About

I’ve been appreciating good food since I was born. Before that, even, as my mother’s diet while I was in utero reflects many of the tastes, ingredients and styles that I gravitate towards in dining our or cooking at home.

Rainbow trout, fresh as can be

Research into the impact of the food choices of pregnant women has demonstrated the impact of eating fast food, diets lacking in essential amino acids or other nutrients. I know I’m lucky, in that respect. Mom was living on a farm, growing her own vegetables, harvesting fruit from trees and brambles, baking and butchering deer, chicken, geese or blocks of tofu. I have no doubt that I’m a much healthier human because of those choices.

I started this blog because of my experience on that farm and in the years since then. Dreaming up creative combinations of ingredients for meals, often based upon the season, has been a deeply rewarding part of my life. That passion has been aided in no small part by the interest and skill of hunters, fishermen, gardeners and talented chefs within my family.

I find myself gathering wild foodstuffs and cooking for friends and family more and more these days. Reading Michael Pollan‘s The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ and’Animal, Vegetable, Miracle left me quite interested in becoming a more effective locavore and sharing my experiences. The work of Alice Waters and Eric Schlosser and Pollan in extending the slow food movement has also impacted my culinary worldview. Given that I’d only been posting recipes, reviews and reflections to a personal blog, it seemed only natural to extend my writing efforts here.

I aim for a post a week, more or less, and hope to integrate video into reviews or tutorials. I’m not a professional videographer or developer; I hope you’ll bear with me as I work out the details of adapting the WordPress platform to foodblogging.

I welcome your feedback on the food or writing, suggestions for improvements on either and general comments, both here and on Twitter. You can find me there @epicureanist.

I look forward to this new venture and hope you’ll enjoy a good read — and perhaps a good meal, if my review or recipe helps you arrive at either.

Cheers!

-Alex