This Week's Food

In lots of kitchens a tower of cookbooks leans against a coffeemaker, or sits side by side like soldiers on a shelf. If your kitchen is anything like ours - that collection is a spectrum of popularity. Some are dog-eared and covered in gravy, bacon grease and the remnants of one perfect Negroni. Others have unbroken spines, their culinary wisdom having never seen the light of day.

As seasons shift we wanted to share with you a couple of our favorites that keep us feeling inspired as the weather changes scenes.

Good Morning!

This week we want to highlight an unsuspecting starlet in the veggie line up. Annually, spring dug parsnips pop onto stage in this liminal phase between winter and spring, telling us not to fear, that spring is on its way.

Hello Friends!

Between podcasts and music, I'm often tuned to MPBN and get little jolts of delight when I hear about folks we know and work with. This past week, a story was aired about aquaculture in New England that featured Springworks Farm, who have been helping to keep our diets a bit less beet-y and turnip-y for the last few months. They take advantage of “fish and plants working together to help each other grow in a natural ecosystem where water circulates in an endless loop”. Last year, they produced "around 2 million heads of organic lettuce every year and up to 200,000 pounds of tilapia". And, counterintuitively, compared to land-based agriculture, aquaponics actually requires less water.

At the core of Family Dinner is the mission to use technology and data to help eliminate food waste. Fun Fact: Did you know that between 30- 40% of food that is produced in the US is wasted. That adds up to the tune of between 125- 160 BILLION pounds a year. (Correction: That's not fun in the slightest)

Good Morning!

Our Easter page is live with some beautiful meats, new vegetarian entree (ciao, eggplant parm!) and baked goods for your holiday gatherings. Or just for you, 'cause you deserve it.

Hello!

Passover is almost among us and we have a few pop up items for your holiday table. Matzah Ball Soup from Mamaleh's, beautiful grass-fed brisket from Brookford Farm and Chocolate Dipped macaroons from Forge.

If you're ordering in conjunction with your subscription, please use the discount code ADD-ONS to waive the delivery fee for orders < $39.

Just a few little culinary stars to brighten up your holiday. Enjoy!

Erin and the Family Dinner team.

Sometimes when we pen the newsletter, we are bubbling with things we want to share with you. Positively effervescent with bits of news and things to share. Sometimes the culinary puns and not-so-witty witticisms run off the page faster than we can keep up.

And sometimes, like today, we find ourselves at a loss. Not exactly uninspired but creeping toward that general vicinity.

We purchased a whole cow from Gabe and Molly at Cold Spring Ranch. These folks are diligently, lovingly, painstakingly raising animals the right way in New Portland, Maine.  The cows are 100% grass fed and roam freely on the beautiful property. Check out their IG and get ready to fall in love.

The 15th annual Maine Restaurant Week, of which we are proud spronsors, is happening now!

It's wild that 15 years ago, our bud (and wonderful customer) Gillian Britt and her husband, Jim, had a hunch that something like this would be a great way for restaurants from around the state to get some more butts in seats at the slooooowest time of year.

Meet Jen and Tucker, two of the amazing folks behind Forge Baking Co, Bloc and Diesel cafes in Somerville. Forge brings a constant string of delights into the Family Dinner shares including the hearty soup of the week, the pillowy perfection of focaccia and the transcendent chocolate brownies. (Is it overkill to call a confection transcendent? In this particular case, assuredly no.)

Chilean Poet Pablo Neruda was famous for his odes to simple things. His romantic reverence for tomatoes and one to his socks come to mind. Clearly a comfort foodie at heart, I find it somewhat astonishing to not find, in his canon of work, an ode to beef short ribs.

Maybe you're spending this unseasonably warm weekend outdoors, or simply traversing the couch for more snacks. Either way, we hope you're getting some time to kick back, relax and nosh on some good food.

It's going to be a wildly unpleasant tundra tomorrow. Please forgive your drivers and us if it take a wee bit longer to de-icicle ourselves in transit. If you see them, please give them a wave or a high five. This is a labor of arctic love.