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.
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Most people are familiar with latkes, the potato pancakes that are the Hanukkah staple among American Jews. Bonny Wolf explores a wide world of other Jewish dishes that celebrate a tiny vial of oil that burned for eight days.
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Bonny Wolf, Weekend Edition food commentator, talks about how food traditions are passed down the generations. Foods evoke incredibly strong memories and feelings, and never more so than at the holidays. She shares stories she has heard from around the country on her recent book tour.
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Planked salmon has long been a regular menu item in the Pacific Northwest, and its popularity has now spread to the lower states. There's no easier way to impress guests than to grill fish on a wooden plank, which yields a delightful, smoky sweetness.
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Weekend Edition food essayist Bonny Wolf ticks off the many things (including ticks) that can spoil the summer picnic.
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This summer, take time to stop and eat the roses. And not just the roses: Try some pansies, tulips or begonias. Suggestions for how to brighten up any meal with colorful and flavorful edible flowers.
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Summer is the time to eat. There's no better opportunity to make the most of what the season — and your local farmer's stand — have to offer. Cookbooks can help. Food writer Bonny Wolf rounds up 10 to take you through the season. -
Ever since "seasonal" became "trendy," dandelions, ramps, fiddlehead ferns and sweet pea shoots have cropped up in produce aisles, farmers markets and on restaurant menus. Bonny Wolf shares ways to enjoy these fleeting weeds-turned-delicacies.
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As the British tea company Twinnings marks its 300th anniversary, American interest in the traditional English beverage of choice seems to be on the rise. Anyone for a cuppa?
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Rhubarb is more than a pie. It is showing up in soups, stews and other savory dishes where its natural sourness makes a nice counterbalance to the richness or sweetness of other ingredients. Bonny Wolf shares two recipes for new ways to use grandma's old standby.
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Friday is St. Patrick's Day, which means every American becomes a little bit Irish and rivers are dyed a color not found in nature. But think twice about drinking that green beer. Nothing says Ireland like a pint of dark, dry stout.
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It shimmies. It shakes. It glides down your throat to evoke memories of a cool treat on summer evenings or ease the sting after a tonsillectomy. Many a Boomer may have thought it was a thing of the past, but there's still room for Jell-O.
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Like many brilliant inventions, it arrived by accident in 1905. Through a century of change, it remains an American icon, stick and all. Food essayist Bonny Wolf salutes the popsicle.
