This Feeds Me Hungry Musings of a Gastronomic Gypsy – NC-based freelance writer Victoria Bouloubasis

Two new bars, both former staples of local mayhem, have snuck onto the scene quietly. The Standard, formerly Henry’s and Fuse, and Peccadillo, the former Go! Studios and Reservoir, offer stiff, neat drinks and quality bar food (since the column published, Peccadillo owner Timothy Neill informed me that a fine charcuterie offering is in the [...]

I recently discovered Peat and Repeat, recycled handmade postcards by Durham resident Jess Kemp. What does sexy snail mail have to do with food? Kemp uses old cereal boxes and other food packaging to create one-of-a-kind, meaningful mail art. They are perfect for your loved ones and lovers, and maybe even a frenemy or two. Read [...]

A piece on hunger runs the risk of feeling stoic or redundant, full of statistics and absent of hope. I struggled with this as I researched and spoke to numerous people involved in local hunger relief projects. Then I  met Ms. Kitty Banks, who gave me the honor of telling me her compelling story. “Not only [...]

Fair Trade USA has changed its standards for fair trade coffee certification, pulling from the Fair Trade International model. Among the changes: expanding the criteria to include farms that are not part of a cooperative. My story’s focus explores the local perspective via Counter Culture and Carrboro Coffee Co. These two prominent Triangle, North Carolina [...]

It slipped my mind to post this on the site. How could I have forgotten about my day with a former boy-bander turned food personality? Thanks to Chirba Chirba, the Triangle’s official dumpling raid on wheels, I spent some time hanging out with the Chirba crew and Joey while he filmed for his new show, [...]

Chocolate has a convoluted history tantamount to the saga and intrigue of a tragic heroine. Powerful men throughout time, be it Aztec kings or Spanish emperors, pursued her with vigor–an elusive object deemed precious, indulgent. European conquerors claimed to discover cacao in a world they assumed to be new, cheapening her title as “food of [...]

The latest DISH issue focuses on food made by hand. One of my contributions was a look at the homemade pasta artisans here in the Triangle. The allure of fresh pasta features Porcino of Carrboro, Dur’m Pasta Co. of Durham and Melina’s Fresh Pasta of Raleigh. Each purveyor had a passionate story to tell, including [...]

More than 20,000 residents live in the 300 blocks of Northeast Central Durham. It’s also an area that has been labeled a food desert, with many of its residents lacking access to fresh food. This week’s story, Hungry for choices: Fresh food finds its way to Northeast Central Durham, details plans made by the community [...]

I’ve posted a couple of dispatches on Indy’s Big Bite blog from last weekend’s Carolina Farm Stewardship Association‘s 26th Sustainable Agriculture Conference, held in Durham. BURLAP. Portraits of Piedmont Farmers opens with a reception tomorrow at Bull City Arts Collective and Piedmont restaurant. Read why local photographer Raymond Goodman sought inspiration from the personas of [...]

One hundred and three farmworkers were interviewed last year for a report released in September by OxFam America and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC). The report, “A state of fear: Human rights abuses in North Carolina’s tobacco industry,” brings an adamant argument to the table that human rights abuses exist in NC’s top industry. The [...]

My lunch interview with Sandra A. Gutierrez unleashed an intriguing history lesson peppered with cooking tips. For the food-obsessed, snuggling up to The New Southern-Latino Tablecookbook is akin to a new love affair. It comes with all the warmth of tender familiarity while simultaneously sparking an impassioned interest in what is more compatible than imagined. As [...]

A bread bakery and coffee shop quietly opened last month at 503 W. Rosemary St. in Chapel Hill. Like a sourdough starter that requires time to bubble and flourish, Bread and Butter is rising with the demand for fresh, artisan, locally baked bread in town. Had a great time chatting with George Chen about his new [...]

You don’t have to go to Queens any more to find amazing ceviche. We’ve got some in Raleigh, por fin. Here’s my First Bite on new restaurant MachuPicchu Peruvian Cuisine. For North Carolina, a Peruvian restaurant with such an intricate menu–executed with quality–is huge: “In September, The Wall Street Journal declared Peruvian cuisine “food’s next [...]

This week’s Indy DISH issue encourages a well-traveled palate, featuring ethnic eats around the Triangle with guides to diverse flavors via restaurants and spice markets. My contribution to the issue profiles home chef Donia Khalaf and her family–Iraqi refugees–as they assimilate to American culture, even at the table. On my first visit to the Khalaf [...]

Artisan ice cream in the Triangle wears many hats, and none are the pointy parlor caps you’re used to. A tattooed couple drives through town on a school bus with fresh ice cream in inventive flavors. A Mexican family brings the exotic tastes of Michoacan to Durham with fresh fruit popsicles and curdled milk ice [...]