The Foodist

by Ari LeVaux Sometimes the truth takes a moment to sink in before finally ringing true. Like when Chloe suggested that a sandwich is basically America’s version of sushi. At the time I happily took it as a compliment on the chicken…

by Ari LeVaux Who among us doesn’t have a trick or two up their sleeve for when they make instant ramen? A vegetable or egg in the pot, your special sauce or powder, and if you’ve got some game perhaps a garnish on top. All…

by Ari LeVaux Sometime in the mid-1990s, after a lifetime of servitude to the shriveled heads of garlic that I would bring home from the supermarket, I finally declared myself independent. As a cook and a garlic lover, I would no longer…

by Sheryl Barringer Whether it is enjoyed as creamy milk chocolate truffles, baked in a devilishly dark chocolate cake or even poured as hot cocoa, Americans on average consume almost 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of chocolate in a…

by P.D. Lesko Let's be clear, Restaurant Week is like a Vegas Casino: the House always wins. Over the years, Ann Arbor restaurant owners have pitched "savings" that in one year, in one restaurant, added up to a whopping $.50 cents, when…

by Ari LeVaux After the first big frost of the season, things got real at the farmers market. Buyers arrived, knowing it was our last chance for warm weather crops; I was there for tomatoes, and I felt like a big spender with my…

by Ari LeVaux Thanksgiving marks the start of the winter holidays, and a parallel season of enhanced leftovers consumption. It can be a freewheeling, chaotic time, when pieces of feasts and roast beasts are combined and reheated.…

Wandering the Sonoran Desert in search of the chiltepin—the ancestor to domesticated chile peppers—with MacArthur genius Gary Paul Nabhan by Ari LeVaux Since he started hunting for chile peppers, more than 40 years ago, Gary Paul…

I missed out on years of enhanced flavor because of foodie prejudice against the dehydrated ingredient. by Ari LeVaux Many foodies look down on garlic powder as a stale, cheap substitute for the real thing. It’s a shortcut for lazy…

by Ari LeVaux My son’s first taste of tofu was at a restaurant. He didn’t know what tofu was, or that it was coming. Having never caught wind of tofu’s bad reputation among non-Asians, he took a bite of its sauce-drenched, crispy fried…