Food

Discover the best food, farms, and dining in the Hudson Valley, Berkshires, and Litchfield Hills. Rural Intelligence shares local restaurant reviews, seasonal recipes, and stories celebrating regional flavor.

Food

Simple Spring Pasta to Follow a Rare Dinner Out

Berkshire native Alana Chernila, local politician, mother of two, and author of the new cookbook, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making (Clarkson Potter), dispenses change and cooking ideas at the Great Barrington Farmers’ Market. She shares her peak-of-the-season recipes with Rural Intelligence to help

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Food

AgriCulture: Garlic — From Cultivation to Revolution

AgriCulture bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week, Peter writes: My grandmother in Wales always insisted, with great disdain, that eating garlic was “vulgar,” which was in those days a generally held opinion in Britain. So finding myself at the

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Food

The Matchbox Café Strikes the Right Chord in Rhinebeck

If you find yourself heading north on Route 9 just below Rhinebeck and you’re feeling hungry, do yourself a favor and stop at The Matchbox Café. But be warned: don't blink or you will miss the diminutive Café, housed in a little stone cottage, less than a

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Food

AgriCulture: Making Book

AgriCulture bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week, Peter writes: From time to time over the past three years, Mark and I have gotten very kind encouragement from readers of our bulletin, the kindest remark being: “You should really write

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Food

Radish Butter and Wordsworth

Berkshire native Alana Chernila, local politician, mother of two, and author of the new cookbook, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making (Clarkson Potter), dispenses change and cooking ideas at the Great Barrington Farmers' Market. She shares her peak-of-the-season recipes with Rural Intelligence to

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Food

AgriCulture: The Rod, the Staff, and the Magic Wand

AgriCulture bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week, Mark writes: For a number of unfortunate reasons, I’ve heard the 23rd Psalm a great deal lately, most recently last Friday morning at a cousin’s funeral. I have nothing against

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Food

Rhubarb Cinnamon Polenta Cake, with Thanks to Nigel Slater

Berkshire native Alana Chernila, local politician, mother of two, and author of the new cookbook, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making (Clarkson Potter), dispenses change and peak-of-the-season cooking ideas at the Great Barrington Farmers' Market. Lately she has been devouring Nigel Slater'

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Food

Cross Roads Food Shop is Hillsdale's New Hot Spot

Chef David Wurth has been living and cooking long enough in the Berkshires and Hudson Valley to know that a successful business must have crossover appeal. With the Cross Roads Food Shop, he has created the quintessential rural restaurant--a neighborhood hangout by day, destination dining by night--that attracts locals and

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Food

AgriCulture: The Secret Language of Farms

AgriCulture bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week, Peter writes: We have discovered that the farm world has a language all its own. Before starting the farm more than 11 years ago we were not much further along in farm

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Food

Ramp, Asparagus, and Ricotta Frittata, and an Apology

Berkshire native Alana Chernila, local politician, mother of two, and author of the new cookbook, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making (Clarkson Potter), dispenses change and cooking ideas at the Great Barrington Farmers' Market. She shares her peak-of-the-season recipes, like this frittata that

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Food

AgriCulture: The Farmer's Role in Feeding the Poor

AgriCulture bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week, Mark writes: I’m not usually a Wall Street Journal reader, but yesterday on the subway a nearby passenger’s paper caught my eye with an article entitled “From the Field to

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Food

Alana Chernila: The Homemade Pantry from a Homegrown Gal

The best very best trips to the farmers’ markets are expeditions of discovery. There, amidst the familiar greens, beans, and tomatoes, sits a knobby root vegetable that you may have heard of – or even enjoyed in a restaurant – but you have no idea of what to do with it, much

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