Spring 2012
If all the hoopla surrounding “The Hunger Games” premiere got you wondering what you would eat if you were trapped in a dystopian hellscape, Flavor has got you covered. Inside this issue (the timing is purely accidental! Or perhaps we are secretly marketing geniuses?) local foragers show you the culinary delights that await you in the forest if—like Katniss Everdeen—you just know what to look for. While morels are king of the woods, the earth offers up far more than mushrooms. Don’t just wander and nibble, however: you need to learn from experts what is safe to eat and what isn’t. You’ll find them on page 22.
Everyone loves spring, but it’s inordinately thrilling for us (and our farmer friends) because it means the growing season starts in earnest. We await the first local asparagus and peas with all the ardor and anxiousness of an autograph hunter at any movie premiere. (And Molly McDonald Peterson, our director of photography, can finally stop fretting about how to shoot around all the bare branches and brown leaves.)
Now is just the right time to start planting your own vegetable garden. You’ve never really tasted a tomato or a cucumber until you’ve grown it yourself (the heirloom varieties taste best, because they were grown for their flavor rather than girth and uniformity). So we’re delighted to have Kathy Jentz, the editor of Washington Gardener magazine, showing us the ropes. Eating locally sometimes mean straight from the backyard!
One more thing: We failed to thank Buc~a~Buc Farm for lending us a fluffy cover model for the Early Spring issue. We are so grateful for their help and their adorable flock, which was featured in our chicken and egg story. A belated but heartfelt thanks to Cindy Lou Willson and her gorgeous chicks!
Melissa Harris and Pamela Hess
