In Our Spring 2016 Issue

FROM OUR TABLE

Every season in North Carolina is different, and we love the geography that creates this diversity. Not to sound too cliché, spring is the beginning of new life and new adventures. Now is a much better time for resolutions than January. Whether you pop a seed into a peat cup as a vow to make your garden better than last year's or watch the trees as they expand with tiny leaves that all of a sudden one morning greet you with color and perfect shade, or wait on that first soft-shell crab of the season, spring is a time to open doors in all parts of our lives.

Sara Foster and Jean Anderson have in very different ways pushed us along a path of good food. We talked to both and garnered some recipes to boot.

We want to introduce you to Matt Props and his new column "The Farm Stand." He will take us places we didn't think possible with vegetable entrees in way that all of us will enjoy.

Read about a couple of Florida transplants who have become the upstart of North Carolina cheeses with their Boxcarr brand and it's award-winning flavors.

Have a new graduate? Now is the time before the busy summer ahead to show them the ropes in the kitchen, and there is no better starting point than with an education on eggs. And what goes better with eggs than bacon, so a road trip to probably the most famous source of bacon among our local top-drawer chefs seemed in order. The good thing is you can buy it too.

Please save a moment for the last page. While we love restaurants, cooking at home is critical to understanding our foods and its sources, as well as family, community and unity.

-Fred Thompson, Executive Editor 
-Belinda Ellis, Senior Editor