One of the grocery stores in my neighborhood has been selling packages of these sweet red peppers labeled as “snack peppers”, and I think they’re onto something! I’ve always been a fan of snacking on bell peppers, but these guys have a couple of advantages. First of all, they are much cheaper per kilo than bell peppers.
The other advantage is how easy they are to prepare and eat. They have very few seeds, all located near the top, so it’s quite simple to chop off the stem, pluck out the seeds, and voilà! Healthy delicious snack.

Personal Development for Smart People guru Steve Pavlina has started out 2008 with a 30-day raw food diet, and he’s chronicling his daily progress on his blog for all to see. It’s an interesting read if you’d like to learn more about an all-raw diet.
Steve’s version of the raw diet for this trial is very paired-down and heavily fruit-based. He’s not using herbs, spices, salt, garlic, or onions. You can see more of his self-imposed rules .
While I’ve never really given much thought to an all-raw diet, his experiment does remind me of a time in college when I tried …read more

It’s been a while since I’ve had jicama, so I was happy to come across it in the grocery store in Boston the other day. Jicama is a rather nondescript-looking tuber which is common in Latin American cooking. It is delicious in a stir-fry or simply raw. Raw jicama has a texture similar to that of an apple, with a mild flavor.
Here’s what my jicama looked like on the veggie tray for our New Year’s Eve party, after I peeled it and sliced it into strips:

New York (home of the infamous Sushi Memo) is the place to be for sushi. I can’t believe I only managed to eat it once this time around. I need to go back! At least the one place I went was plenty delicious. Mishima had many veggie choices on the menu, making it hard for me to choose. I finally decided on an avocado roll, a spinach roll, and a gobo (burdock) roll.
I chose the burdock because I couldn’t remember what it was, even though I had the feeling I had had it before. It turned out to be a …read more

Mmmm… clementines are in season. These small citrus fruit resemble mandarin oranges and are as much fun to peel as they are to eat. Experts among us can get the entire peel off in one piece (a skill I perfected during my junior year abroad in Italy – hey, at least I learned something).
Clementines are appearing in vast quantities around here these days, imported from Sicily and Spain. Good thing, too, since it’s super-easy to eat 3 or 4 (or more) in a sitting. Yum!

It’s cucumber season! Here’s a fun fact: cucumbers are the most common vegetable in the whole world, with China being the largest producer. The cucumber is officially a member of the squash family, and technically a fruit.
Cucumbers are available year-round in most places, but there really is a difference if you get them fresh and local. They come in may different varieties, some of which are only available for a short time. Cucumbers lose water quickly, which is why they are often sold with a thick coating of wax (not the most pleasant thing in the world).
Cucumbers are lovely in …read more

Actually these are neither. According to the sign at the grocery store, they are called nectavigne and come from France (which still counts as eating ‘local’ for me). It is a cross between a certain breed of peach and a nectarine. I was drawn in by the apple-like appearance of their skin. They were quite ripe and juicy, and tasted much like nectarines. The nectavigne didn’t blow me away, but it’s always fun to try new things.
What fruits are in season in your part of the world?

When I picked up these Stachelbeeren in the market the other day, I had no idea what they were called in English. I also had no idea how to eat them, so I asked the woman behind the counter. She kind of laughed at me for asking the question, and explained that they could be eaten whole.
The gooseberries were very reminiscent of grapes in color, shape, and texture. There are a few edible seeds inside (that are much more pleasant than grape seeds), and it is indeed easy to just eat them whole. They can also be made into …read more

Whenever I heard “passion fruit” I used to think of tropical islands or processed fruit cocktail blends. I always thought it was more popular for what it could add to a name than for its flavor. “Strawberry passion” sounds much more exciting than “strawberry orange”, doesn’t it?
But then I finally tried a fresh passion fruit for the first time (this was a couple years ago). The outsides are hideously ugly – small wrinkly brown balls. The insides (or “guts” if you will) are a wee bit better: lots of large, blackish seeds surrounded by orange goo. The seeds are a …read more

I also picked up this really, really ripe cantaloupe at the farmers’ market the other day. It was so fragrant that it stunk up my whole kitchen (in a good way). We ate half of it right away, and then I chopped up the other half and stuck it in the freezer. I’ll put it in a smoothie on one of these hot, summer days we’re having.
Not only is cantaloupe delicious, but it’s also a good source of potassium and vitamin C.