010, 12:01 am
For the next six months, roughly, I've challenged myself to come up with a literal alphabet soup of Basic Eating recipes.  Each of these is a framework for turning a basic ingredient into a vital condiment or main dish, usually with ease.  If you're new to the blog, make sure you click through the...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Sep 1, 2010, 12:01 am
Happy September!  The character of the blog is about to change quite a bit, for the next six months at least.  Why?  I'm getting married for one thing, a month from tomorrow in fact!  We will be going to France (yes, L.T.!) for our honeymoon, to enjoy some amazing food, among other things.  Whi...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 31, 2010, 12:01 am
This book was my indispensable helper for writing about wild edibles the other week, and is really a fun field guide.  Peter Del Tredici takes an almost entirely different view from the standard "invasive species are bad" mantra.  He observes, truly enough, that the invasion has already occurred a...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 30, 2010, 12:01 am
Ascorbic acid, much more commonly known as vitamin C, was a common feature of many of the wild edibles I wrote about last week.  The name ascorbic acid pretty much explains how this vitamin was discovered - "not scurvy."  It has been known throughout human societies for thousands of years that cer...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 27, 2010, 12:01 am
(This post is part of a week long blog-a-thon to celebrate Massachusetts Farmers Market Week.  This blogathon is sponsored by In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens; please also consider a donation to Mass Farmers Markets. The organization’s donation link is here.) For the last post of this week, I'm g...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 26, 2010, 12:01 am
(This post is part of a week long blog-a-thon to celebrate Massachusetts Farmers Market Week.  This blogathon is sponsored by In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens; please also consider a donation to Mass Farmers Markets. The organization’s donation link is here.) When I wrote the bulk of this post in...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 25, 2010, 12:01 am
(This post is part of a week long blog-a-thon to celebrate Massachusetts Farmers Market Week.  This blogathon is sponsored by In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens; please also consider a donation to Mass Farmers Markets. The organization’s donation link is here.) From front yard to back yard, a crop ...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 24, 2010, 12:01 am
(This post is part of a week long blog-a-thon to celebrate Massachusetts Farmers Market Week.  This blogathon is sponsored by In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens; please also consider a donation to Mass Farmers Markets. The organization’s donation link is here.) For today I don't need to go more tha...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 23, 2010, 12:01 am
I'm participating in a blogathon this week, hosted by Loving Local: Celebrating the Flavors of Massachusetts.  This blogathon coincides with Massachusetts Farmers Market Week, and many of the other participating blogs will be writing about their farmers markets and/or things they can do with the pr...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 20, 2010, 12:01 am
The first European city I ever visited on my own was Venice, and I fell in love with this pedestrian paradise.  I'd vaguely heard of the Bellini prior to visiting Venice, but was much more familiar with the much more common Mimosa.  Anyway, I didn't spend the $20+ dollars for a Bellini at Harry's ...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 19, 2010, 12:01 am
It was easy to write about the bizarre donut peach for one of my first Heirloom Thursdays post, almost a year ago.  But there are close to 2,000 varieties of peaches out there!  The peaches that have been rolling into the Brookline farmer's market this year haven't been very well labeled but they ...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 18, 2010, 12:01 am
If I'd written this post even a year ago, this grape variety wouldn't have existed.  The name wouldn't have, at least.  I hope I've intrigued you; read on! History: Glera has been grown in the Veneto, an area of Italy north of Trieste (and not so far from Venice, of course) for quite some time, p...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 17, 2010, 12:01 am

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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 16, 2010, 12:01 am
It's been an interesting few days living with this pine mouth syndrome, which seems to have reached its peak but has been very slowly tailing off.  Problem number one is that the syndrome has no effect whatsoever on hunger, so I've found myself very much wanting to eat.  So here are some of my obs...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 13, 2010, 7:22 am
I woke up this morning afflicted by the dreaded pine mouth.  It took me awhile to figure this out, including some sleuthing within my own blog, where I found this within my discussion of pine nuts: "There are several reported cases of a strange bitter metallic taste occurring 1-2 days after eating ...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 12, 2010, 12:01 am
One year ago today I wrote about white mustard.  The day before that, I wrote about red cabbage, which is actually the closer relative to this plant.  Yesterday I had to spice up my cafeteria-provided lunch sandwich with a packet of "mustard" which might have something akin to real mustard in it, ...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 11, 2010, 12:01 am
In and amongst all the weekends I've been working, Sarah and I have been finalizing our plans for our honeymoon in France.  Yes, we'll go to museums and stuff, but the really exciting thing is the food.  Especially, the cheese.  So as a prelude to a stinky cheese adventure, I ...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 10, 2010, 12:01 am
Okay, so I made it to one farmers market last week, at least. To Bostonians and non-, Jamaica Plain is known as the grungy melting pot of the city.  In this diverse neighborhood, you will find Boston's only food co-op (Harvest Co-op), as well as a more organic endeavor, City Feed & Su...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 9, 2010, 12:01 am
So much for best intentions.  My week of explorations of the local farmers market scene came up pretty much a bust.  This is due to the one flaw in the otherwise excellent farmers market system: heat.  Humid, moist, muggy, cloying, oppressive heat.  The kind of heat that makes fr...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Aug 2, 2010, 12:01 am
This week (actually, starting yesterday) is the annual National Farmers' Market Week here in the United States.  I intend to spend the week visiting various markets in the Boston area.  This also provides me a good excuse to take some time off the blog as I work off my massive sleep de...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 29, 2010, 10:09 pm
It's hard to believe, but Boston seems to be thinking seriously of catching up with the likes of San Francisco (The Ferry Building), Philadelphia (Reading Terminal), Pittsburgh (The Strip), Los Angeles, etc.  The news that Boston plans to build a public food market to feature local and arti...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 29, 2010, 12:01 am
As I mentioned in a comment last week, this blog is a continual process of learning.  And so it is with cucumbers.  I was glancing back at my original post, from March 2009, where I made the statement "cucumbers are around all year."  Not so, of course - unless we're discussing th...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 28, 2010, 12:01 am
My first and only complaint about this book is that the title is completely misleading.  It is clearly the authors' belief that a "small plot" is a 400 square foot garden (and the book has plans for up to 3,000 square foot gardens!).  These are clearly not city dwellers.  My garde...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 27, 2010, 12:01 am
It's fitting that the 500th post on Basic Eating, which seems like some sort of major milestone, would feature grapes.  The first design of the blog had grapes on the logo, and my Twitter page has them in the background.  It's a bit of a stretch to say that the blog was inspired by...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 26, 2010, 12:01 am
This winter, we were confronted with a whole lot of potatoes, courtesy of Boston Organics.  We used as many as we could, but inevitably the pantry began to fill with questionable specimens.  Some of these sprouted large stalks about six inches long, with some withered-looking leaves clingi...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 23, 2010, 12:01 am
Every morning on my bike ride to work, I pass houses displaying their shorn grass, then houses with mulch-coated dirt garnishing their driveways.  Shortly I get to something different - a few houses whose occupants, whether through neglect or intention, have allowed their chicory to grow rampan...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 22, 2010, 12:01 am
The tomatoes aren't just coming, they're here!  Each week at our farmer's market, more and more tomatoes are making their appearance.  This week, one of the more unusual and tasty varieties was the Cherokee purple. History: Like most heirlooms, this one has quite an interesti...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 21, 2010, 12:01 am
Over the weekend, we headed down to Connecticut for a barbeque with my sister and her boyfriend.  On the way, we stopped at a lavender "farm" which had been touted by the Boston Globe and some other sources.  This turns out to be a dairy farm (Fort Hill Farm) with extensive gardens propaga...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 20, 2010, 12:01 am

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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 19, 2010, 12:01 am
Our tomato plant has a few little nubbins which might turn into actual tomatoes, and the deluge is starting to hit the farmer's markets.  So now seems a good time to write about lycopene, which I've written about before but always deserves a second look. Abundant Sources: The most well...
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Jeremy Warner posted an article on Basic Eating - Jul 16, 2010, 12:01 am
There doesn't seem like much more New England than cod, and this has certainly been true of the hospital cafeteria, where cod seems to be offered at least every other day. So why is this emblematic fish so firmly in Seafood Watch's AVOID list? History: Cod used to be one of the most abund...
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