A recent visit to Skylight Books on Vermont yielded a new treasure: the premier copy of Edible Los Angeles, a full-color, quarterly journal celebrating the joys of local food culture. It is the latest addition to a larger web of publications celebrating locality and gastronomy all over North America. (www.ediblecommunities.com)
As can be expected with any initial outing, some of the writing was spotty and over-written, but some was absolutely thrilling.
The journal features a comprehensive list of all the certified farmer's markets in the area, interviews with local chefs (Josiah Citrin for this outing), and a beautiful excerpt from Patricia Kindienst's book "The Earth Knows My Name" an exploration of immigrant culture and food production. I ordered the whole book right away.
Another worthwhile feature was an article on the latest Farm Bill, an immense piece of legislation that comes around every 5 years or so and effects nearly every facet of US food production. Its nice to read about heirloom tomatoes and finding good manure, but understanding the deeper policy stories behind what we eat is important too. Bravo to Edible LA for covering this topic!
Of course, there are recipes, restaurant reviews, interesting foodish tidbits as well.
You can download an E-Copy of the magazine here:
http://www.ediblelosangeles.com/issues/Edible_Los_Angeles-Summer_2008.pdf
In the meantime, don't forget to stop off at Skylight.
Have fun!
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