Hamutal never planned to become obsessed with food, much less with sustainable food. It crept up on her when she wasn’t looking.
At first it was pure self-defense: her parents, though well intentioned, had no idea what to do in a kitchen, and so she had to learn a bit about cooking, sheerly for the sake of her sanity. Chopping things, it turned out, was great for soothing the savage teenager. Skip ahead several years, and she’d figured out that making your own jam from local organic berries was even grander.
Love of food led to love cooking, led to love of ingredients, led to love of markets, led to love of farmers, led to love of land. Hamutal is profoundly convinced that sustainability and pleasure are the best of friends, and tries to write about both of these in equal measure.
She can be reached at hamutal (at) green prophet (dot) com.
Happy Earth Day! (Though technically yesterday, most of Israel is celebrating today.) Celebrations require desserts, we’re quite convinced, and since the citrus season is winding down we thought we’d talk about our absolute favourite thing to do with a lemon….
This is about the time of year where we are all just about fed up. The weather is by turns glum, stormy, angry, and generally ill-tempered, there’s little of the new season‘s growth to enjoy yet, and reserves of patience…
Kibbeh is one of the stalwarts of Levantine cooking, and comes in as many versions as there are towns or people who make it. Loosely, kibbeh refers to a mix of burghul (bulgur), ground lamb, and spices. It can be…
Last week with our recipe for the Syrian dip muhamarra, we embarked on a perilous culinary adventure: trying to recreate authentic versions of classic Middle Eastern dishes. Why perilous? Well, my grandmother and grandfather couldn’t, between the two of them,…
Winter cooking is often pantry cooking. When the rain is coming down at a 45° angle, the last thing most of us want to do is brave the elements to make a grocery run. It’s handy to have a stash…
With winter upon us, now is the perfect time to get cozy with a pile of books. The latest in our eco-reads book review series is a great food and cooking reference – the Whole Foods Companion. Whole Foods Companion…
Tomatoes are still, mercifully, quite readily available. Though we hate to think about it, this won’t always be the case. In just a few short weeks, tomatoes—at least the good, locally grown varieties—will be gone on winter hiatus. It always…
Slow Food has been garnering lots of attention lately, with an international convention in San Francisco in September and another in Italy just this week. It seems like the perfect time to pull out the Slow Food anthology, this week’s…
Quinoa isn’t just for Passover anymore. Revered by the Incas as sacred, quinoa looks like a grain but is actually a plant related to beets, chard, and spinach. Its tiny seeds cook up into fluffy, nutty goodness in fifteen minutes,…
As you may recall, we recently delved into the wonderful world of cheese-making. And when we did, we told you to save up all that leftover whey, as we’d be featuring it in a recipe sometime soon. Soon, dear cooks…
