From the Publisher & Editor

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010

We are grateful for readers like you who are passionate about local food and sustainable agriculture. We acknowledge and celebrate that the local food movement is made up of people with diverse perspectives: Flavor’s readers include vegetarians and hunters, gourmet-restaurant patrons and off-the-grid homesteaders, hip foodies and traditional home cooks.

Flavor currently has two regular columnists: Joel Salatin and Michael Clune. Columns are like opinion pages, where writers express their (sometimes) unpopular views. Columnists speak for themselves; they are not the “voice” of Flavor.

When we started the magazine, we invited Joel to be a columnist knowing that he is outspoken and often controversial. (Indeed, he describes himself as a Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist-farmer!) We do not agree with him on every issue, but we respect the role he has played in our region’s local food community and appreciate that his writing provokes discussion among both fans and foes that strengthens the sustainable agriculture movement.

Our publishing Joel’s anti-easement column (“Rebel with a Cause: Beware Those Sincere Conservation Easements,” Dec./Jan. 2010) was not a statement of Flavor’s anti-easement stance any more than our publishing an article on Mount Vernon Farm in Sperryville in our first issue (available here) was a statement of Flavor’s pro-easement stance. Flavor has not taken a stance on easements at all. In fact, The Farm at Sunnyside, where our other columnist works, is very happy with its easement.

Joel often collaborates with people and organizations that hold positions different than his own. I (Jennifer) once heard Joel criticize easements at an event sponsored by the very pro-easement Piedmont Environmental Council. And I’m certain that among the thousands of visitors to Polyface Farms are some who disagree with Joel’s theology or his politics. But they are drawn nonetheless to Joel’s vision of pasture-based, multi-species farming.

Some readers feel they can no longer support Flavor. Yet we continue to hold out the hope that members of the local food community will agree to disagree on some issues even as they work together to celebrate and support the farmers, chefs, winemakers, and small-business owners in the Capital foodshed.

Melissa J. Harris & Jennifer Conrad Seidel

a slice of humble pie

Unfortunately, the Dec./Jan. issue went to press with two mistakes on the cover (Marion should be Marian and D.C. should have a second period) and three incorrect page numbers on the table of contents. We regret these errors.

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2010

As we went to press, we were thrilled to hear that chef Mike Lund of Zynodoa (see page 44) was brought in to help prepare President Obama’s first state dinner on November 24. He was invited by White House executive sous chef Tommy Kurpradit, who, like Lund, had previously worked at The Inn at Little Washington. Together with Uday Huja and Rocky Barnette, also former chefs at the inn, they assisted guest chef Marcus Samuelsson of New York City’s Aquavit and White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford. Not surpris- ingly, the dishes served included many items from the White House garden (featured in our Aug./Sept. issue). Also served was Thibaut- Janisson Blanc de Chardonnay Brut (see page 76), made just outside Charlottesville, Virginia.

That wonderful news comes after a somber season. We were deeply saddened to hear of the tragic deaths of two women very active in the Capital foodshed’s local food movement: In October, Kathryn Russell of Majesty Farms in North Garden, Virginia, was killed in a car accident. She was one of the founders of the Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (VICFA) and an advocate for raw milk producers. (She also wrote “Small Farms & Big Govern- ment” in our Winter 2009 issue.) In November, Nori Amaya, co- owner of Coppi’s Organic Restaurant in D.C., was murdered in her home. She owned the U Street restaurant with her brother, Carlos, who has set up a fund to help him continue teaching self-defense classes to women. Our sincere condolences go out to the Russell and Amaya families.

As we get caught up in holiday shopping and meal planning, let us keep in mind that the loved ones we honor at these gatherings are more important than how perfectly prepared the food is.

Melissa J. Harris & Jennifer Conrad Seidel

a slice of humble pie
In “Living by the Work of Their Hands” (Oct./Nov. issue), we said the cheese made at Our Lady of the Angels monastery is dipped into paraffin. In fact, it is dipped into food-grade polymer.