Episodes
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Learning to Farm: Resources
CLASSES & RESOURCES IN NYC GrowNYC’s Farm Beginnings — a comprehensive agricultural training program developed for new farmers by the people who run the Greenmarket. Designed for a people looking to start farm enterprises, including urban farmers looking to scale-up and second career farm...
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Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Become a Farmer
New Yorkers' interest in where their food comes from and how it is raised has led to a robust farmers' market system, a growing interest in communty gardens and backyard enterprises like raising chickens and keeping bees, and a surprising number of urbanites who are ditching their pots of basil…
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Last Chance Foods: Stay Cool, Drink Real Food
It’s the high season for cool, slushy drinks. Nina Planck, author of several Real Food cookbooks, says her fermented watermelon basil cooler illustrates one of her key principles: when she processes food, she does it in ways that enhance nutrition, flavor, and shelf life. Nina Planck / photo by...
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Last Chance Foods: The Ultimate Pickled, Smoked, Smashed, Fried Potato Salad
SMOKED PICKLED POTATOES WITH ANCHOVY AIOLI RECIPEby David Leite, Leite's Culinaria Serves 4 to 6 INGREDIENTSFor the anchovy aioli 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon Kosher salt 6 anchovy fillets, minced 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 2 large egg yolks, room temperature 1 cup extra-virgin olive...
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Last Chance Foods: A Compromise for Cilantro Haters?
Cilantro could very well be the world’s most polarizing herb. Those who vehemently hate it may have the aversion coded in their genes, while others happily add it to everything from salsas to soups. But maybe there’s a middle ground to be found in the cilantro wars. Perhaps cilantro’s cousin...
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Last Chance Foods: A Kid-Friendly Fruit for Healthy Eating
The Bronx has a weight problem, and part of that stems from parents who simply don’t know how to cook. Chef and educator Tania Lopez knows about that situation firsthand. She grew up in the South Bronx and in Puerto Rico, and says that her parents rarely cooked for her as a child. “They were...
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Last Chance Foods: Radishes Are the Real Fast Food
Here’s a fun project for kids and apartment dwellers: Plant a radish seed in a pot, care for it, and then 25 to 30 days later, you should be able to harvest a fully grown vegetable. When it comes to farming, a month’s time is as close to instant gratification as you can get, said Edible Manhattan...
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Last Chance Foods: Behold the Power of the Pea
This week, cookbook authors Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, known as the reality television duo “The Fabulous Beekman Boys,” charmingly flaunted two long-standing tenants of Last Chance Foods: Don’t sound like "Delicious Dish," and don’t antagonize the farmers. “If people haven’t had a sweet...
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Last Chance Foods: Foraging for One of the World's Healthiest Greens
The cool weather this spring means that farmers markets may be looking surprisingly bare for late May. Parks and forests, however, are already bursting with life — and tasty, nutritious finds for knowledgeable foragers. One commonly foraged favorite is lambsquarters. The leafy green grows in…
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Last Chance Foods: Eat a Cricket, Save the Planet
For Rose Wang, it all started with a scorpion street snack in China. She bit into the insect on a dare and was surprised. “[It was] not what I expected,” says Wang, who went on to co-found the insect-based food company Six Foods with her Harvard classmates Laura D’Asaro and Meryl Natow. “It…
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Last Chance Foods: An Easy, Egg-centric Meal
The days are getting longer, and that’s welcome news for humans and chickens alike. More daylight means hens have more time to eat bugs. That additional protein makes for richer eggs with deeply orange yolks. Here’s a suggestion on what to do what all that springtime bounty of eggs: Make a...
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Last Chance Foods: Say Yes to Nopales
Some people like a shot of espresso to get the morning started. How about a quick slug of cactus slime instead? That’s the drink of choice at some juice stands in Mexico. “A lot of people think that the slime is really nutritious,” said Lesley Téllez, a food writer who runs the culinary tourism...
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Recipe: Easter Wheat Pie
We're a little late to the game on this, but it still sounds tasty, so we're calling this a "Past Chance Foods" recipe. It comes from copy editor Francine Almash's mother, Victoria. Easter Wheat Pieby Victoria Almash Makes filling for two pies 1 can soaked wheat (one brand is Asti) or use the...
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Last Chance Foods: Forget the Midwest, Wheat Finds a Home in Long Island
The image of rolling wheat fields calls to mind sprawling Midwestern farms, but that may be changing. Just look at Amber Waves Farm in Amagansett, Long Island, where farmers Katie Baldwin and Amanda Merrow are growing wheat on 16 acres. They started their farm in 2009, bucking the then-emerging,...
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Last Chance Foods: Flowers You Can Eat
Ignore the recent chilly blast of weather, spring is here and so are the blooms. Some of those cheerful flowers aren’t just a treat for the eye—they’re tasty, too. Violas are one edible variety. They’re part of the pansy family, and you can find them at farmers markets now. “Fresh flowers are one...
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Last Chance Foods: Micro-Farming Sourdough Starter in Your Kitchen
If you’re an apartment-bound urbanite with nary a backyard to plant, here’s a micro-farming solution acceptable for even the smallest spaces: Grow yourself a sourdough starter, also known as a levain. “It’s a little like farming,” said Austin Hall, the head baker at She Wolf Bakery. “You’re…
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Last Chance Foods: Rooting for Rutabagas
When it comes to vegetables, it must be hard to be a rutabaga. As a cross between a cabbage and a turnip, the humongous, humble-looking root vegetable can easily be overlooked when compared to the delicate fiddlehead ferns available in the early spring. But here at Last Chance Foods, we like the...
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Last Chance Foods: One Connoisseur's Quest for the Freshest Mallomar
Heads up to Mallomars fans out there: The season for the chocolate-covered, marshmallow-and-graham-cracker cookie is nearly over. Yes, this packaged and processed cookie has a season. Mallomars are only made by Nabisco from September through March. The reason for that began when the cookies were...
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Last Chance Foods: Sweet On Onions
Consider the onion: It forms the backbone of so many dishes, but rarely serves as a main ingredient. Is it because we’re worried about the stink of onion breath? Dirt Candy chef Amanda Cohen says to grab some toothpaste and just get over it. “That’s why [toothpaste] was invented, right?” she…
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Last Chance Foods: For Lobster Eaters Only
Cooking live lobster at home is not a task for the faint of heart. But here’s one thing seafood eaters don’t have to worry about. “Lobsters don’t have vocal cords, alright? They do not exist in a lobster. They don’t scream,” said Susan Povich, who owns Red Hook Lobster Pound with her husband…
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Last Chance Foods: The Secret, Highly Processed Life of Orange Juice
We’ve all seen that iconic image of a straw sticking out of a picture-perfect orange. Turns out, making mass marketed orange juice is not nearly so simple or even natural.
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Last Chance Foods: The Truth About High Fructose Corn Syrup
If you’ve ever flipped over packaged food and checked for high fructose corn syrup in the ingredient list, there’s something you should know: “Experts… say that when it comes to calories and nutrition, sugar is sugar is sugar,” says Michael Moss, author of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants…
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Last Chance Foods: It's Millet Time
Millet is a gluten-free whole grain that tastes sort of like a cross between vanilla and corn. It certainly has a flavor that birds enjoy — much of the millet in this country is used for bird seed. But what’s good for Tweety has long been considered tasty by humans, too.
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Last Chance Foods: Why You Shouldn’t Eat Raw Chocolate
Today is Valentine’s Day, so we’re going to talk about chocolate. That’s the easy explanation. The more complicated version of how Last Chance Foods choose to approach the topic of such a beloved confection involves a former aerospace engineer turned farmer, a vertically integrated beans-to-bar...
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Last Chance Foods: How to Pick the Best Italian Olive Oil
From 2012 to 2013, Americans consumed an estimated 294,000 metric tons of olive oil, most of which was imported from Italy. But how do you know if Italian olive oil is really Italian? A New York Times report recently claimed that a lot of Italian olive oil actually comes from countries including...
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Hot Sauce: Feel-Good Flavor or Just a Punch in the Face?
Americans now eat 150 percent more hot sauce today than they did in 2000. WNYC host Amy Eddings thinks that’s because our palates are bored and jaded. “We call ourselves foodies by just sprinkling some hot sauce over pancakes and saying, ‘I invented something new,’” she said. “What we’re doing is...
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Last Chance Foods: Taking a Gander at Eating Goose
Chicken coops may be sprouting up on rooftops and backyards around the city, but don’t expect domesticated geese to be taking up urban residence anytime soon. “The biggest reason I don’t think you’ll ever see geese in an urban setting, or even a suburban setting, is they’re very loud,” said Hank...
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Last Chance Foods: Appreciating a Culinary Ninja
Ginger adds zing to hot Indian tea, provides a warming holiday flavor to crisp cookies, and serves as a palate-cleansing pickle next to sushi. Considering its versatility, ginger could be considered a culinary ninja — it sneaks into various foods and makes them way tastier.
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Why Squid Is the Kale of the Sea
From the Hooter’s in Anaheim, California, to the Le Bernardin in Midtown — squid in the form of calamari can be found on menus across America. That’s good news since squid from the Atlantic is some of the most sustainable seafood out there.
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Last Chance Foods: A Pantry Stocked For Snow Days and Late Nights
A snowy winter storm is a daunting way to start off a new year — particularly if your resolutions for 2014 include eating better, saving money, and being healthier. One way to help meet all three of those lofty goals is to make sure you have a pantry that’s well-stocked. Late nights at the office...
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Last Chance Foods: Winter's Best Beverages
Christmas is over and the presents are put away, but for many of us, the holiday season isn’t quite finished yet. There’s still New Year’s and a spate of winter parties to attend. If you happen to be hosting a celebration, we’ve got a time-tested, easy mid-winter fix for your bar: Hot, mulled,...
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Last Chance Foods: Our 2013 Cookbook Gift Guide
At Last Chance Foods, our cup runneth over with cookbooks. It’s a large cup, admittedly. And with Christmas less than a week away, these beautiful tomes come in handy as last minute gifts. Here are our picks for some of our favorite cookbooks of the year. We even snagged a few recipes from them…
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Last Chance Foods: Talking Ramen with Ivan Orkin
In the past few years, ramen shops seem to be popping up everywhere from Harlem to Flushing. Chef Ivan Orkin, who just opened Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop at Gotham West Market and published the memoir/cookbook Ivan Ramen, says that the reason ramen has gotten so popular is because it’s the ultimate...
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Last Chance Foods: Tips on Creating a Thanksgiving Menu for Every Dietary Restriction
Gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, vegan and vegetarian — has your Thanksgiving menu being undermined by food allergies and ethical objections? Tell us about what you don’t eat in the comments below. Or share the extraordinary lengths you’ve gone to in catering to the dietary…
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Last Chance Foods: How Jacques Torres Does Thanksgiving
Master pastry chef Jacques Torres has a word of advice for anyone making pies for Thanksgiving. He says to keep it simple. “When you start to put too many [flavors together], you don’t know what you eat anymore,” he said. Instead, pick one main flavor and then use another ingredient or two to...
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Last Chance Foods: Getting a Start on Christmas Cake
Mid-November may feel too early to be bopping along to Christmas tunes, but there’s one Christmas tradition that requires a long head start. English Christmas cake, according to Out magazine editor Aaron Hicklin, needs at least five weeks to mature, a process that calls for the cake being…
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Last Chance Foods: Mastering Maitake Mushrooms
If you’re out wandering the woods this weekend, you might want to keep an eye out for a ruffled mass of mushrooms stuck to the bottom of a hardwood tree. It could well be a maitake, or hen of the wood, mushroom. The fungi is delicious and has a meatier, more assertive flavor than average button...
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Last Chance Foods: Turning Host on Host for Food Fridays
For the past few weeks here at WNYC, The Leonard Lopate Show and Last Chance Foods have combined to bring you the latest breaking news in the worlds of seasonal vegetables, new cookbooks, and pickling. Today, Leonard Lopate launched the 3-ingredient challenge with the help of chef Rozanne Gold.…
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Last Chance Foods: Chow-Chow's Southern Roots
Step into any of the city’s nouveau Southern restaurants, and you’ll likely see a menu full of regional staples like biscuits, fried green tomatoes, and cheesy grits. While foods like boiled peanuts grow increasingly popular, a few Southern staples still remain a bit of a mystery. Take chow-chow,...
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Last Chance Foods: Lidia's Common Sense Risotto
The sizzle of onions, the clicking of toasted rice, the whoosh of wine added to a hot pan, and the viscous burble rice cooking in stock — these are the sounds of making risotto. Cookbook author Lidia Bastianich listens for these audial cues when making the creamy rice dish, and lets her five…
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Last Chance Foods: Could Tatsoi Be the Next Kale?
For the rest of the year, we’ll be revisiting previous episodes of Last Chance Foods. When Great Performances CEO Liz Neumark started a farm seven years ago, she asked her farmer not to grow kale. Even back then, she’d grown tired of the all-reigning queen of superfoods. While farmer Bob Walker...
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Last Chance Foods: Crafting Tomato Junk
Look, let’s be honest: Some of us are not ready to get into canning. We might live in Brooklyn, obsess about pickles, and splurge on artisanal cheese, but the prospect of mason jars and hot water baths is just too much, okay? Great. Now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about a method of…
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Last Chance Foods: Introducing Purple Tomatillos
For those of us unaccustomed to cooking with tomatillos, they can be a bit of a mystery. The obvious facts are these: They kind of look like tomatoes, but are not, and they’re a key ingredient in salsa verde.
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Last Chance Foods: Ruth Bourdain's Gastrohilarity
There are a few straightforward rules to follow when hanging out with celebrity chefs, according to the fictional character Ruth Bourdain. For instance, “Do: Rub Tom Colicchio’s head with the finest extra virgin olive oil. Don’t: Put barrettes in his soul patch.”
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Last Chance Foods: Shiso's Bright Pink Secret
The next time you see a leaf of shiso sitting under your sashimi, wrap it around the fish, and put it in your mouth. It’s not there just for aesthetics. “Shiso has an antiseptic property so it is safe to eat with raw fish,” said Hiroko Shimbo, the author of Hiroko’s American Kitchen and a...
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Last Chance Foods: Super Sweet Stevia
Put away those pink, blue, and yellow packets of artificial sweeteners. You can now get a sugar substitute that wasn’t born in a lab: stevia. It is a leafy green plant, and it’s 20 times sweeter than sugar, says farmer Ron Binaghi III, who grows it at Stokes Farm in Old Tappan, N.J.
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Last Chance Foods: Stalking Panther Edamame
Clear skies, full bellies, can’t lose — maybe that should be the Friday Night Lights–inspired motto for panther edamame, a variety of soybean that’s currently growing at the Hudson Valley Seed Library in Ulster County, N.Y.
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Last Chance Foods: Miracle or Just Moringa?
The phrase “miracle food” smacks of low-budget internet ads that promise easy solutions to diabetes and belly fat. Recently, though, it’s been used to describe moringa oleifera, a tropical plant that native to the Himalayas.
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Last Chance Foods: The Right Way to Do Parsley
A wilted sprig of curly parsley often feels like the worst insult to a plate of food. Instead of being treated like a sad garnish, parsley at its best has the ability to enhance a wide variety of dishes.
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Last Chance Foods: Hot, Hot Heat — And Flavor
Step into any hot sauce emporium, and you’ll likely be surrounded by labels bearing words like “pain,” “death,” and any number of expletives. But the world of hot sauce goes far beyond mere Scoville units, and plenty of hot sauces focus instead on flavor, rather than pure capsaicin.