I do read books, plenty of them. My preferred are Fearless teen-lit paperbacks, graphic novels by Brad Meltzer, and mysteries by Brit Elizabeth George. Oh, and community cookbooks.

Food, good food, is the unification measure this country needs. When you’re swapping recipes or have biscuits in your mouth, who has time for harsh diatribes or mean-spirited political attacks?

Are folks in this area leading the food and dining trends, or just cooking right up to the cutting edge? Either way, the best cookbooks released this year from publishers near and far celebrate the foods we love right here—and ...

With apologies to the Florida Orange Growers, I humbly suggest the slogan, “Moonshine. It’s not just for getting tore up anymore.” I’m addressing the Ole Smoky Distillery, Tennessee’s first legal moonshine producer. Not that they’re really going to need a ...

A few weekends ago, my mom, who lives in my hometown of Williamsburg, Va., fixed us this wonderful minestrone, light on salt, long on flavor, before my sister and I left for my class reunion. Inspired by the vegetable-laden goodness, ...

At most of the places I frequent, the servers don’t let on, but I know. I’m a pain. I’m “that person,” the one who never just orders the #1 combo, or the chef’s special, or says, “Give me what he’s ...

In a matter of minutes, Stacy Varon has me thinking anyone could take up this community gardening for the less privileged—would enjoy it, might even love it. She’s alight with happiness at the prospect. And not just for the Farragut ...

In gardening, as in other food matters, there is something to be said for the lackadaisical, unresearched, no-preconceptions approach. There’s something to be said, but it’s not anything positive.

Kevin Bradley is not just a genius artist/social commentator and co-owner of Yee-Haw Industries hand-set letterpress. These days, he’s got a second identity that involves kimchi, that traditional Korean fermented dish.

Siam Watsanserekul, the owner of Bangkok Tokyo, is bilingual, but Thai is his first language; mine is suburban American. So when I stopped in a few months after the restaurant’s late winter opening, it took pantomime, broad smiles on both ...

I guess in this jumbled, contradictory, but heartfelt mess I call my personal preferences, it only makes sense I would like it when restaurants change it up—and when they stay the same.

I was never really the school club secretary type: too antsy. These past couple of months, though, I’ve become the one who notes duly on two topics dear to our close-linked community: biscuits and bacon.

I didn’t set out to be the kind of mother who saddles her children with her unfulfilled goals and unmet potential. I’ve never wanted either girl to, say, become a doctor because I was an English major, nor do I ...

There are things food writers in their right minds and based in the South should just not own up to in print. And this is one of them: I don’t particularly care about... biscuits.

Last year, as the economy tanked and discretionary income with it, we turned to cookbooks that reminded us that the big, shiny things in the kitchen were for more than resting to-go menus on; and that there’s a reason they ...