Welcome to Home Food.

I work from home--at the kitchen table, actually--and because of this have the luxury of cooking our meals at home almost every day. I do this because I love everything about food and cooking: planning meals based on what's in season, selecting the ingredients, learning to use new techniques and create flavor. But I also cook because I believe we spend too much money on food that doesn't nourish our bodies, and we have to change, for both our economic and physical health. This blog isn't a diatribe about organic food or militant seasonal eating (though I will talk about them both). It's about reclaiming joy in simple food, thinking about what we put in our bodies, and learning how to cook things from scratch.

Choosing the title for this blog, Home Food, was easy. I first learned to think about food that way reading Laurie Colwin's food essays in Home Cooking and More Home Cooking, which originally appeared in Gourmet Magazine in the 1980s. Home Food is just what it sounds like: familiar, simple, easy-to-prepare dishes that remind us of home. I have read everything Laurie Colwin wrote about food--and life--in her essays and novels, and I love her work so much that I tear up every time I remember there won't be any more. She approached cooking, writing, and life with humor, insight, and pragmatism. This one's for you, Lady Colwin!

So, welcome to the kitchen! I hope you're hungry!