The flavor of ‘dry-aged’ beef was the norm until widespread refrigeration and the shift from rail-transport of whole carcasses to the boxed-beef revolution. This was fueled by the advent of the interstate system, cheap gas, and ubiquitous trucking which supplanted all previous methods of transport and distribution.

Niman Ranch pork is different; it truly is something else. I’ve cooked with it now several times, from shoulder to belly to loin. It’s not only that Niman Ranch pork has true pork flavor, it’s that that flavor is so richly deep that it shocks.

It’s not the “peaches” in Palisade peaches that taste so good; it’s the “Palisade.” These peaches are awesome because they come from this place on the planet.

In order to "get" local, it may pay to look far and wide. The Slow Food movement — begun in Italy in the 1980s by a group of food activists — really has changed how we see the idea of eating “local.”

By Bill St. John

On the Fourth of July, Independence Day, our national birthday, all of us once, not so long ago, watched a parade, saluted the flag, oohed-and-ahhed at works on fire in the sky. But all of us don’t do all of that altogether anymore. Yet one thing that we used all to do, we still do, every one of us (for the great majority).

We eat. 

BY BILL ST JOHN

The Italians call it dining “al fresco.” For the French, it's “en plein air.” To us, it's keeping the flies away from the chicken salad. But little else means summer in Colorado than eating outdoors and planning a picnic underneath Old Sol.

Picnic prep differs from dining room prep, though, so here are some food and cooking tips on how to make it in the morning, serve it in the evening, and still keep its smile on.

Who came up with cheese as a good idea? Bossie didn't. It's spoiled milk. Unless you play with it a lot after it turns rotten, it just stays bad yogurt.

We’re the only place in Colorado where you can find these very handy, very delicious veggies.

How fortuitous that National Eat What You Want Day coincides with Mother's Day weekend this year. Take a look at Bill St. John's take, and then make the realization that Mother (and all of us) can always eat what we want.