The Foodist

by Ari LeVaux THE QUESTION OF how far food should travel between where it is produced and where it is consumed has become a frequent matter of passionate debate. The popular rule of thumb is that the more local the food, the better it…

by Ari LeVaux WHILE DINING AT a Mexican restaurant in Albuquerque, NM, I was shocked to eat something that reminded of my mom’s East Coast Jewish cooking. I had taken a chance on a bowl of meatball soup called albóndigas, as it was a…

by Ari LeVaux THE HUMBLE LENTIL is found in the earthiest of foods. Not the kind of fancy dishes that tap dance around the table atop a frozen cloud of nitrogen, but simple, nourishing foods like Indian dal or hippy mush, foods that feed…

Editor: Zoe Ash is a Junior at Ann Arbor Skyline High School and an intern at The Ann Arbor Independent. Beginning this week, she will be working on a project called Businesses of Ann Arbor. The photo essay project is a riff on the "Humans…

IT’S EASY TO conclude that pricey meals and national media coverage might guarantee that a restaurant would be free from the most serious violations of a state’s restaurant health code. In March 2014, New York’s Per Se, with its $310…

IN 2013, THE newspaper did a comprehensive look at the restaurant inspection reports for Ann Arbor’s Main Street restaurants. The number of priority violations (violations, such as holding food at improper temperatures, or lack of…

The Washtenaw Food Policy Council (WFPC), the County appointed food policy group, recently approved a 23 point agenda, aggressively prioritizing support for a viable, economical, and sustainable local food system. The policy agenda…

A walk down the refrigerator aisle today looks a lot different than it would have 50 years ago.  by Lauren Rothman REMEMBER THE DAYS when the standard accompaniment to a moist chocolate chip cookie was a cold, tall glass of milk? That…

by Paula Marcoux DISASTER CAN STRIKE even the best-prepared home cooks. In David Copperfield, Mr. Micawber Wilkins saved young Copperfield from no small amount of embarrassment using quick thinking, graciousness—and a grill. Pity poor…

by Jill Richardson BELIEVE IT OR not, chickens are not the only farm animals turning up—legally—in cities. Goats are now legal (with some limitations) in Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco, Pasadena, St. Louis, Oakland, Portland,…