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Bonny Wolf

NPR commentator Bonny Wolf grew up in Minnesota and has worked as a reporter and editor at newspapers in New Jersey and Texas. She taught journalism at Texas A&M University where she encouraged her student, Lyle Lovett, to give up music and get a real job. Wolf gives better advice about cooking and eating, and contributes her monthly food essay to NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday. She is also a contributing editor to "Kitchen Window," NPR's Web-only, weekly food column.

Wolf 's commentaries are not just about what people eat, but why: for comfort, nurturance, and companionship; to mark the seasons and to celebrate important events; to connect with family and friends and with ancestors they never knew; and, of course, for love. In a Valentine's Day essay, for example, Wolf writes that nearly every food from artichoke to zucchini has been considered an aphrodisiac.

Wolf, whose Web site is www.bonnywolf.com, has been a newspaper food editor and writer, restaurant critic, and food newsletter publisher, and served as chief speechwriter to Secretaries of Agriculture Mike Espy and Dan Glickman.

Bonny Wolf's book of food essays, Talking with My Mouth Full, will be published in November by St. Martin's Press. She lives, writes, eats and cooks in Washington, D.C.

Commentary

3:57 am

Sun April 7, 2013

Why You Shouldn't Wrinkle Your Nose At Fermentation

Credit Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images

Kimchi is a traditional pungent fermented Korean dish made of vegetables with a variety of seasonings.

By Bonny Wolf

Originally published on Sun April 7, 2013 12:08 pm

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It's delicious, it's nutritious and it's basically rotten. Fermentation is a hot culinary trend, and, as Weekend Edition food commentator Bonny Wolf explains, the preservation process gives food a flavor unique to time and place.

People you know may intentionally be growing bacteria in their homes — on food, outside the refrigerator. And they are doing it to make food safe, and nutritious.

They are doing what cooks have always done: fermenting food.

4:37 am

Sun January 27, 2013

Oysters Rebound In Popularity With Man-Made Bounty

Credit iStockphoto.com

Along the East Coast, wild oysters have been disappearing, but the number of farm-raised oysters is exploding.

By Bonny Wolf

Originally published on Sun January 27, 2013 9:00 am

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In Colonial Virginia, oysters were plentiful; Capt. John Smith said they lay "thick as stones." But as the wild oyster harvest has shrunk, Weekend Edition food commentator Bonny Wolf says the market for farm-raised oysters is booming.

The local food movement is expanding from fertile fields to brackish waters.

Along the rivers and bays of the East Coast, where wild oysters have been decimated by man and nature, harvests of farm-raised oysters are increasing by double digits every year. At the same time, raw oyster bars are all the rage.

4:12 am

Sun December 30, 2012

On Your Plate In 2013, Expect Kimchi And Good-For-You Greens

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Commentator Bonny Wolf expects Asian cuisine such as kimchi fried rice to become even more popular in 2013.

By Bonny Wolf

Originally published on Sun December 30, 2012 4:14 pm

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Weekend Edition food commentator Bonny Wolf offers her predictions of what we'll eat in the new year.

Asia is the new Europe. It's been gradual: from pan-Asian, Asian fusion and Asian-inspired to just deciding among Vietnamese, Korean, Tibetan and Burmese for dinner.

Should we have the simple food of the Thai plateau or the hot, salty, sour foods of southern Thailand?

4:45 am

Sun November 11, 2012

Wild Turkeys Gobble Their Way To A Comeback

Credit Larry Price, National Wild Turkey Federation / NWTF.org

European settlers almost wiped out North America's native wild turkey. But conservation efforts have proved successful. There are now nearly 7 million birds found across 49 states.

By Bonny Wolf

Originally published on Thu November 15, 2012 2:38 pm

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Wild turkeys and buffalo have more in common than you might guess. Both were important as food for Native Americans and European settlers. And both were nearly obliterated.

There were a couple of reasons for the turkey's decline. In the early years of the U.S., there was no regulation, so people could shoot as many turkeys as they liked. And their forest habitat was cut down for farmland and heating fuel. Without trees, turkeys have nowhere to roost. So they began to disappear.

4:29 am

Sun February 26, 2012

Popcorn Gets Its Moment On The Red Carpet

Credit Bradley P. Johnson / via Flickr

Popcorn now comes candied in ruby red, indigo blue and more. And don't be surprised by the popcorn buffet at the next wedding you attend.

By Bonny Wolf

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Popcorn and movies (or the Oscars) go together like Batman and Robin. And nowadays, options stretch far beyond plain or buttered.

Food critics call one brand the Rolls Royce and another the Prada. They are designer labels for the simplest, most American snack food.

4:57 am

Sun January 29, 2012

Moscato Madness: The Dessert Wine's Sweet Surge

Credit iStockphoto.com

By Bonny Wolf

In the U.S., wine drinking has held its own during these hard economic times, and even grown in some unlikely corners. Moscato, for example, the Italian dessert wine, has gone from relative obscurity to the toast of the town.

Hip-hop singer Drake, in his song "Do It Now," gives it a shout-out. It's also the wine Kanye West orders for special parties. And it's the wine Real Housewife of Atlanta NeNe Leakes has just started selling under the label Miss Moscato.

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