Luis Egidio Meléndez: Still Life of Oranges, Watermelon, a Pot, and Boxes of Cake, ca. 1760 The thorn-like spines on the stems nicked me. I had no idea orange trees bore thorns, like the crown of Christ on the cross. And like Christ on the cross, I bled. Sucking my finger, I yelped, and Daddy … More Oranges, Florida’s Gold
Florida experienced a “gold rush” almost as soon as the first Spanish soldier spit out an orange seed and kept marching through the palmetto and myrtle oak in 1513. It’s no mystery as to why California and Florida became dominant citrus-growing regions. Moors (Arabs) ruled Spain for over 800 years, and citrus – particularly oranges … More The Second Gold Rush: Citrus Crate Labels
No, here I’m not celebrating Julian Fellowes’s TV series, “The Gilded Age.” I’ll confess something right off the bat: I watched only a few episodes. Why? The story of that tumultuous time is actually more interesting than fiction. First of all, Mark Twain coined the phrase, “The Gilded Age,” in a satirical novel meant to … More The Gilded Age in Florida: A Few Words about the Flaglers and their Food
Take a girl with an iffy start in life. Mix in wanderlust and cooking. And lots of books. Add a dollop of yearning for home and belonging. Knead in a pinch of self-discovery. Let rise and ripen. The result is Cynthia D. Bertelsen’s Stoves & Suitcases: Searching for Home in the World’s Kitchens, a reflective … More “Stoves & Suitcases” Book Trailer!
When I think of the writer Ernest Hemingway, for some reason I think of fish and whiskey and meat dripping fat onto an open fire. Hemingway ate all those things, and more. Proof lies in The Hemingway Cookbook (Boreth, 1998), on sale in the wonderful gift shop behind the Hemingway House in Key West. There’s … More In Ernest Hemingway’s Key West Kitchen
Just a note – life’s busy – to share the shortlist for The Gourmand Awards. “What is that,” you might ask? Here’s their take on it: “The Gourmand Awards are the major Food Culture event in the world. They started in 1995 for cookbooks and wine books, at Frankfurt Book Fair. They now include all … More THE GOURMAND AWARDS
I didn’t know it then, but when I was much – heck, I’ll be really honest here and say a lot – younger, I began participating in a grand social experiment, one that I understand more with each passing year. Given my nature, the experiment naturally involved food. And that experiment began with a road … More The Food of Florida: A Grand and Ongoing Experiment