Macaroni and cheese, pulled pork and collard greens from Mama Lo's Barbecue in Great Barrington sit on an outdoor table in the sun. Photo by Kate Abbott

Food

Here are the Hill Country Observer’s articles about food, listed from newest to oldest. We look into local food and foodways — farms and farmers, local markets and restaurants, food security, native plants and more.

  • Issue:

    Farm-to-plate’s newest frontier

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    By JOHN TOWNES Contributing writer   HUDSON, N.Y.The ideal of farm-fresh ingredients has taken the restaurant business by storm over the past decade or so, but now the newly reopened stainless-steel diner on Hudson’s main street is taking the farm-to-table concept to a new level. At Grazin’, as the classic 1940s diner is now known, read more

    Farm-to-plate’s newest frontier
  • Issue:

    Liquid gold – restaurant oil as fuel

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    Use of restaurant oil as fuel sets off ‘grease wars’ around region By JUDY BERNSTEINContributing writer QUEENSBURY, N.Y.The barrel of used cooking oil behind a local restaurant wasn’t much to look at. But it was enough to light up the face of Eric Ovitt, a driver for one of several cooking-oil collection companies fighting over read more

    Liquid gold – restaurant oil as fuel
  • Issue:

    Specializing in flavor

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    Saratoga’s newest foodie destination is ‘tasting gallery’ for oil, vinegars By STACEY MORRIS Contributing writer SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.It’s like a wine-tasting emporium or a microbrewery that allows customers to sample and savor before they buy. But at Saratoga Olive Oil Co., the tastings are of extra-virgin olive oils, vinegars, salts and related products. The store, read more

    Specializing in flavor
  • Issue:

    The landscape is the inspiration

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    By STACEY MORRIS Contributing writer CAMBRIDGE, N.Y.The open fields and rolling hills of Rensselaer and Washington counties have provided inspiration to artists for generations, and every October for the past 10 years, local artists have banded together to give something back. The annual Landscapes for Landsake art show and sale, scheduled this year for Oct. read more

    The landscape is the inspiration
  • Issue:

    Equinox Farms responds to food safety and leafy greens

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    Small producers skeptical of push for national rules By CRAIG IDLEBROOK Contributing writer SHEFFIELD, Mass.As a veteran grower of leafy green vegetables, Ted Dobson has a hard time seeing the need for a new food-safety regimen being pushed by the federal government. For nearly three decades, Dobson has been producing lettuce, salad mixes and other read more

    Equinox Farms responds to food safety and leafy greens
  • Issue:

    Reviving a cheese-making culture

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    Farmstead producers restore a tradition that faded a century ago By STACEY MORRIS Contributing writer WEST PAWLET, Vt. In 1864, as the Civil War was nearing its end, Consider Stebbins Bardwell set up a cheese-making co-op at his farm along the New York border. The co-op collected cows’ milk from area farms and made it read more

    Reviving a cheese-making culture
  • Issue:

    Markets with a mission

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    Food co-ops expand their reach – and goals – around the region They did far better than that. By the time of its official grand opening on July 23, the co-op, with its old-fashioned barrels of bulk goods and signature 1950s appliances, had signed up 213 members. Those members paid either an annual $20 fee read more

    Markets with a mission
  • Issue:

    Pushing the frontier of wine making

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    Local flavors are priority for vintners in Columbia County By NED OLIVER Contributing writer GHENT, N.Y. Carlo DeVito’s first experience making wine wasn’t exactly encouraging. “My first batch was undrinkable,” he recalled. But from that inauspicious beginning, DeVito and his wife, Dominique, kept tinkering and tweaking to become award-winning vintners. They founded Columbia County’s first read more

    Pushing the frontier of wine making