Bonny Wolf

Why You Shouldn't Wrinkle Your Nose At Fermentation

Bonny Wolf — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 08:57:00 +0000

It's delicious, it's nutritious and it's basically rotten. Fermentation is a hot culinary trend, and, as Weekend Edition food commentator Bonny Wolf explains, the preservation process gives food a flavor unique to time and place.

People you know may intentionally be growing bacteria in their homes — on food, outside the refrigerator. And they are doing it to make food safe, and nutritious.

They are doing what cooks have always done: fermenting food.

For decades, we have fought against bacteria in our food.

Oysters Rebound In Popularity With Man-Made Bounty

Bonny Wolf — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 10:37:00 +0000

In Colonial Virginia, oysters were plentiful; Capt. John Smith said they lay "thick as stones." But as the wild oyster harvest has shrunk, Weekend Edition food commentator Bonny Wolf says the market for farm-raised oysters is booming.

The local food movement is expanding from fertile fields to brackish waters.

Along the rivers and bays of the East Coast, where wild oysters have been decimated by man and nature, harvests of farm-raised oysters are increasing by double digits every year.

On Your Plate In 2013, Expect Kimchi And Good-For-You Greens

Bonny Wolf — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 10:12:00 +0000

Weekend Edition food commentator Bonny Wolf offers her predictions of what we'll eat in the new year.

Asia is the new Europe. It's been gradual: from pan-Asian, Asian fusion and Asian-inspired to just deciding among Vietnamese, Korean, Tibetan and Burmese for dinner.

Should we have the simple food of the Thai plateau or the hot, salty, sour foods of southern Thailand?

The new flavors of the year won't come from the kitchens of chefs trained at Le Cordon Bleu. More likely, they'll trickle up from Asian street foods.

Wild Turkeys Gobble Their Way To A Comeback

Bonny Wolf — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 10:45:00 +0000

Wild turkeys and buffalo have more in common than you might guess. Both were important as food for Native Americans and European settlers. And both were nearly obliterated.

There were a couple of reasons for the turkey's decline. In the early years of the U.S., there was no regulation, so people could shoot as many turkeys as they liked. And their forest habitat was cut down for farmland and heating fuel. Without trees, turkeys have nowhere to roost. So they began to disappear.

By the early 1900s, there were only about 30,000 wild turkeys left in the whole country.

To Find Truly Wild Rice, Head North To Minnesota

Bonny Wolf — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 10:23:00 +0000

Harvest season is upon us, but in the U.S.'s northern lakes, it's not just the last tomatoes and first pumpkins. Through the end of this month, canoes will glide into lakes and rivers for the annual gathering of wild rice, kick started with the popular Wild Rice Festival in Roseville, Minn., on Saturday.

Wild rice - an aquatic grass that bears a resemblance to the edible grain - has been the center of the Ojibway Indian diet and culture for centuries.

Since When Does Summer Taste Like Doughnuts?

Bonny Wolf — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 10:08:00 +0000

I get saltwater taffy. You're at an ocean that is made of salt water. But doughnuts?

I'm clearly missing something, because many summer communities have doughnut shops, often open just for the season.

Popcorn Gets Its Moment On The Red Carpet

Bonny Wolf — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:29:00 +0000

Popcorn and movies (or the Oscars) go together like Batman and Robin. And nowadays, options stretch far beyond plain or buttered.

Food critics call one brand the Rolls Royce and another the Prada. They are designer labels for the simplest, most American snack food.

Gourmet popcorn was named one of the top five trends to watch at the specialty food trade show this winter. There's popcorn covered in chocolate, infused with bourbon, seasoned with curry.

Moscato Madness: The Dessert Wine's Sweet Surge

Bonny Wolf — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:57:00 +0000

In the U.S., wine drinking has held its own during these hard economic times, and even grown in some unlikely corners. Moscato, for example, the Italian dessert wine, has gone from relative obscurity to the toast of the town.

Hip-hop singer Drake, in his song "Do It Now," gives it a shout-out. It's also the wine Kanye West orders for special parties.

Artisanal And Authentic, The Flavors Of The New Year

Bonny Wolf — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 10:40:00 +0000

Come 2012, there's a new food vocabulary: authentic, craft, small batch, artisanal, rustic and, of course, local. It's the opposite of processed, mass produced and factory farmed.

What might be called urban neo-ruralism has apartment dwellers canning tomatoes, keeping bees and churning butter.

The small farmer is the new gastronomic superhero, sourced on restaurant menus. Independent butcher shops are opening across the country with unfamiliar cuts like Denver steak, petite tender, flat iron.