Last Chance Foods

Take a stalled construction site next to a restaurant, add 7,400 repurposed milk crates, throw in a couple of innovative restaurateurs and farmers and the result is Riverpark, a restaurant with a temporary farm on East 29th Street in Kips Bay.

A few weeks ago, cantaloupe from a farm in southwestern Indiana was linked to an outbreak of salmonella that sickened 178 people across the nation. Between this recent incident, and a similar problem with listeria-contaminated cantaloupe from Colorado reported last year, the fruit is causing a great deal of concern for consumers and farmers alike.

A tree grows in Brooklyn — a pear tree, to be specific, and it’s currently flourishing in 18 inches of soil piled on top of asphalt at the Red Hook Community Farm. A few weeks ago, the tree offered its first ever harvest of pears, and, as part of the farm’s Added Value youth empowerment program, Brooklyn teens helped clip off the ripe fruit. The pears served as both a snack for the kids and as part of the farm’s community supported agriculture shares. 

With farmers markets currently offering everything from lemon cucumbers to Asian cucumbers, author Mindy Fox said now is the time to try the different varieties. Cucumbers are at the peak of their season, and many types provide a welcome contrast to their conventional watery and waxy brethren.

Author Robin Shulman still remembers shoveling syringes into plastic bags while cleaning up East 4th Street in the early 1990s. A new resident of the block between avenues C and D at the time, she explained that drugs on the street were common and violence a regular occurrence.

Blueberries were providing Americans with their antioxidant fix long before acai berries became popular as a superfood. Native Americans relied on the berries for a number of different purposes, said Jennifer Divello of Patty’s Berries and Bunches in Mattituck on Long Island.

Heirloom tomatoes are just about to start showing up at farmers markets this year. But before the spotlight turns on heirlooms, let’s take a moment to appreciate the humble, greenhouse-grown hybrid tomatoes.

Amaranth has a long and somewhat bloody history. The Aztecs mixed the plant’s grain-like seeds with blood, formed the mixture into cakes shaped like gods, and then ate them in religious rituals. The Spanish conquistadors considered the practice to be barbaric and an offensive interpretation of Christian communion. They stopped the tradition by making it a deadly offense to grow or possess amaranth.

Borage is an innocuous looking herb. The ungainly plant has fuzzy leaves and star-shaped blue flowers that give it the common name starflower. Not only is borage edible, though, the herb is also an important ally for tomato plants.

From backyards in Brooklyn to vineyards on Long Island, grape leaves are abundant right now. The lush, verdant leaves shade fruit that is still several months from ripeness, but now’s the time to eat the leaves. In just a few more weeks, the leaves will turn tough and stringy.