Features

Know your food…and the people who bring it to you. Stay up to date on seasonal dining trends and keep tabs on award-winning restaurants and beer makers.

Archive, Features, Homepage, Mountain Brew, Spring 2017

What’s In A Name

The naming of beer can be a complex matter—as is the process of creating and producing each beer's brand and label.

Hydroponic lettuce at Shelton Family Farm

Archive, Features, Homepage, Winter 2017

The chilly winter nights in Western North Carolina fundamentally change the flavor and texture of greens, making the spinach significantly sweeter. “When you buy spinach in a clamshell in the grocery store from California,” farmer Anna Littman says, “you don’t get those subtle differences.”

Corn from John McEntire's farm in Old Fort, North Carolina

Archive, Features, Holiday 2016, Homepage

Bread and Whiskey

There used to be dozens of crops at Peaceful Valley Farm in Old Fort, alongside a small dairy and sawmill. These days, John McEntire and his family focus most of their attention on two grains, corn and wheat.

A box of baked goods from OWL Bakery in Asheville

Archive, Features, Holiday 2016, Homepage

History in the Oven

OWL (which stands for Old World Levain) has been open to the public only since May, but word has already spread about its commitment to using local ingredients.

Archive, Features, Holiday 2016, Homepage

The Gospel of Grain

There was a time when the mill was the center of a community. Farmers brought grains on horse-drawn wagons to be ground by stones into flour and meal. Neighbors caught up on news while they waited, and everyone went home with enough flour for the week.

Casey McKissick of Foothills Local Meats

Archive, Fall 2016, Features, Homepage

Grass Versus Grain

Once upon a time a trip to the butcher case meant a choice between sirloin or strip streak, chuck roast or round. Today it’s not so simple.

Cows at Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview, North Carolina

Archive, Fall 2016, Features, Homepage

Next Generation

Agriculture is a multigenerational affair at Hickory Nut Gap Farm, which has been in the family for a century. Jamie and Amy Ager have transformed a modest family business into one of the region’s largest suppliers of pasture-raised meat.

Archive, Fall 2016, Features, Homepage

Magic in the Making

“I have a primal love of these mountains,” Ronni Lundy tells me. In her new book she has written a love letter—perhaps a tough-love letter—to the region and its food.  

Archive, Fall 2016, Features, Homepage

Shoulder-to-Waist Eating

By butchering beef at Nightbell, Katie Button saves money, helps farmers, and gets exactly the cuts she wants.

Archive, Features, Homepage, Summer 2016

Leather Britches

Making the bounty of a summer garden last through winter usually involves Mason jars and a water bath. In Appalachia, however, preserving food has often meant not just canning but also drying—and this is especially true of beans.

THE WEEKLY REVEL

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