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

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 [...]

This week’s Now Serving highlights Kukia’s Cookies, the home bakery of Kifu Faruq. She whips up organic lavender cookie varieties in the name of food justice: the former biochemist is the product of two Black Panther parents, an urban farmer and co-founder of Green Space Initiative LLC. Read more about her and try those cookies!

Pomp, swank, glitz and gourmet. Here’s my First Bite take on Babylon, Raleigh’s new Moroccan restaurant, for the Independent Weekly. Be sure to flip through the gorgeous slideshow by D.L. Anderson. I had this to say about the olives: “The cured, green-and-black Mediterranean super fruits crinkle into a salty pucker on my lips, leaving me [...]

Rock with a homemade pimento cheese sandwich in Raleigh on Saturday. Or scour the streets for the #dumplingraid in Durham this week. Either way, eat eat! Click here for this week’s Now Serving.

I dabbled in music writing this month for SavorNC Magazine, helping out with the piece 45 N.C. Music and Art Experiences Not To Be Missed. Here’s what I said about the Carolina Chocolate Drops, listed as #1: The Carolina Chocolate Drops are like those sweet nothings you whisper to someone just before you sweep them [...]

What goes well with cheese? Almost everything. My contribution to the Indy’s DISH issue is this article detailing a tasting of five local cheeses with April McGreger of Farmer’s Daughter, Jay Murrie of 3CUPS and Matt Lardie of Hillsborough Cheese Co. and Green Eats blog. Be sure to snag a hard copy of the issue [...]

Mobile eats have segued from trucks to bicycles: Three new food ventures are pedaling their way through the Triangle to offer customers yet another way to get their buzz. Read the column to find out more about Berenbaum’s bakery, the Wine Feed and bikeCOFFEE.

“You can taste the love.” This week’s Now Serving is all about the monthly Hillsborough Arts Council Pie Competition. Sign up by Wednesday for this Friday’s contest; the theme is ice box pie. Or just linger around Cup A Joe till the judging is over and snag a homemade slice for $3. All proceeds benefit the [...]

This week’s Now Serving column highlights Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe, winner of Best New Restaurant in Orange/Chatham County and finalist for Best Indian Restaurant and Best Chef in Orange/Chatham County. Vimala Rajendran has traveled a long, beautiful journey since I first wrote about her in 2009. She’ll be hosting a Dinner for Community Media tonight, with [...]