"Long Island Food: A History From Family Farms & Oysters to Craft Spirits" by T.W. Barritt Debuts September 14

I’m excited to share news of the September 14^th publication of my first book, “Long Island Food: A History from Family Farms & Oysters to Craft Spirits.” It’s the story of a suburban boy’s search for his hometown food culture, published by the History Press.

Growing up well fed on meatloaf, tuna casserole and TV dinners, I had little knowledge of Long Island’s rich agricultural and maritime history. The book explores the past, but looks to those people who are advancing Long Island’s food legacy today in delicious new ways, in community agriculture, wine, cheese, bread, fine dining and craft spirits. There’s even a chapter on Long Island’s pickle pedigree. 

It’s filled with stories of folks who are writing the next chapter in our food history, including Restoration Farm CSA and Friends, Kerber's Farm Long Island, New York, Catapano Dairy Farm, North Fork Potato Chips, Thera Farms, Zorn's of Bethpage, Long Island Growers Market, A Taste of Long Island, Duck Island Bread Company, Long Island Spirits, Koppert Cress, USA and Sparkling Pointe Winery – to name just a few.

I’m grateful to all of the people who generously shared their stories. It was certainly an unforgettable experience to travel Long Island over the past year and talk directly to the people who are defining what our food culture is all about. My thanks, also, to the many photographers whose beautiful work illustrates the volume. In particular, I must thank Jacob Skoglund, a talented young photographer who served as image curator for the project. 

“Long Island Food” is available on Amazon and through History Press. There’s also a Facebook page, so please “like” that if you are able. I hope you enjoy exploring the story of Long Island food as much as I did. I think you'll find it a deliciously surprising adventure!

©2015 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

Edible Long Island Welcomes Summer with Sexy Pub Food in Point Lookout, Long Island

The summer is sizzling hot, and Edible Long Island welcomes the lazy, hazy days with some smokin’ hot, drool-worthy, burgers on its Summer 2014 cover. Read about Burger Man George Moatz here, and his penchant for smoked burgers.

Once again, I go “Back of the House” to get the back story on J.A. Heneghan’s Tavern in the hamlet of Point Lookout, Long Island. Learn about J.A. Heneghan, an Irish patriarch who inspired his family to open a tavern in his honor, and get to know Nicole Roarke, the talented Executive Chef who’s serving up fresh seasonal dishes in the dining room and making pub food sexy.  Read my story of the Heneghan clan and their local homage to a legendary dad here.

And, visit Chef Nicole Roarke in the kitchen for her zesty take on citrus here.    

Happy Summer!  

©2014 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved  

Roots Bistro Gourmand: Rustic Fare Meets Cutting Edge Gastronomy

Chef Philippe Corbet and Chef James Orlandi are shattering assumptions of what a restaurant “should be.”         

Olive Oil Poached Salmon with Fried Chick Peas

The co-owners of Roots Bistro Gourmand in West Islip, Long Island have deep respect for the roots of cooking, but aim to transform the traditional bistro experience using techniques of New Age gastronomy.   

Seared Sea Scallops with Wild Mushroom Mousse

Dining at Roots evokes the charm and flavors of French country cooking propelled into the future with gastronomic tools like foams, emulsions and vacuum sealing. In the words of Corbet and Orlandi, the Roots experience “juxtaposes high end cuisine with humor and accessibility.” 

Read my profile of Corbet  and Orlandi here in Edible Long Island’s Spring 2014 Innovation Issue.  

©2014 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

Edible Long Island Debuts – Telling the Story of How Long Island Eats

The first digital edition of Edible Long Island is a celebration of summer in Nassau and Suffolk

There was once a time when I thought the idea of local food and artisanal food products just didn’t apply to where I lived. Born and raised in a place where strip malls, chain restaurants and movie theaters get a lot of attention, I thought you had to travel to discover interesting food trends, and that other people were lucky because they seemed to be blessed with an abundance of fascinating food and agriculture right in their backyard. 

Then, I opened my eyes, and I saw what was happening in my own backyard. Through exploration and the stories of “Culinary Types,” I talked to people and I tasted. I discovered historic farmland, community sponsored agriculture, heritage chickens, a proliferation of farmers markets, goat cheese, craft vodka, pioneering chefs, fresh seafood, and some amazing artisanal bread right in Nassau and Western Suffolk County. Why travel, when the eats are pretty darn good right here at home? 

That’s why I’m thrilled that the newest member of the Edible Communities, Edible Long Island has arrived with its first digital edition, and I’m a contributor helping to tell the story of how Long Island eats.

Long Island native Betsy Davidson is the Editor of Edible Long Island and has gathered a team of local writers and photographers who are passionate about the food of central Long Island. Betsy is a writer and organic gardener who lives in Huntington.

Betsy Davidson is Editor of Edible Long Island

“Nassau and Western Suffolk counties are blessed with a vibrant and diverse population that likes to eat,” says Betsy.  “We shop, cook, drink and dine out, a lot!”

Part of the fun is exploring a food culture that has previously gotten far less attention than the Brooklyn food scene or the farms and vineyards of Long Island’s East End.

“There is so much going on in the kitchens and backyards of our suburban communities along the LIE and LIRR,” says Betsy. “We raise chickens and livestock, grow kale hydroponically in the winter, and brew our own beer and kombucha tea.”

You can read the first digital edition of Edible Long Island by clicking here.   The issue is celebration of summer, and you’ll find two stories penned by me. One is a profile of The Shack (page 50) in Centerport, a venerable “joint” on the North Shore that has been serving up clams and chaos for over 30 years.  

I’ve also authored a piece on how the small business owners of the restaurants, fish markets and bars on Freeport’s Nautical Mile are fighting to come back after the destruction of Hurricane Sandy (pages 16 and 17). Photographer Doug Wynn and I made several visits to the Nautical Mile following the storm to track their progress and chronicle their stories. 

A print edition of Edible Long Island will launch in September.   I hope you enjoy the stories.  I’m proud to be a part of the team serving up our hometown feast.

©2013 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved   

Tasting the Heart, Soul and Soil of Hudson Valley Cheese

Can a taste of artisanal cheese transport you to the place where it was produced?  What can you learn about a cheese maker from a style of cheese, the way the animals are tended or the types of ingredients used?

A while back, I had the chance to visit several Hudson Valley cheese makers and explore the idea of “terroir.”  Loosely translated as "taste of the soil," the word refers to the “sense of place” one might taste in a wine produced in a distinct location, and the concept of terroir is becoming more prevalent in conversations about farmstead cheese.  I found cheese makers more than willing to discuss the merits of cheese and terroir and passionate about their role in defining the character of small-batch cheese in the Hudson Valley.  

Rory Chase and Peter Destler, the founders of The Amazing Real Live Food Co. in Pine Plains, New York founded their creamery on a commitment to serve delicious, restorative “vittles” for their friends and neighbors in the Hudson Valley.  They source their milk from 50 registered Holstein cows that graze in rolling pastures reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell illustration. 

Rory and Peter are clearly dedicated to their mission and their French-style artisanal and probiotic cheeses delight the senses.  

Rory becomes visibly animated as he inhales the “mushroomy” aromas in their aging room, and offers me delicious samples of fresh and aged cheeses.  

Joyce Henion – owner of Acorn Hill Farm in Walker Valley, New York – produces fresh, clean-tasting goat cheeses in the former garage of her split-level home, which she converted into a fully equipped creamery.  

Joyce’s fascination with Nubian goats inspired her vocation as a cheese maker.  

Acorn Hill Farm is a very different locale.  Joyce’s goats browse a wooded area of rocky terrain.  She manages the herd organically and knows each goat by name.  

If you taste the cheese of Rory and Peter or Joyce, you will savor two very different stories, but both are characteristic of the vital cheese making community in the Hudson Valley.  Read more about cheese terroir in my story “A Sense of Place” published in the Spring 2012 “Bread and Cheese” issue of the magazine, Edible Hudson Valley.   

©2012 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved