The Edible Profussor

Despite the fact that I write a daily food blog, in my heart of hearts I’m on old media guy.

Really the last part of the sentence can be read accurately in a variety of ways. Back in my ad agency days, I was a media guy. Which meant I busied myself with trying to find the right audience for my clients’ messages. As the Internet became a place where consumers would spend more time, the media world broke into two camps: old media and new media.

Old media comprises the realm of television, radio, outdoor, and print. New media was the bright and shiny world of web based advertising, mobile, and search. Anyone remember Second Life? That would be new media too. Although I suppose some people might make a case for categorizing some bleeding edge media vehicles as “emerging media”.

As far as I’m concerned, I still love sitting down to a crisp folded newspaper. And peeling off the sections one at a time, while I drink a cup of black coffee, reading a curated selection of the most important news of the day.

I would much rather read with certainty about what happened yesterday, than keep refreshing a screen for a correspondent’s best guess about what just happened. One is satisfying and most often correct, the other feels dirty and is most often later corrected.

Along with newspapers, I have a love of magazines. One of the magazines that I’ve followed for a long time is a beautiful one all about food, called Edible.

Hopefully you can bear with me for a bit more history.

Edible isn’t exactly one magazine, but rather a community of regional food magazines. It provides a framework for the promotion of local foods all over the country. One of the things the Albany was missing when I moved here ten years ago was an Edible Albany.

When I heard that Edible Capital District was actually going to become a thing, I sat down to meet with the editor and publisher. By that time I was already working for Yelp, so the idea of writing for the publication was off the table.

But getting my thoughts on food in the pages of Edible had long been one of my dreams.

Fate has a funny way of making dreams come true. So as it turns out, I’m actually in the current issue of Edible Capital District. Issue N0. 15. Not as a writer for the publication. But they published an interview with me that’s pretty much all about the blog and my thoughts on food in the Capital Region.

Holy moly.

I sat down with Kathleen Willcox for interview at Superior Merchandise Co. months ago. Then I had a photo shoot with Liz Lajeunesse at Stacks Espresso on Broadway. Last month a friend posted a picture of the magazine on Facebook. Recently Karen K. posted a link to the interview in the comments section of this blog. Kathleen even sent me a stack of copies in the mail.

But I didn’t really truly believe it until I was at Honest Weight Food Coop yesterday and saw the magazine racks with the current issue on display. And they were mostly gone. Which means people were reading it.

And there’s my name, right on the front cover in a golden pool of olive oil, right between Apple Crisp and North Country School.

Kathleen and I spoke for an hour. Maybe more. It’s hard to get me to stop talking about food. And in the end, that conversation was distilled into two pages of print.

There are a lot of people, places, and things that made it into the final cut. My wife and son made it. But not my daughter. She’s okay with that. My mom’s flank steak with orzo was mentioned alongside regional dishes like mozzarella and melba, fish fry, mini dogs, apple cider donuts, and the deep fried buffalo burger at Swifty’s.

I was able to help shine a light on Superior Merchandise Company, Ala Shanghai, Heather Ridge Farm, and The Cheese Traveler. Plus chefs Rob Handel, Brian Bowden, Josh Coletto, Dimitrios Menagias, and Nick Ruscitto all got shout outs.

None of this would have happened though had it not been for the blogs that came before mine and those who kept encouraging me along the way. So even though Albany Eats, Celina Bean, and Life of My Mouth are gone, it was great to share their memory in the interview.

All Over Albany still remains, and continues to be an inspiration. But participating in the Tournament of Pizza and getting to write The Best Dozen series for Greg and Mary were two incredible and deeply formative experiences in this crazy, ridiculous journey.

Thanks to you all for your ongoing support. Thanks again to Kathleen, Liz, and Mary at Edible Capital District. Thanks to Ron at Stacks for not making me feel too much like a tool during the photo shoot.

If you can’t get yourself to Honest Weight to pick up an issue, the digital version is here.