Chapel Hill to Odessa

The entire EDIBLE NORTH CAROLINA team is so excited about our forthcoming May 2022 publication date! We’ll update you on book talks, publication parties, and signings from this space in the coming weeks. Look here for behind-the-scene views of the journey that created EDIBLE NORTH CAROLINA, including Marcie’s pre-pandemic drives across the state interviewing the state’s diverse food leaders, as well as our talented photography team, Baxter Miller and Ryan Stancil, and their masked and vigilant state-wide photo-documentation for this volume. 

Albe Ferris with Edible North Carolina.

Marcie Cohen Ferris, editor, with Edible North Carolina at her home in Chapel Hill.

We’ll share short interviews with the wonderful EDIBLE NORTH CAROLINA essayists, an incredible mix of leading journalists, farmers, chefs, entrepreneurs, scholars, and food activists, and more stories and features we were unable to fit in the book.  Expect a bonus recipe or two and how-to hints from our associate editor—and UNC-Chapel Hill American Studies doctoral candidate—KC Hysmith, who developed and tested the delicious recipes in EDIBLE NORTH CAROLINA. 

Luba Tooter Cohen. Scan 49, in the Cohen Family Papers #5178, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ukrainian poppy seed cake, reworked by writer Anne Bryn from Mollie Katzen’s classic Moosewood Cookbook recipe.

What an important moment for a bit of light in all of our lives as we witness the grave violence in Ukraine and take action by donating to the giving people involved in critical relief efforts.  Odessa was the birthplace of my Ukrainian Jewish grandmother Luba Tooter Cohen.  I’ll never forget her beautiful Russian accent, nor her delicious blini—the delicate, tiny pancakes she served to my sister Jamie and me following childhood sleepovers at her home in Blytheville, Arkansas.  Recently I baked a Ukrainian poppy seed cake, reworked by writer Anne Bryn from Mollie Katzen’s classic Moosewood Cookbook recipe, and raised a toast of strength to Luba and the people of Ukraine.  In coming weeks, I’ll add Carolina Ground’s Asheville-milled rye and wheat flours for even more depth and flavor.

Sending strength, love, and peace to all, 

Marcie Cohen Ferris, editor