"boston" news and stories

Boston's long-time mayor, Thomas M. Menino just made quenching the thirst of city-workers that much harder. According to The Boston Globe, Menino issued an executive order to phase out sugary drinks from all city property in an effort to curb rising obesity rates. So long non-diet sodas. Adios sweet tea. Arrivederci you sexy sports drinks, you.

City departments have six months to phase out the sinister sugary beverages in cafeterias, vending machines, concession stands and during city-run meetings. And just in case parched public workers aren't quite sure what constitutes a healthy beverage, the Boston Public Health Commission is applying the familiar red, yellow and green labels to drinks, and reinforced by nearby posters that say, "Stop. Rethink Your Drink. Go On Green."

According to a release from the Mayor's office, "red" beverages include non-diet sodas, sweetened ice teas, sports drinks, etc. Diet sodas and diet iced teas, 100 percent fruit juices and low calorie sports drinks qualify as "yellow" beverages, while "green" drinks mean bottled water, low fat milk or unsweetened soy milk. Mmmm. Unsweetened soy milk -- yum.

Boston's not alone in trying to combat obesity through mandated choices. Cities like San Francisco, San Antonio, Los Angeles County and New York City have also set standards to limit or prohibit the sale or distribution of unhealthy food -- including sugary drinks.

Few cities can claim foodie credentials of Boston's caliber – after all, its go-to nickname is a nod to one of its staple foodstuffs: Beantown. And those no-nonsense baked beans are a tip off to the matter-of-fact approach to menus that most locals take. "It comes from the whole Yankee Puritan side, taking pleasure in making do, not wasting, using up – it has permeated a lot of our food traditions here," explains Georgia Orcutt, who works for Oldways a Boston-based organization that promotes traditional, non-processed food. She cites scrod as a key example: on fish menus, it will be listed alongside salmon or cod. But scrod is simply "whatever fish anyone can get their hands on as catch of the day" – no Bostonian fisherman would waste any fish once caught. "It's a combination of needing to be frugal for survival, for the Pilgrims, and that Puritan work ethic," agrees food writer Susan Nye, "That thriftiness has existed in Boston for centuries – my dad has a funny story about how his friends would come back from Christmas to university with bags filled with their grandmothers' leftovers." That Yankee frugality continues to ricochet round the restaurants here – and it's never been more timely, as Orcutt notes. "The Boston way of cooking – how can you use up something rather than waste it? It's coming back big time in this economy."

• The Pats aren't in the Super Bowl this year, but these Boston chefs are still gearing up for it.
• Staff writers suggest bringing the art of snacking to international proportions.
• Go on, put some Boston butt (pork shoulder) on the stove and let it braise -- you'll end up with tender pork that works for multiple meals.
• Boston-area restaurateurs share their chicken soup tips -- for the bowl and the soul.

When Formaggio Kitchen, a "gourmand's paradise doubling as a neighborhood grocer" opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1978, no one predicted that it would grow into the importing powerhouse (now with locations in Boston and New York and historical footnote (Julia Child was a loyal customer) that it is today. We caught up with Tim Bucciarelli, one of the men tasked with overseeing the day-to-day of the empire, and asked him about the journey that brought him-and took him away and brought him back again-to Formaggio Kitchen.

I wear many hats here-I manage the website, buy the dry-good imports, and handle our mail order business, among other things. Sometimes I even get to help out at the cheese counter.

No matter how low the mercury dips, Boston locavores still hope for a year-round farmer's market, like Seattle's dreamy Pike Place Market or Cleveland's treasured Westside Market. But the fact is, groups like the Boston Public Market (founded in 2001 to achieve that goal) have yet to make that vision a reality, despite years of fund-raising and public ribbon-cutting celebrations.

But there's been no dithering for Boston's vibrant neighbor to the south. Farm Fresh Rhode Island, a not-for-profit whose mission is to promote locally grown food, is in its third season of its Wintertime Farmer's Market at Hope Artist Village in Pawtucket on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. through May.