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June 29, 2012 9:47 PM Subscribe
Edward Behr is the editor and publisher of The Art of Eating, (named for MFK Fisher's book), a well-regarded food magazine.
Some of Behr's articles:
Ed Behr: Real Cheese and the Struggle to Preserve Vermont's Landscape
What you really need in a knife: A sharp blade
A call for a new term beyond organic: “Authentic”
How To Buy, Hold and Sharpen a Good Knife
My big, expensive, heartbreaking yuppie stove
Edward Behr’s Ragù Bolognese (aka Bolognese Sauce)
The New Chocolate, Made in Ancient Style
Also writer of The Artful Eater, more a meditation on several foods than a cookbook. As well as Prohibition: 13 Years That Changed America
The Art of Eating tumblr.
Not to be confused with foreign correspondent Edward Behr
'The Best Bread in the World' previously on MetaFilter
Some of Behr's articles:
Ed Behr: Real Cheese and the Struggle to Preserve Vermont's Landscape
What you really need in a knife: A sharp blade
A call for a new term beyond organic: “Authentic”
How To Buy, Hold and Sharpen a Good Knife
My big, expensive, heartbreaking yuppie stove
Edward Behr’s Ragù Bolognese (aka Bolognese Sauce)
The New Chocolate, Made in Ancient Style
Also writer of The Artful Eater, more a meditation on several foods than a cookbook. As well as Prohibition: 13 Years That Changed America
The Art of Eating tumblr.
Not to be confused with foreign correspondent Edward Behr
'The Best Bread in the World' previously on MetaFilter
"Yuppie Stove" makes me appreciate my (rusting, heavy, but effective) propane-run turkey fryer rig. Good stuff here. Looking forward to reading more of Behr--thanks for the post!
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:22 AM on June 30, 2012
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:22 AM on June 30, 2012
Shepherd bought me an Art of Eating subscription a year or two ago. Pricey, but a real nice magazine. Not so great about having a regular circulation, though.
posted by Kitteh at 4:37 AM on June 30, 2012
posted by Kitteh at 4:37 AM on June 30, 2012
I love Art of Eating. I've been thinking about posting something about it here but their deliberate, ancient non-Internet policy is both charming and confounding. Hard to talk about something on the Internet when they deliberately have very little Internet presence; nice job finding a bunch of articles to link.
However, the articles mentioned here aren't really representative of what I love best about Art of Eating. It's when they dig deep into some obscure food topic and dig really deep into it. There was a great article about Olympia Oysters, for instance. A once common local food, delicious, now mostly gone but some folks are bring back the industry. Or a review of a book about Calvados, an impossibly detailed study with a page or two about every single Calvados producer in France. From personal interviews. I don't really need to know that level of detail about Calvados, I mean it's just applejack, but it's such a lovely work of scholarship of course I had to get a copy.
Mastic is the improbable topic of an article in the most recent magazine. Not the glue; Μαστίχα is a tree resin that historically was chewed as a sort of gum and is still used occasionally as an odd flavoring in deserts. Each tree produces about $15 worth of mastic a year, collecting it is impossibly labor intensive (featuring old Greek women sorting out pinhead sized bits of resin from the twigs and pebbles), and it's a spice pretty much no one in the mainstream of fine cooking uses. And yet, now I know all about it and am curious thanks to the Art of Eating.
posted by Nelson at 6:03 AM on June 30, 2012 [2 favorites]
However, the articles mentioned here aren't really representative of what I love best about Art of Eating. It's when they dig deep into some obscure food topic and dig really deep into it. There was a great article about Olympia Oysters, for instance. A once common local food, delicious, now mostly gone but some folks are bring back the industry. Or a review of a book about Calvados, an impossibly detailed study with a page or two about every single Calvados producer in France. From personal interviews. I don't really need to know that level of detail about Calvados, I mean it's just applejack, but it's such a lovely work of scholarship of course I had to get a copy.
Mastic is the improbable topic of an article in the most recent magazine. Not the glue; Μαστίχα is a tree resin that historically was chewed as a sort of gum and is still used occasionally as an odd flavoring in deserts. Each tree produces about $15 worth of mastic a year, collecting it is impossibly labor intensive (featuring old Greek women sorting out pinhead sized bits of resin from the twigs and pebbles), and it's a spice pretty much no one in the mainstream of fine cooking uses. And yet, now I know all about it and am curious thanks to the Art of Eating.
posted by Nelson at 6:03 AM on June 30, 2012 [2 favorites]
John Azoni: Detroit Artist had an illustration in one issue. AoE Has beautiful illustrations and photographs. In one of my favorites, they followed a lamb. The article had photos of lambs nursing, lambs frolicking, lambs being led into a barn, lamb sides hanging in a butcher shop window... They have no ads either, which means a high subscription ($22 an issue!). Eat-Drink-Etc has a review with pictures of recent covers. AoE also appears to have a pinterest, and a twitter feed. The Hertiage Radio Network has a few broadcasts with Behr as a guest.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:12 AM on June 30, 2012
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:12 AM on June 30, 2012
That new chocolate article was very interesting. Thanks for posting. I will have to try that Taza chocolate. I'm surprised more people haven't picked up on this thread.
posted by Listener at 12:13 PM on June 30, 2012
posted by Listener at 12:13 PM on June 30, 2012
I'm surprised more people haven't picked up on this thread.
I seem to excel at making posts people want to read, not necessarily talk about.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:30 PM on June 30, 2012
I seem to excel at making posts people want to read, not necessarily talk about.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:30 PM on June 30, 2012
The Art of Eating is my favorite food magazine. Well worth the expense. Nthing what Nelson says - the best articles are the ones that go in depth on obscure topics.
posted by nolnacs at 8:27 PM on June 30, 2012
posted by nolnacs at 8:27 PM on June 30, 2012
Is this guy like John (and Matt!) Thorne?
posted by wenestvedt at 8:01 AM on July 2, 2012
posted by wenestvedt at 8:01 AM on July 2, 2012
Based on a quick perusal of the outlawcook website and amazon reviews . . . yes, but with better photography. The magazine Art of Eating seems to have more writers than Simple Cook
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:32 AM on July 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:32 AM on July 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
wenestvedt -- I find John Thorne to be a little more approachable and idiosyncratic in his prose than Edward Behr. I think that they're of the same 'generation' of food writers that came of age around the 70s and Thorne, like Edward Behr, also published a successful series of newsletters. However, John Thorne is more apt to tell you about wacky experiments that he had in foraging around New England and how he combined it into a grilled cheese sammich, whereas Behr is more interested in finding a really interesting distillery in New England and telling you about how they do their thing.
It's like the difference between, say, Mark Bittman and Anthony Bourdain -- one is a cook who sometimes travels. The other is a traveler who uses a background in cooking to add context to his travels.
Which is to say, btw, that I love reading both of them and have no preference. One of my most rapturous farmer's market experiences was finding a cookbook swap table where somebody left a milk crate filled with past issues of Art Of Eating. It was like finding the Ark of the Covenant tucked underneath a picnic table.
posted by bl1nk at 11:12 AM on July 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
It's like the difference between, say, Mark Bittman and Anthony Bourdain -- one is a cook who sometimes travels. The other is a traveler who uses a background in cooking to add context to his travels.
Which is to say, btw, that I love reading both of them and have no preference. One of my most rapturous farmer's market experiences was finding a cookbook swap table where somebody left a milk crate filled with past issues of Art Of Eating. It was like finding the Ark of the Covenant tucked underneath a picnic table.
posted by bl1nk at 11:12 AM on July 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
btw, for those who do want a cookbook, for their 25th anniversary as hinted in one of the links, The Art of Eating staff did release a cookbook that is essentially a curated selection of some of the finer recipes that have appeared in the magazine.
It's mostly French/Italian, as has been most of the focus of the newsletter, and also as in the style of the newsletter, it prefers authenticity to accessibility, but all that aside, it's pretty solid.
posted by bl1nk at 11:17 AM on July 2, 2012
It's mostly French/Italian, as has been most of the focus of the newsletter, and also as in the style of the newsletter, it prefers authenticity to accessibility, but all that aside, it's pretty solid.
posted by bl1nk at 11:17 AM on July 2, 2012
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