Wednesday August 18, 2010
What is the most anticipated fruit of the summer season? The TOMATO!!
And yes it is a fruit not a vegetable. Today, host,
Carole Murko chats with Lawrence Davis-Hollander, author of TOMATO, A Fresh-from-the-Vine Cookbook. Lawrence’s interest in the tomato and, in particular, heirloom tomatoes started at an early age and evolved into his founding the Eastern Native Seed Conservancy - an organization that was dedicated to preserving and eating heirloom varieties. How we wish Heirloom Meals existed when Lawrence’s organization thrived - the synergies and the dinner parties would have been amazing!! WIth that said, Lawrence captures the essence of his work at the seed conservancy and his passion for heirloom tomatoes in his book. It is informative, inspirational, useful and beautiful! Be certain that the Cream of Tomato Soup and the Candied-Tomato Tart with Five-Spiced Hazelnut Crust will be prepared and shared in a future blog post!! Go out and find those heirloom tomatoes, get Lawrence’s book and enjoy eating tomatoes to your heart’s content!!
(Please forgive the quality of the audio - the station has had technical challenges and this was recorded from the live stream from my computer. I don’t know how to edit out the end of the last show - so enjoy the music and wait for my show to start!! The joys of community radio!!)
Wednesday August 11, 2010
What do cow tales and food memories have in common? Well, actually quite a bit!! Host
Carole Murko interviews Christine Lindemer, curator and editor of True Cow Tales, a book of authentic, heart-warming recollections written by the farmer’s themselves. Christine has helped save some of these stories from becoming extinct, much in the same way that Heirloom Meals is doing for recipes. Christine grew up on a Minnesota dairy farm within a few blocks of her Swedish and German grandmothers. In preparing for the interview she was reminded of her grandmother’s “swedish coffee” - an interesting concoction to be sure!! And now Christine and her husband have their own “connoisseur” apple farm where they also raise belted galloways. Christine’s story is what we aim to capture on Heirloom Meals Radio - one where the unexpected happens - where memories of food and family are dusted off or unleashed - and the keen appreciation of those memories is recognized.
Wednesday August 04, 2010
Let's face it - "heirloom meals" could not have been created if it weren't for heirloom seeds. And today, host Carole Murko interviews Alida Cantor who works at the Chef's Collaborative as the Project Coordinator for the 2010 RAFT heirloom vegetable Grow-Out. Renewing America's Food Traditions is the life "raft" of local, sustainable and historically significant varieties of fruits and vegetables. Alida's work in getting the seeds out to farmers and then the produce into chefs kitchens is a certain way to sustain and renew interest in these heirloom varieties. Top on Carole's list is to find one of those "long pie pumpkins" that Alida mentioned. So listen up - Alida's passion for food, farming and sustainability is contagious - if we all catch her bug our food system might stand a chance!!
Wednesday July 28, 2010
Today Heirloom Meals Radio hosted the Fab 3, also known as the Aronson women.
Leni and her two daughters, Steffi Karp and Lisa Newmann joined Carole for a hour long celebration of their family's Jewish-American food heritage complete with noodleful secrets and U.F.F.O. (Unidentified Flying Food Objects aka "hovering" food) tales. Today's show was an excellent reminder of the power of sharing meals together as a family and how our relationships with food and each other can continue to impact lives positively and deliciously. Leni imparted some wisdom that, "A guest is a gift from God!" so keep your ears, mouths and hearts open as you listen in on this fabulous Heirloom Meals chat.
Wednesday July 21, 2010
Nothing beats a Montini sister's story, period. That conclusion we came to long before today's radio show which featured the local tales and memories of Donna Kresiak and Dale DeVarrenes, who also happen to be two of Carole's good friends. Growing up in what has been deemed the Little Italy neighborhood of of Lee, Massachusetts, Donna and Dale grew up making food a family affair- the likes of which Heirloom Meals has yet to hear of. If you look up 'homemade' in the dictionary you are likely to find a picture of the Montini family who boasted their own grappa, wine, vinegar, sausage, preserves, salami; the list goes on and on. It should go without saying that an hour with these two women was not enough to share with our listeners the amount of knowledge, laughs and history that they miraculously have between the two of them - but what a wonderful show it was!
Wednesday July 14, 2010
Today on Heirloom Meals Radio, 97.7 FM WBCR-LP Great Barrington, Carole reminisced with the author of "Born Round," Frank Bruni, about the virtues and vices of growing up in an Italo-American household during the 70's. Describing food as the greatest currency, Frank shared with our listeners a wealth of memories that highlighted the immigrant ideologies that kept him well-fed, well-mannered and well-rounded, at times, to a fault. We encourage you to both listen in and turn the page to Frank's delightful and genuine experience as a boy with a ferocious appetite and a family who wouldn't take "No" for an answer.
