Spring 2010

Lucky Number 5

By Ali Berlow, EDITOR

Baby lambs, the new model-year roll-outs of spring, appear and make wobbly haste to follow their mothers’ flock across the fields. All the seedlings—which we’ve nurtured inside anywhere we can fit them in between the dining room, wood stove, and mudroom—have grown up sturdy enough to be planted in the earth. And I’m ready to start up where I left off, fishing with my friend in the warming waters of the shore. Every day I look out over the water anticipating the firsts: first catch, first swim, and first cook-up on the beach.

But there’s no saying anything about Edible Vineyard’s 5th issue before kicking it off with a big thank you to all our advertisers, past and present. If you’re reading this, please support the local businesses that make this all possible. I can tell you now that more than one person stopped me at the grocery store last year, asking if I’d lost my mind starting up a magazine given the dire economic climate combined with the tumultuous times for print media. But it’s because of all of you—this Vineyard rooted in community—that we can continue to offer EV for free and publish the writers, artists, cooks, and photographers in interesting food stories from around our Island. EV’s contributors and staff strive to deliver a few tasty recipes, insights into local food and agricultural issues as well as solutions, and always some hope and beauty about the future, to share over a meal.

We’re introducing some new departments in EV5 that explore the topography and geology of the Island’s food landscape. In “Gastronomy ” Joan Nathan writes about horseradish with cultural and symbolic insights. Jamie McNelly of Our Market shares affordable wine pairings to go with seasonal recipes in “The Grape” and Paul Karasik, New Yorker cartoonist from West Tisbury, draws on some local humor.

Journalist Chris Hufstader (“Tropical Island”) delves into the future of commercial fishing in “Next Generation Fishermen” and Sofi Thanhauser explores the Island’s school lunch programs in the context of the rising rate of obesity among children and what Island Grown Schools is working to do about it. And when writer Mollie Doyle set out to explore the health benefits of one our shores most bountiful wild foods, edible seaweed, she was so pleased to discover one of the Island’s most renowned treasures, artist Rose Treat of West Tisbury (“Eat Your Seaweed”).

We welcome Contributing Editor and author, Nicole Galland of West Tisbury, a life-long Vineyarder, and introduce Hara Dretaki of Vineyard Haven. Hara is a long-time Vineyard resident and enthusiastic seeker of all things culinary.

In closing, it’s an honor to remember Tom Osmers in this issue that celebrates the next generation of fishermen. Tom was a mentor to so many, young and old. After his long struggle with cancer, I imagine he is fishing in all the seas now.