It will come as news to no one that we Americans are a wasteful bunch. Research has shown that we throw out about 14% of the food we buy, and, due to supply-chain issues, about half of the food harvested never makes it to our tables. In all, says this excellent and thorough article on dumpster diving (the PC term is “freeganism”), “the United States generates 34 million tons, or 68 billion pounds, of food waste each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.” Obviously, a few tatty twentysomethings aren’t going to eat their way through this problem, but the article, by Arvin Temkar and published on Grist.org, is a fascinating portrait of some New Yorkers who subsist on what we throw out. (I would add the important work of City Harvest to this discussion, which “rescues” food from restaurants and farmers markets, and helps deliver it to New York’s 1.5 million hungry. They manage to keep thousands of tons of edible food out of the trash in the first place.) The freegans are admittedly at the fringes, but their approach does shine a light on an issue that is normally encased in black plastic, hidden from view. And you have to be impressed by anyone who can live in New York City for $800 a month.

Fashion and food are a conflicted pair. On the one hand, food is fashionable–the right restaurant or bottled water as required an accessory as a fedora or platform sandals. On the other, eating is not. But one Sunday a month, at Chicago’s River East Art Center, food and fashion live together in perfect harmony. At Dose Market–curated by an attractive quartet of editors (or “dosettes”) from Tasting Table, Daily Candy, Time Out and Haute Closet–vendors form a sort of sybaritic U.N. where truffles, ice cream, caramels, cheese, and soppressata sit across from vintage bathing suits, skinny ties, and minidresses, and peace prevails.

When: July 10, August 14, September 25, October 16, November 6, and December 4
10 a.m. to 4 p.m

Where: 435 East Illinois St., Chicago, IL

Tickets are $10 at the door, $8 in advance, or $30 for admission to the next 6 markets.

Stone fruit is not only fleeting, it’s fragile. Particularly in the case of apricots, the season for the good stuff is extremely short, and the ripe ones will bruise if you just look at them wrong. But, for the thrifty cook, this is actually a boon. At the farmers market, your favorite stone fruit purveyor in all likelihood has a “seconds box” where the damaged fruits go–same goes for tomatoes. Just ask, and you can buy those seconds at a steep discount; in my case, I got a five-pound box of damaged apricots for $5. There was only one thing to do with these super-ripe, bruised babies, and that is make preserves. (The tomatoes are perfect for sauce, or freezing.) You don’t have to get fancy with canning to make sunshine in a jar–I was even to lazy to go pick up pectin from the supermarket. Here’s what you do: Read on… »